Misunderstandings with neighbors can be fleeting, but some can leave a lasting mark.
After buying a new home, this couple unearthed a bitter feud between the home’s seller and their neighbors.
A stretch of unclaimed vegetation spiraled into a standoff resulting in an ugly fence no one actually wanted.
Read on for the full story.
We live on six acres of wooded property on a small, tranquil lake.
Our house sits on a small hill overlooking our property frontage, about 400 feet from the water.
Along one side, our property borders a very isolated portion of a State Park, which is also on the lake and includes protected wetlands.
On the other side, you can just barely see a couple of the neighbor’s houses through the trees.
One of those neighbors, J&A, is also on the lake, along with six other houses.
The homeowner describes what the area was like before they bought their house.
Just before we bought this property, J&A, who are nature lovers, had a lovely screened-in porch built off their bedroom so they could enjoy coffee in the mornings and wine in the evenings while looking out over the beautiful natural landscape.
The view from their porch included our property and the State Park’s property and wetlands, teeming with minks, herons, turtles, and deer.
J&A’s house is on a well-manicured 0.25-acre lot, featuring a beautiful little pollinator garden and other animal-friendly plants and flowers.
When the homeowners went to purchase the house, they noticed something unusual.
When we were in the process of buying this house, we couldn’t help but notice a huge, unstained wood fence.
It was 8 feet high, only about 15 feet long, and plopped down on the property line—not attached to anything else.
It looked so weird. Why would anyone put that there?!
So they prod a little deeper.
We asked the seller about the fence, and he told us that J&A had cut down a whole bunch of vegetation on his property without permission.
Now, instead of beautiful greenery, he had to look at J&A’s house — so he had the fence built to hide it and keep them from looking into his house.
The seller also wanted to ruin J&A’s view.
“Coincidentally,” the seller added, he had built the fence right in front of J&A’s newly built screened-in porch, so all they could see was the ridiculous fence.
You could still see J&A’s house, though—and an ugly, pointless fence.
Now that’s some petty revenge!
But when the homeowner asked J himself, he had a different side to the story.
Shortly after moving in, I met J and asked him why that ugly fence was there.
He told me pretty much the same story as the previous owner, only that the vegetation he removed was on his property.
But this homeowner couldn’t care less about the fence.
After some more conversation about the ridiculous fence, I told him he could remove it if he wanted to.
I even wrote a signed letter giving him permission to take it down.
So J got right to work.
Half an hour after I gave him the letter, the fence was down!
I couldn’t believe it happened so quickly.
There was so much untamed land all around, yet the previous owner was so concerned about 15 feet of vegetation that may or may not have been his.
Amazing what a little communication can do.
What did Reddit think?
Mess with the bull, get the horns.
A little preparation would go a long way in ensuring lasting peace between neighbors.
This commenter suggests maybe they should take J&A’s word with a grain of salt until they get to know them better.
But this redditor has a more optimistic take!
Ultimately, the fence came down, but the memory of the feud still lingers, much like the roots of the vegetation that started it all.
Some people are just too petty for their own good.
If you liked that post, check this one about a guy who got revenge on his condo by making his own Christmas light rules.
