The meaning behind the wordownershipdoes lead some to assume that “if you own it, you’re king.” However, that’s not always the case asreal estateis subject to things beyond one’s royal power, i.e. building regulations.
As such, if those go ignored and folks end up doing things that aren’t “any of the city’s business”, then sit back and eat some popcornas one display of malicious compliancesnowballs into some heavy fines and “I told you so” moments.
Landscaping and construction in and of themselves are serious deals—so much, in fact, that there’s an entire body of regulation governing it
Image credits:Zohair Mirza (not the actual photo)
Image credits:Karolina Grabowska (not the actual photo)
Image credits:duallogic (not the actual photo)
Image credits:TenebrousSunshine
The best part is that the husband did exactly as he was told—minded his own business—and it still spiraled into chaos for the neighbor
Long story short, a Redditor recently shared how her husband tried to be nice and friendly to a neighbor who was doing some landscaping the wrong way, but was told on multiple occasions to mind his own beeswax.
And you know what—that he did. His malicious compliance essentially allowed the neighbor to self-destruct all of his attempts at landscaping his own land in the most entertaining ways. Needless to say, the city and the HOA issued fines.
Folks online enjoyed the story—so much, in fact, that some had to admit it’s not often that they agree with and support the actions of an HOA in a Reddit post.
Bored Pandareached out to r/TenebrousSunshine, the author of the post, who explained that they turned to Reddit to vent about how obnoxious the neighbor is. And she’s not alone in this—pretty much the whole neighborhood thinks so.
“When people asked if they could not put the dirt in the street, they got told off too. And a few people have slightly lost control of their cars driving over where the dirt had been, thanks to the rain turning it into slick mud. I’m also sure the school bus complained to somebody as well.”
OP explained that the neighbor’s “project” has been pretty much on and off since Black Friday—nearly 3 months at this point—with each part being shut down gradually.
“I don’t think they learned their lesson because they’re still doing stupid [stuff]. (They did a lot of it to their front yard too, but this post was mainly about them trying to fight the city),” explained OP. “I really do think they’ll keep just doing whatever they want and will see what happens.”
We also asked OP if she knowswhythe neighbor is acting the way he is, and she was stumped. Her best guess was that the neighbor probably never lived as part of an HOA and just didn’t know any better, or they did landscaping in the past and just got away with whatever the result was.
But OP noted that what the neighbor is doing isn’t too alarming as institutions are keeping an eye on him: “The 10ft wall caused us to panic for a little bit, but thankfully that got taken down after a week. We aren’t too worried (at least for the foreseeable future) about him doing anything that could hurt our property. Especially not with the city and the HOA keeping such a close eye on them right now.”
Image credits:StockRocketStudio (not the actual photo)
Rules for construction and landscaping are there for a very good reason—it’s all about safety and sustainability
It goes without saying that building and landscaping code is put into forceto keep very dangerous problems at bay. Safety being the keyword here, having a property that’s up to code means that things like the wiring will be safe, fire prevention will be at its finest, and the roof won’t collapse just because it decides to rain. There’s more, but you get the point.
Besides that, building codeshave been provento prevent a sucker punch to the wallet in case of things like natural disasters. The study pointed out $132 billion as a minimal ballpark. And that’s not just losing your own stuff, but also the subsequent cleanup, rebuilding and whatnot.
Building codes are always improving, so safety standards will only get better with time. As such, your house will become progressively safer with time and upkeep, ensuring sustainability on top of that. And all it takes is to follow rules. Rules that benefit you and everyone else around you.
So, what are your thoughts on any of this? How would you have one-upped the malicious compliance in OP’s case? Share your takes and stories in the comment section below.
Folks approved of the karma that ensued, not only because it was maliciously compliant, but because the neighbor deserved it for being a jerk
Thanks! Check out the results:
140Kviews140Kviews
Relationships
