I am not sure if I should put this question in the Feminism chat or under Property, but here goes. I needed some advice about homeownership.
For single female homeowners, do you have increased problems with neighbors not respecting property boundaries? I purchased a home over five years ago, and I keep having problems with neighbors encroaching on my property to make permanent changes to it, and I have to politely/professionally tell them to stop. This keeps happening, to the point where I wonder if people think because I am female, they can just do whatever they want - which they can't; I own the property and paid for it - whereas if the homeowner were a man, they might not attempt these actions in the first place.
I have a busy / stressful life, as anyone does. I will just be minding my own business, then BAM! Some neighbor out of the blue starts an issue and I have to tell them to stop. In some cases, it costs me a lot of money and time (that I do not have) to fix what they screwed up. It is causing major headaches, and they do not have the right to do this in the first place. I am thinking that I need to become the town grump in order for it to occur to them to back off and leave my property alone. I would rather be the friendly neighbor, but if being a grouch means getting more peace of mind, then so be it. I am almost at a point of calling a lawyer, which I think when that happens one time, based on word-of-mouth, that should slow things down a lot (fingers crossed).
The issues I have been having are listed below:
- One neighbor set up a security camera, that is angled in such a way that it can see into the windows of my house. I constantly have to keep the curtains shut. I will have to create a privacy hedge to block them, which will be a lot of work. Note that all of my yards are being video taped by my neighbors, which is not cool for me - I highly value my privacy.
- Another neighbor built a fence on my property. When he was first mapping out where he was going to build, I told him that it was over the property line. He ignored me and built there anyway. I think he also removed old survey markers that showed that he was over the line - which is illegal. I am going to have to pay for a new survey to be done and hire an attorney to address this, which is going to be expensive.
- Another instance, a neighbor set up a motion sensor light, such that its field of view was mostly over my property and a small portion of his own property. When I walked around one side of my house at night *or even walked into my front door* his motion light turned on. I talked to him a couple days later and to his credit he moved it within two hours. (I should not have had to do that in the first place.)
- In yet another instance, I had neighbors, who live five houses away from me, come and trim my trees in the front yard. I filed a complaint with the Homeowners Association (HOA) about this, which is still pending. I read the HOA contract, and they are not allowed to do this. The property management company is still reviewing the complaint.
What are your thoughts? It just seems like very abnormal for me to have to deal with this on a regular basis. I grew up in the countryside, and this was a non-issue. I have lived in other developments since then (not as the homeowner), and this was never a problem. I am wondering if other people see me as a single female homeowner and perceive me (incorrectly) as vulnerable and try to pushover on me.
Have any other single female homeowners had this issue? It is not fun.
Thanks.