Is it wrong to complain about a neighbor who is....

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growing food plants on community property between our homes?

My mother complained to the association about our neighbor who was doing this. The neighbors have been giving us the cold shoulder about this.

As it is, she has practially has a farm on her property with all her food plants growing and it doesn't look good. Apparently she is doing this to save money on groceries.

Wrong is a relative term.

If the woman has the foresight to grow her own groceries, and it's not hurting her or anyone else, great. If she was keeping goats and chickens, something that made noise or stank the place up, I might have to wonder. You have something, I take it, about food plants vs ornamental plants?

More realistically - if there's nothing in the Homeowner's Association CCRs (rules and regs) against what she's doing, I see no problem with it. If she's violating the regs, the regs should either be enforced or changed.

Drop of weed-killer should take care of business.

It is an eyesore. Growing a few plants is one thing. Growing a farm is another. It is not her property that she is doing the planting.

There is a reason there is community property between homes. We shouln't have to look at rows and rows of plants in our faces every day.

It isn't "wrong" but it isn't the way to make friends with your neighbor, either.

We let an illegal shed slide until the neighbor passed away. Having it removed wasn't worth upsetting her.

So while there is probably the right to complain, it is also worth asking, "at what cost?"

Perhaps asking for a small share of the crop would be a more agreeable way to deal with it.

I thought most people enjoyed looking at rows and rows of plants?

How do the other neighbors feel about it?

The area is only between our homes.

She shouldn't be permitted to to do something that could reduce the value of our home if we sell it.

What is this reason? I live in a deed restricted neighborhood and have never heard of this. This could be a tough one. Community property? Who really owns it?

The homeowner's association would own it, and what can be done with it is subject to what is written in the associations CC&R's. The goal of the CC&R's is to keep a uniform standard for the complex and maintain home values while balancing the private rights of the home owners.

There is either a rule against the plants, or there isn't. If there isn't, the issue is closed.

If there is ... well, you still have the issue of whether or not making a stink is worth the cost.

I don't see why you *shouldn't* complain about it. If it's ugly and it's between your properties, then I'd complain.

Of course there is a rule against what she is doing.




We are complaining in order to maintain our home value and potect our private right to not have an eyesore close to our property.

You really have not addressed my question. I will rephrase it.

Are we going overboard by complaining about her growing plants on community property.

Not really. As far as I know there is no rule against me growing tomatoes around the sign at the entrance grounds of my neighborhood (community property), or turning my entire front yard into an veggie garden...but I bet it would cause a big stink.
Good point. I have a neighbor who waits until summer to take down their holiday lights...and this is most likely after a home owner's association warning about complaints...but not from me.

There is zero percent chance you are permitted to grow tomatoes around your sign at the entrance grounds of your neighborhood.

Believing that you can do whatever she wants around the entire community is the same attitude as our neighbor. Maybe she has AS too.

In my not so humble opinion, the answer is simple.

If your need for keeping your property values as high as possible is strong, i.e. you are going to sell your house in the near future -- and that need is stronger than your need to retain good neighbor relations with this neighbor, then go ahead and complain.

If you aren't moving any time soon, and it really doesn't affect you day to day, and you have a desire to keep friendly relations with this neighbor, then complaining is a lousy idea.

I have a friend who is the cause of the neighborhood eyesore, and a neighbor of hers has complained and has managed to get other neighbors to use the association rules against her. These neighbors will NEVER be friends.

I, on the other hand, lived next to an eyesore lot with the world's worst house on it (the structure was a complete conglomeration of different construction/housing styles, slammed together as an experiment by a daring contractor), and we needed to move. We never complained, even though it took a year to sell the house [although I did mow their front lawn once, as slyly as I could without them really noticing]. We didn't want to ruffle any feathers -- and the house was in Massachusetts, where people pretty much let their neighbors do what they want -- there will never be "associations" there in that small town.

So, basically, if you have to move, then complain. If you like this neighbor, and you can live with it, don't.

maybe she should use less space,as she doesnt own all of it as it is shared space.
sister owns her own cottage [is in a row of them] but the gardens at the back are shared,how they all deal with this is each has their own part of the back to put whatever they want-some grow stuff in glass houses,others have sheds,rows of potted plants,benches etc-no fences split them off.

what if all the neighbours got together to share out the garden equally?

its good that she is making her own stuff,because its proper stuff,not full of chemicals,its common over here,dad used to grow stuff in his garden but he said the soil was bad,so he continued to use his allotment instead.
maybe that is also an idea for this woman [if they have allotments over there] she would have more space in one and better soil.

In my personal opinion? Probably. I can't imagine neat row of edible plants looking THAT bad. I'm a bit of a live and let live type, even if I'm not that fond of everything the neighbors do. As I noted above, we let an illegal, fire hazard (not to mention ugly) shed slide in order to keep peace.

But, if you know most of the neighbors feel the same way, then you are not going overboad. In that case, you are asking the association to do it's job and enforce it's rules. But don't expect the offending homeowner to act like she isn't upset at you. She will be.

It's really subjective. I can't answer without being there.