Whether you’re living in an apartment or a single-family home, unless you have a lot of acreage, there’s always going to be the issue of neighbors. And if you’re stuck living next to each other, you might as well make peace. That’s unless the other party is not willing.
One homeowner says she used an unexpected item purchased from Amazon to get her mechanic neighbor to move a junk car that he had parked outside her home for months on end.
An Amazon solution
The video was posted to TikTok by user Mel (@firellama1441), and it has drawn over 165,000 views on the platform. She says the issue was resolved overnight with this one simple purchase.
“Why did I buy a 50-pack of ‘Final Warning’ stickers off of Amazon?” Mel asks. “Well I couldn’t just buy one, they made me buy 50. I only needed one.”
The backstory
Mel then explains what led to this purchase.
“And this is why: I live in a town that’s busy. They got crime up the ying-yang. So if something happens in your neighborhood, you’re going to get no help from the city, unfortunately,” she says. “They’re busy doing stuff.”
Mel says she purchased the “warning” stickers to entice a neighbor to move his junk cars out from in front of her home.
Living between two mechanics, she says they both frequently bring home cars to work on. She says they park them throughout their neighborhood and in front of her home, leaving her and her husband with only enough room to park one car in their driveway.
“I’m trying to do this thing where I don’t let people take advantage of me,” she says. “I don’t want to be walked on, because it hurts.”
She continues, “I spoke with both of these young men. I spoke to Kevin—you know what, I thought Kevin was going to be the problem, but he wasn’t. He was like, ‘Oh my god, I’m sorry. Let me get all these cars out of here.’ He really worked with me. So me and Kevin are great.”
However, Mel says her other neighbor turned out to be the problem.
“Now this gentleman, I don’t know his name because he pretends he doesn’t speak English,” she says. “Which is totally fine if you don’t speak English, but you are lying, bro, because I heard you on the phone. We live right next to each other, I heard you on the phone speaking English.”
To work around the perceived language barrier, she sent her husband to talk to the neighbor. The neighbor allegedly said he had no idea whose car was parked in front of her house. However, the other neighbor had already confirmed it belonged to him. Left with little alternatives, she placed one of the warning stickers on the car. And it was gone the next morning.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Mel via email regarding the video.
Is it illegal to park in front of your neighbor’s house?
As long as the street is a public street, in most places it will not be against the law to park in front of a neighbor’s house. However, if the vehicle is determined to be abandoned or inoperable, it may be towed. The towed car may only retrieved at the owner’s expense, which could turn a matter of being considerate into an expensive problem.
In addition to paying to have the car released to you, if the car is in fact unable to be driven, it very likely will need to be towed back at the owner’s expense.
Is it going to be an issue for my Homeowners Association?
In most cases, there’s a chance it will be. Many HOAs will not allow homeowners to park junk cars or mechanically inoperable vehicles in front of homes, as they present a potential eyesore, or have rules about parking in front of another member’s home.
Some viewers encouraged the poster to look into what rules and ordinances may apply in her city to prevent it from becoming an issue again down the line.
“See if your city has an ordinance about unregistered cars,” one commenter wrote. “If it’s not legal to drive on the road, most cities won’t allow them to be parked on the street.”
“Does your city have anything against having a home based business without licensing?” another asked. “Cuz if the stickers don’t work that’s the next step.”
“I thought cars had to be in working order with updated plates to be on the street otherwise they get towed,” a third added.
@firellama1441 Don’t mind me I’m just advocating for my neighborhood #neighbors #peoplepleaser #advocate #neighborhood #drama #gossip #bayarea #california #neighborfromhell #neighborhoodwatch #standingupformyself #neighborhooddrama #hero ♬ original sound – Mel
What other viewers say
Other viewers shared that they would be looking into using a similar method to deal with inconsiderate neighbors parking in front of their home, or in otherwise reserved parking spaces.
“I need some,” one commenter wrote. “My neighbors have about 10 cars, for like 5 licensed drivers and they block my driveway and take up the whole street.”
“I should buy these bc sometimes people park their rental cars in my spot in the garage and they won’t tow out late at night,” another commented.
“Yes! My apt parking lot only has 5-6 spots (only if cars are parked correctly) and there’s a house in the alleyway who is a chop shop,” a third said. “They park their cars in the little parking lot! So frustrating!”
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