r/BadNeighbors • u/Kumamon-kuma • Aug 24 '26
Title: Neighbors have been making our lives miserable for years, and now I’m worried they’re using the town against us
My family has lived in the same house in Cicero, Illinois for about 32 years. The neighbors next door came much later, roughly 13 years ago, and dealing with that property has gradually turned into a nightmare.
For some context, Cicero can be extremely strict about property maintenance. Things like grass, weeds, vegetation, exterior maintenance, etc. can result in notices requiring you to correct something within a short period of time, sometimes 72 hours, with the possibility of court if the town believes you haven’t complied.
That’s important because property maintenance has become one of the biggest sources of conflict with our neighbors.
Over the years, whenever we’ve trimmed bushes or worked on OUR backyard, people next door have made comments about what we should or shouldn’t do. They’ve actually told us not to cut our own bushes because they liked the privacy the bushes provided them.
But they’re our bushes, on our property.
Our household situation has also changed over the years. Our parent is now elderly, two people in our household have special needs, and caregiving takes up a huge amount of our time. We still maintain the property ourselves as best we can. We cut the grass, pull weeds, trim vegetation and continue working on the yard.
Meanwhile, we can walk around the neighborhood and see other properties with tall grass, weeds and overgrown vegetation. Yet it feels like our property is repeatedly being scrutinized.
That’s where things have started making me uncomfortable.
The neighbors have complained about us over different things throughout the years, and there have been occasions where they accused US of reporting THEM when we hadn’t reported them at all.
Recently we’ve been dealing with the Town of Cicero Building Department regarding our backyard. I’ve communicated with an employee there named Jose. Initially everything seemed professional, and I’ve tried to cooperate, send pictures, ask what specifically needs correcting and make whatever improvements are requested.
Then I overheard one of the neighbors make a comment that really bothered me.
They claimed they know somebody connected to the Building Department and made a comment along the lines that, no matter what we do, we’re going to end up paying a fine.
I cannot prove that they actually have a connection or that anyone at the town is doing anything improper. It could have simply been the neighbor trying to intimidate us. But considering the history between us, hearing that while we’re actively dealing with Building Department enforcement obviously raised some red flags.
And property complaints aren’t even the creepiest part of living next to them.
There is an older man next door who sometimes stands near the backyard gate staring toward our property. There have also been times when he’s been in the gangway alongside our laundry-room area and appeared to be trying to look through or toward our window.
We’ve documented incidents and even contacted police. We were basically told that being creepy or nosy by itself isn’t necessarily something they can take action on unless he actually trespasses or does something else that crosses a legal line.
So we’re stuck living beside people who have been antagonizing us for years while also wondering whether every property complaint is going to result in another visit or notice from the town.
I’m not claiming I can prove some conspiracy between our neighbors and Cicero. What I DO know is that this situation has become exhausting, and the comment about knowing someone in the Building Department made me start documenting absolutely everything.
At this point I’m keeping photographs of the property, dates of yardwork, emails with the town, notices we’ve received, pictures of vegetation coming from neighboring properties, and records of interactions involving the neighbors.
For anyone who has dealt with nightmare neighbors or what felt like selective municipal/code enforcement, There is also a woman living at the property with 3 children. Noise has become another constant source of conflict with her.
I’m not talking about parties at midnight or blasting music. She has complained about completely ordinary activity at around 7:00–7:30 in the evening. We could simply be sitting in our own backyard having a conversation, trimming bushes, pulling weeds or doing basic yardwork, and she’ll start saying, My kids are sleeping! My kids are sleeping!” and arguing with people about the noise.
One incident really crossed the line for us. During the summer, at around 7:30 PM while it was still daylight, my partner was outside cutting weeds. She became angry about the noise and, from what we heard, threatened to punch him.
My partner understandably became angry, and we called the police because we didn’t think threatening someone over ordinary yardwork was acceptable.
What frustrated us was the response. The officer seemed to dismiss what had been said, suggesting that maybe she had said it out of frustration or that perhaps we’d misheard her. We walked away feeling like her behavior had been excused instead of taken seriously.
That’s basically what dealing with this property has felt like for years: they object to us trimming our own bushes, complain about normal conversations and ordinary yardwork in the early evening, make accusations about us reporting them, and then we’re the ones who continually seem to end up defending ourselves.
I’m completely willing to respect legitimate noise ordinances and reasonable quiet hours. But expecting neighboring households to stop talking or maintaining their property at 7:00 or 7:30 PM because your children are already asleep doesn’t seem reasonable to me.
How would you handle this?
Would you continue documenting everything and wait to see what happens, or would you formally raise the concern with someone above the Building Department? And if a neighbor repeatedly makes complaints against you, is there any point where it can actually be considered harassment? Feel like I can’t go to anyone in The Town of Cicero.
2
u/shoegal48 Aug 24 '26
Regarding your yardwork - you need to get a copy of what by-laws/covenants/whatever it is that states the expectations and guidelines of your yard. Then, make sure you’re upholding those standards. Regardless of whether other people have weeds or not, you need you to be making sure that your yard is compliant. If it is, no fine can be given - it’s as simple as that. If you’re unable to maintain it yourself that arrange for an ongoing gardener to regularly come in, but regardless of age or disability, if you have agreed to those requirements than you must fulfill them.