Adventures in #HomeOwnership in #Spain, episode "crazy neighbor".
Yesterday the crazy neighbor called the #PolicíaLocal on us, because we were installing a bamboo fence. But let's start from the beginning.
So, when we moved in, the crazy neighbor came to welcome us by claiming that our yard is too high, against the municipal code, and overshadows his yard. Ok, but even if it was true, it has existed there for way over six years so it becomes de-facto legalized as per Spanish law. No evidence was ever presented for the alleged code violation either.
He said that they don't actually mind the yard being high, but they don't want any kinds of hedges, fences or trees on our yard because, and I quote, "they bring shadow, moisture and spiders". All three thing are positive aspects in Andalucian nature.
Of course I understand that by "spiders" he means spider mites actually which aren't spiders but present an endemic infestation in practically all cypresses in the area.
Before we bought this house, there had been a huge, deep dark cypress hedge between our house and the neighbor's property on our side. This apparently died and was cut down for the sale because the previous owners didn't maintain anything in the house.
This cypress hedge existed throughout the existence of the house since it was constructed in 2008, and at the very least between August 2012 until March 2022, when it was properly documented by Google StreetView. This is already over 9 years, which is over 6 years, which is important and makes it legal no matter any and all claimed violations, making them moot.
So, I am completely within my rights to restore this hedge. However, since the crazy neighbor made a baseless ultimatum previously and because we don't really like cypress hedges, we decided to install a bamboo fence which doesn't breed "spiders and moisture", and doesn't block light.
After all, the crazy neighbor decided in all his wisdom to grow vine grapes on the wall leaning on our property.
Anyways, this is why he called the police on us. We had a nice chat with the two officers, who were very polite and moderately amused about the whole situation. They just asked me my name and NIE, and asked if I have a municipal permission for the fence. I told them no, that I don't need a permission since it's a restoration of a pre-existing fence.
Here are the photos of the previous cypress hedge, and the new bamboo fence.