New homeowner builds shed next to property line without informing neighbor, neighbor submits repeated anonymous complaints to the building inspector to get it torn down despite being built to code: ‘Next day I got a stop build order’ – FAIL Blog

And being considerate is the foundation of any relationship, but especially so with neighbors. There’s always this strained component, this fragility, to a relationship that isn’t built on love or closeness, but necessity. It’s almost a professional relationship in a sense, as if you had a coworker who knew the ins and outs of your life and was privy to your secrets purely because they can overhear a lot (or enough) of it through sheer proximity.

So, when the contract frays, things get tense quickly, small slights rapidly accumulate and grow large. And without the usual foundations of a relationship to fall back on the whole thing sours rather quickly and then you’re stuck together on those adjacent plots of land, the proximity alone grating like sandpaper that can’t be escaped.