Definitely talk to someone in the city, particularly the code compliance (or similar) department. If you don't get any help there, someone in the health department might be able to help. That would especially be the case if you happen to see (or think you see, or imagine you see if you squint your eyes just the right way) rodents or other nuisance/prone to be disease carrying animals.

If they are hoarders... you should absolutely call code enforcement. Hoarding comes with rodents, bugs, and disease.

@spacezorro: How close is your house to theirs? If the backyard is that conjested and disorganized (although I guess they are grouping the vacuums) I would imagine the inside is just as bad. This would concern me regarding a possible fire or something? If they have boxes and boxes of newspaper/magazines/flamable stuff it just seems like it would be bad news bears if they dropped a cigarette or left a candle burning.

Also, I definitely agree with the post regarding home value. If you're planning on selling in the near future you would definitely want to contact someone.

If they arn't encroaching on your property, live and let live.
Why is everyones first recaction to involve the government into their petty problems. If they are not hurting anyone what is the problem?

Build a bigger fence if it bothers you. I wouldn't feel compelled to "do" anything unless it was directly affecting me ie: safety concerns, infestation concerns (mice, termites, etc), poison concerns (chemicals (automotive, for instance) leaching into the groundwater, etc) and the like. Even at that - i would likely speaktotheneighborfirst to address my concerns. 311, DOB, code enforcement, or whatever they call the agency in your area is a last resort if your other efforts have failed.

if he's moved stuff you've asked him to, and no dangerous conditions (for you) exist, then whats the big deal? live and let live.

@ruger9mm - those posters are curtain neighbors (only know them by how often they pull aside the curtains to be nosy, and call the department of buildings lol) - and I bet they are the same people who complain about too much government in general. The sheer amount of passivity on these boards is sad.

@jsoko: The banks have hurt the value of your home. I'd love to see some people get as worked up about that as they do a neighbor's messy yard. By extension, your argument has also been used to prevent minorities from moving into certain neighbors... get the block association all riled up because blacks and hispanics lower the property values lol. Property values are a liquid thing, and unless you're selling right now - it's a silly argument. I sold a home next to messy neighbors. When i had people coming over to look at the property - i simply asked my neighbor to clean the bikes off his porch as a favor, and he did. Just being messy doesn't make them unreasonable. They probably know they are messy, and can't help it. A simple conversation is less damaging than this stupid habit of calling some random authority.

while you may not like living next to someone with a messy yard - you have no inherent right for everyone to be neat and clean to please you.

@goatcrapp: While i'm not advocating @jsoko's comments, it seems a bit of a leap to go from neighborhood eyesore to racial discrimination. I don't care too much what my neighbors look like, but I don't want to live next door to Fred Sanford.

The Sanford & Son reference was not meant to be racist (just a junk collector).

If you live in a fairly well off neighborhood and have reason to think these folks have some means, you might consider picking up brochures for storage places nearby and looking for a chance for an over-the-fence chat. Say something like, "Ive noticed you seem to have a lot more stuff than storage, so I thought you might be interested in these." Offer to spend a weekend helping them load it all up in a moving van to take it to storage. There's a good chance they will get the hint. Or maybe not. My next door neighbor has a pack of sweet but noisy, smelly, unvetted yard dogs. Two of them are chained for life because his fence is too low and they jump out. I have given him brochures for invisible fences and more appropriate tie out systems, but he blows me off. I have talked with him about training and it goes in one ear and out the other. In the end, you pick your friends, but not your family or your neighbors. You just have to live with those.

@magiclela: They are the behind our house neighbor.. so we share our back common cinderblock wall.

@goatcrapp: There are no smells, pests, etc.. and he does move stuff when I ask him to. I did ask him if he could reduce the amount of stuff once and he told me it was part of his "Inventory" (so no)

Absolutely. Many cities are experienced with this type of problem and hoarding is an increasingly common reason for code enforcement calls.

http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/10/02/3413622/hurst-uses-team-approach-for-code.html

OMG! You must be the guy who lives behind ME!

Seriously, I don't know how well you know these neighbors, or whether you know their other family members. If it reaches the point where you suspect that they might be placing their lives in danger (or yours) because of a mental health issue that has led to hoarding, you might want to approach one of their family members who does not live there. Without knowing more details, I am envisioning a mature couple whose kids have grown and moved out or something like that. If it is a situation like this, you might want to contact one of their adult children to tell them that you are concerned about the health of their parents. A family member can deal with such things from a standpoint that a neighbor cannot. If this were my mother I would hope that one of her neighbors would contact me to let me know she needed help.

Hoarders are sad. Their mentality comes from thinking that everything will some day have a value. I call it antiques road show mentality. They can't bear to throw anything away and can't seem to stop picking up junk. I've dealt with this myself with my family. Even my brother that tries to deny he's a hoarder is basically one. Whenever people or family have to visit, usually they make an attempt to clean up their act. Disgusting people like your neighbors annoy me though. That's just wretched.

OK there is a big difference between a hoarder and a filthy pig. A Hoarder is someone who collects certain things...like old bikes, cars etc. A filthy pic is someone who lives in filth and garbage. They are too fat and lazy to take out the trash, so they just throw it on the floor. These people SHOULD die in their own filth. It's natural selection.

@wootmeharder: Actually, someone who collects just one type of thing is a collector. Hoarders tend to hoard all manner of things. The filth and waste seems to be invisible to them. It is a form of obsession that is pretty much the flip side of the neat-freak coin. That doesn't mean we have to just accept their behaviors, any more than other destructive psychological behaviors. But these folks should be viewed with the same compassion you would give to anyone who is sick and not in control of their own behavior.

It's private property so you can't stop them unless they are breaking some law. If you're in an area with West Nile, call the CDC. Piles of junk equals puddles/ponds of rain water which equals breading grounds for lots of critters. Unless the critters are causing a health issue, you won't be able to do anything.

You're best bet may be to get a large group of neighbors together request they build a high wood fence so their piles can't be seen.

@wnyx585am: I've been on enough block associations, homeowners associations, and etc (i firmly believe in knowing your enemy) to know that the leap in discussion from eyesore neighbor to racism is a very, very small one which is exactly why i brought it up. all you need is a few people "brave" enough to be in agreement, to cow the rest of the group who really wouldn't care either way, and bam - you have a new bylaw that, while creatively avoiding certain language, is absolute racism.

I think it's naive to pretend it doesn't happen.

Two things. First, hoarding is much more common than most people think. I used to believe that maybe one or two houses in a city had hoarders. I work with a bunch of firefighters (who end up getting involved in many of these calls) and one of them straightened me out. "There is one in every neighborhood. Probably one in yours." Made me think.

It couldn't hurt to call the Code Enforcement office of Clark County and discuss the situation. I'm sure they get calls like yours on a daily basis, and can tell you if there is anything they could do (or if anything is really likely to happen) if you make a formal complaint. You may decide that the likelihood of anything getting changed is low, compared with the probability of annoying your neighbor. (very high). It seems like your relationship is cordial right now (he moves things when asked). Maybe that is the best you are realistically going to do.

@wootmeharder: I can only assume that you do not have any professional training in medicine or mental illness. There is a difference between those who allow things to get messy because they are lazy and those who are suffering from true mental illness. Of course, we can't and shouldn't diagnose @spacezorro's neighbors, but if he (she?) is sufficiently concerned about the neighbors, he should keep the possibility of a mental health issue in mind.