We've all heard stories of terrible neighbors who complain, steal our trash cans, encroach on our property lines by an inch or two, or even trim our plants and trees.
As terrible as these examples are, TikToker Linz DeFranco has a neighborhood horror story that's sure to hit the record books.
Last September, her neighbor approached her about a backyard renovation that would involve removing his trees and possibly a few of hers for clearance, as well as possibly restructuring a retention pond.
She made it very clear at the time that he needed to run his plans by her before she'd agree to anything, which he agreed to at the time. When she heard nothing from him again for the next year, she assumed the project either was on pause or no longer needed to involve her.
Out of the blue, a contractor contacted her about some plans that she'd need to sign, but she never saw plans or signed anything, so again, she assumed that plans had changed or did not include her or her property.
To say she was shocked or devastated by how wrong she was about that assumption would be an understatement.
Her property included her home, front lot, back lot, and a side yard, since a previous owner had purchased it to maintain privacy and to protect the healthy, mature, forest-like tree line.
But when the TikToker walked out on to her back porch, she was faced with her backyard totally gutted, the retention pond filled, and nearly the entire treeline removed, with the remaining mature trees already looking unhealthy and shocked from the disruption to their roots.
She posted her TikTok, seeking viewers who would "be angry with her," and her viewers did not disappoint.
You can watch her first video here:
Fellow TikTokers were certainly angry on DeFranco's behalf and encouraged her to seek legal counsel.
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Later in the day, DeFranco posted a follow-up video, still cycling through her grief.
She'd "cried a lot" prior to making her first video and was angry in that clip, while she was clearly exhausted, grieving, and struggling with feelings of injustice in the second.
While she was reassured by her fellow TikTokers that she wasn't overreacting about this, and that there were steps that she could take to rectify the situation, it still wasn't fair that the onus of correcting the situation fell on her.
You can watch the second video here:
The third installment in the series came the next day, in which DeFranco was visibly exhausted after very little sleep, more tears, and going through the comments section.
To share more with the audience about what had actually happened, she walked out into the debris and stood where her property line had been destroyed. It was clear where the neighbor should have stopped digging between the two homes instead of encroaching deep into the DeFranco's family's backyard.
You can see the third video here:
Some time went by between the third video and the fourth video, as paperwork processing slowed for the holidays.
DeFranco had made progress with the HOA community, and with them now on her side, she was beginning to pursue other legal agreements, like permits and paperwork that had been filed with the city that "demanded" that her trees be cut down.
The biggest step forward had been a surveyor who'd come onto the property and admitted that this was the most extensive example of encroachment he'd ever seen in his line of work.
You can see the fourth video here:
While fellow TikTokers were glad to see that DeFranco was making progress, they were still all in their feels about what had happened.
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This is such an incredibly devastating loss, not just for the DeFrancos but for the surrounding community. The damage—to their family's privacy and comfort, to the beauty and history of the old woods, to the trees themselves and the many lives they hosted in their roots, trunks, and branches—is practically irreparable.
DeFranco is doing what she can to pursue legal action, and we hope her neighbor will learn a thing or two about tree law.
