That doesn’t sound like a good return on their investment.

You can’t always control what your neighbor does. If you live in a neighborhood with a Homeowners’ Association, you can absolutely control the color of mulch that your neighbor uses in their front lawn by reporting the issue to the HOA. But sometimes a neighbor will do whatever they want, regardless of whether an HOA dictates their actions. 

It can be frustrating when one of your neighbors never mows their lawn while you keep yours clean and pristine. While it doesn’t technically harm you in any real way, it can reflect poorly on the neighborhood, dragging down property values, so it’s harder to sell your home. A lot of the time, it’s just plain ugly! People don’t want to live next door to a house that is never maintained and looks shabby compared to the rest of the neighborhood, which is why Homeowners Associations are desirable to some. 

There’s a significant distinction between a neighbor who neglects to maintain their home and one who maintains it too much. They are obsessed with their yard, and with your yard. Nobody likes being neighbors with a busybody the same way that nobody wants to be neighbors with a slob. 

Reddit user Educational_Sink8355 asked what he should do in this weird situation with his neighbor. His neighbor installed solar panels and is now micromanaging the shade his tall trees cast on the panels. If I were this neighbor, I would’ve thought about that before I spent $21K on solar panels, but obviously he’s not smart enough to think through it so thoroughly. Instead, he’s trying to force his neighbor to remove his Redwood tree because it’s costing him $37 per month in electricity.