Neighbors can be your most trusted allies or your worst fears. From little disagreements to full-fledged anarchy, these 13 stories reveal the kind of neighbors you wouldn’t want to live with.
Story 1
For weeks, I was finding dog excrement on my doorstep. I assumed it was a stray, so I set up a camera to capture the culprit. Imagine my surprise when I noticed my neighbor walking his dog past my house and purposefully throwing the bagged excrement onto my porch.
When I confronted him, he shrugged and replied, “Consider it a gift. Nature’s fertilizer.” I was furious, so I bagged up all of the feces and dumped it back in his yard. The following morning, I discovered twice as much on my porch. It’s now a passive-aggressive turf war that I didn’t sign up for.
Story 2
Our neighbor has almost 30 cats. They roam about freely, scaling fences and using my yard as a litter box. I once saw one of these sunbathing on my grill. When I took it up with the neighbor, she replied, “Cats have free spirits. You can’t cage a soul!” I phoned Animal Control, but she was able to convince them that all of the cats were emotional support animals.
Every morning, I wake up to the sound of meows and the smell of cat urine coming through my windows. She says she will “build them an outdoor sanctuary.” Three years later, I am still waiting.
Story 3
My neighbor treats the common corridor like a personal storage room. It’s overflowing with boxes, damaged furniture, and even a stack of newspapers from 2010. When I inquired whether they could clear it, they answered, “It’s temporary, I promise.” Six months later, the mound had grown so huge that I was unable to fully open my door. The building administration finally intervened, discovering a raccoon living in the mess.
Story 4
My neighbor decorates for all holidays, including Halloween, Thanksgiving, Groundhog Day, and Arbor Day. Her Christmas display, however, is outstanding. Last year, she placed a 20-foot inflatable Santa, which cast a shadow across my yard. It toppled over during a windstorm and collided with my vehicle.
When I asked her to pay for the damage, she responded, “Santa’s spirit is priceless. I can’t put a value on joy.” I now park down the street every December.
Story 5
My neighbor owns binoculars. She uses them to “check on the neighborhood,” which translates as spying on everyone. At first, I assumed it was a harmless quirk. One morning, I walked out to find a handwritten note pinned on my door. It said, “You left your bathroom light on all night. Wasteful habits like this drive up electricity costs!” The kicker? I don’t have curtains in my bathroom—only blinds, which I felt were adequate for privacy.
Story 6
My neighbor’s child conducts a small black market out of their front yard. It began with selling lemonade but quickly progressed to “renting” toys and selling snacks to other children at a 300% profit.
What is the worst part? He once blocked my driveway with his toy truck and demanded $5 to remove it. When I approached his parents, they explained, “He’s just learning entrepreneurial skills.” I am considering educating him about taxes.
Story 7
For six months, my neighbor has been “building a deck,” but all I hear is hammering and drilling. I haven’t noticed any progress; it’s still just a pile of wood. When I inquired if they needed help completing it, they said, “Great art takes time.” Meanwhile, I’ve started wearing earplugs inside my own home.
Story 8
My neighbor enjoys sorting through everyone’s recycling bags to verify we’re “doing it right.” She once wrote on my can, “This plastic isn’t recyclable in this region.” I had no idea she had access to that information. Now I double-bag everything to avoid her criticism.
Story 9
While on vacation, I requested a neighbor to feed my cat. When I returned, I discovered that she had posted images of my cat on social media, referring to him as “her little buddy.” Worse, she got him a collar with her name on it. When I questioned why, she explained, “I figured he needed a better identity.” I now double-lock my doors when I leave town.
Story 10
Instead of communicating directly with me, my neighbor leaves comments about anything that annoys them, such as my dog barking, my yard being “too wild,” or even the sound of my wind chimes. One day, I placed a message on their door that read, “Your notes are not working. Try talking.” They haven’t left any notes since, but they now stare at me every time I go outside.
Story 11
An odd odor began to float down the hall, becoming stronger approached my neighbor’s door. It was a combination of burned rubber and rotten eggs. When I inquired about it, they replied, “Must be the ventilation system.” A week later, the fire alarm sounded, and the firefighters discovered they were attempting to deep-fried food in their living room.
Story 12
My upstairs neighbor flushes their toilet frequently. Every ten minutes, day and night, I hear the distinctive whoosh of water. When I eventually questioned whether there was something wrong, they replied, “I just like a clean bowl.” Either they’re the cleanest person alive, or they have a terrible plumbing obsession.
Story 13
My neighbor has VERY loud romantic encounters, and the walls are paper-thin. After weeks of enduring it, I slipped a note under their door that read, “Congrats on the cardio!” They left an apology note and said they’d “keep it down,” but the next night, it was louder than ever. Frustrated, I knocked on their door, ready to confront them.
When it opened, I came face-to-face with my landlord, who blurted, “This isn’t what it looks like!” Turns out, the “noisy neighbor” was living there illegally—and I’d just stumbled onto the reason they were always “too busy” to fix my leaky faucet.
