Neighbours can be difficult. Living in such close proximity to another person will inevitably give rise to issues at some point, whether it be a dispute over land, not leaving the bins in the right place, or a noise complaint or two. More often than not, these issues can be resolved, but every now and again things can get more serious. This was the case for Kristopher Hess, who had a very difficult time with his neighbour.
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Hess ended up being taken to court by his angry neighbour. She filed a lawsuit against him following a disagreement they had. In response, Hess did some digging and leaked some incriminating photos. What caused all of this drama?
Kristopher
The neighbour had known he had done wrong and he had admitted it. Nevertheless, his neighbour was dissatisfied with his response and filed a claim against him. It was at this point that he typed her name into the search bar and stumbled upon some interesting pictures.
top5.com
Kristopher Hess was an 18-year-old working as a security guard. He worked 16 hour shifts and returned home each day at 8am. As a result, he was very lonely and constantly shattered. One day, he received a phone call…
Reunion
Kristopher received a phone call from a childhood friend telling him that he was going to be in town over Independence Day weekend. Kristopher was very excited to hear the news and took some time off work so that he could spend some quality time with his friend.
top5.com
His plan was to spend the weekend with his friend, catching up and sharing a few beers together. However, Mark had other plans. He wanted to celebrate 4th of July weekend properly by having a mini firework display.
Firework Fun
Kristopher checked that his dad wasn’t home before gathering up the last of his savings to buy fireworks. Once they had bought them, they came home and lined up all of the fireworks on the floor. The collection included Roman Candles, Cakes, Bottle Rockets, and Sparklers. It was going to be quite the display!
travelontv.com
The boys felt very excited looking at what they had bought. It was at this point that an idea came to Kristopher, not a very bright idea, but an idea nonetheless. He suggested to Mark that they play around with some sparklers in the daylight. This was not about to end well…
Hazard
Kristopher lit the first sparkler. Then, the boys did what was customary with sparklers, waving them around and drawing patterns in the air. They both felt very care-free, it was as if they were reliving their childhood.
travelontv.com
They were having such a good time, that they ended up getting slightly carried away and forgetting about the potential risks of what they were doing. A small spark fell to the ground and before they knew it, a fire had started. It spread rapidly and before they had a chance to react, it had reached the neighbour’s yard.
Out Of Control
The fire continued to spread and it quickly became uncontrollable. Kristopher hurried inside to make a call to the emergency services while Mark attempted to distinguish the flames. It was at this point, that the neighbour’s fence caught alight. Kristopher’s neighbour, Patricia, came running out and was very understanding about the situation.
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Kristopher returned back to work after a not-so-relaxing break. All he wanted to do when he returned home the following morning, was to go straight to sleep. However, when he returned home, a terrible surprise was awaiting him.
Quotes From The Neighbour
When Kristopher returned home, he found two quotes from his next-door neighbour. One of the costs was for the replacement of the fence, which came to $4,000 and the other was the cost of replacing the lawn which had been damaged in the fire – $6,000.
travelontv.com
Upon closer inspection of the quotes, Kristopher and his father noticed that they had been made on Microsoft Word and there were no logos on them. In addition to the quotes, the neighbour had also included a very rude note stating that Kristopher needed to pay for her water bill for the next three months.
Second Opinion
Kristopher reached out to one of his contractor friends about the quotes he received. He needed a second opinion. After showing him the bill, they came to the conclusion that the costs had been completely blown out of proportion.
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Following this conversation, Kristopher got in contact with professionals, asking them to give him an estimate of what the costs should really be. It was at this point that things started to get really ugly…
Getting Quotes
Kristopher met with the contractor to inspect the lawn. Patricia, having caught sight of them from next door, ran outside claiming that Kristopher did not have permission to get an estimate on the fence. She then proceeded to call the police.
horizontimes.com
In spite of this, Kristopher did manage to get an estimate of $1,200 to replace the fence. In addition, he also got a quote to re-seed the lawn. This was going to cost him $800. Patricia was then given copies of these estimates. She wasn’t at all impressed, as you can imagine.
$2000 Or Nothing
Kristopher had just returned from a 16-hour shift when his neighbour came knocking on his door, demanding to speak to him. Not again. He politely told her that he couldn’t talk now since he needed to go to sleep. She responded in calling him lazy.
travelontv.com
She had overstepped the mark with that comment. Kristopher was on the verge of losing it. He told her that she had two options: either accept the $2000, or get nothing at all. This silenced her for a while. When she did finally speak, she accepted the offer and agreed to meet at the notary the following morning.
Work On Her Garden
Kristopher woke up the next day and got ready to meet Patricia. He brought with him both the contract he had drawn up and the money he owed her. There was no sign of Patricia. He waited for over three hours, but she didn’t appear. Later on, she sent him a text demanding the full amount from him.
travelontv.com
A few days later, Kristopher watched as his neighbour had work done on her garden. A small pond was put in, along with flowers and a new sod. Kristopher was sure that this must have been her plan for a while and she had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to put it into action.
Caught Red-handed
Kristopher thought he had done the right thing up until this point. He had agreed to pay the correct price and handled the situation in a civilised manner. However, his patience wore thin when she demanded more money again. It was at this point that he decided to do some digging on Facebook.
graduatez.com
Patricia had used her savings for remodeling the garden to go to Hawaii for a vacation. Kristopher was made aware of this when he came across a post she had put on a Facebook group where she was bragging about the holiday. There was a photo of her sipping cocktails at a fancy hotel.
Taken To Court
Four months after the fire had taken place and all the remodeling had been done, Kristopher got served papers to attend court for more than $10,000. In court, Kristopher stood up for himself, explaining his point of view and outlining what Patricia had done wrong.
horizontimes.com
After examining all of the evidence, the judge sided with Kristopher and told Patricia that she had no leg to stand on whatsoever. Kristopher had actually offered her more than what she was entitled to. In turned out that he owed her $1200 and the judge deducted Kristopher’s lawyer fees from this amount.
Lesson Learnt
Patricia suffered a huge financial loss from this ordeal. We don’t know the detail around the costs of her vacation in Hawaii but it is clear that she was in a lot of debt. She ended up having to sell her house and moving to a smaller one.
visitlondon.com
As for Kristopher, he has truly learnt his lesson from this. He no longer uses fireworks, not only because of everything that happened with Patricia, but also because he knew that someone could well have been injured. He took responsibility for his actions.
More Bad Neighbours
Kristopher’s story is perhaps one of the worst cases of a neighbour dispute. Fortunately, it is a rare case. However, confrontations between neighbours are happening everyday. Below are some other stories that people have shared about their neighbours on Reddit. If you love a bit of drama, read on!
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Another person reported that her neighbour took her to court. Why was this? The neighbour decided to sue because the Reddit user’s dog growled at her. Apparently the growling was so terrifying that it caused the neighbour $24,000 worth of emotional stress. We aren’t convinced…
Inconsiderate Neighbours
Some neighbour’s are just plain inconsiderate. This was the case for this poor guy who pays $123 a month for a parking spot, which his neighbour has decided to half park in. We wouldn’t be too happy about that one.
diply.com
This is another case of a neighbour being completely inconsiderate of others around him. In spite of the fact that there are perfectly accessible trash chutes and bins downstairs, this guy sends his rubbish down in the elevator and expects people to deal with it for him.
Strange Neighbours
Some neighbours are just a little odd. One user’s experience proves this. She had a neighbour that liked to go around banging on the surrounding walls, waking people up at around 6am. This is enough to make anyone move out!
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Another user took to Reddit to explain the discomfort she felt around a certain neighbour. He had, on one occasion, asked her why she locked her doors whilst she was inside the house. She asked him how he knew that and he explained that he had attempted to open the door on multiple occasions.
Horrible Smells
One user’s neighbour decided that it would be fun to throw soup out of the window from the 16th floor. This meant that all of the apartment window’s below ended up covered in soup. When this Reddit user knocked on their door to complain, they ignored it.
horizontimes.com
Some people are just plain lazy. This neighbour is the perfect example of that. You can see just how lazy this neighbour is by looking at the above photo. There is so much rubbish piled up, that the fence is fit to burst.
Noisy Neighbours
Many neighbours don’t have much to do with their time and so, in order to fill it, they like to disturb other neighbours. They might complain incessantly about minor things, such as a trash can being left out on the curb for one day.
brecher.co.uk
Noise is probably the most common problem that neighbours have. It’s okay to throw a small get-together over the weekend but it’s important to be respectful to your neighbour’s and turn the music down, at leat after midnight. However, this doesn’t often happen.
Being A Better Neighbour
Getting revenge on a neighbour for something they have done isn’t always the answer. Instead, we should try and be kind and rise above it. You will lead a much more comfortable life if you get on with your neighbour.
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There are certain basic rules which you should follow if you want to remain civil with your neighbour. One of these rules is to be respectful when it comes to the amount of noise you make. No one is saying you have to be super quiet, but you should try not to disturb your neighbours if you can and always keep the noise down after a certain time.
Respecting Your Neighbours
You should also respect the personal space of your neighbour, don’t gossip about them and, if you have any issues, speak to them first before telling others about the issue. If you do that then things can quickly get blown out of proportion.
i-buildmagazine.com
Being a good neighbour also means ensuring that the exterior of your house looks presentable. This includes mowing your lawn. The outside of your house should be in keeping with other houses in the neighbourhood. You will create a good impression this way.