Recently in Neighbor Disputes in Boston:

When you move into a home, you may just assume that the fenced-in area around your home marks your property lines. So on one side of the fence is your property, and on the other side your neighbor’s property.

However, fences have very little legal meaning. Instead, you may want to have your property surveyed to see just where your property ends and begins, and for other reasons as well.

Pet and smoking bans were recently brought up in The Boston Globe. Condos frequently limit the size and breed of certain dogs that you may keep, and more and more condos are banning smoking altogether. However, the libertarian in you may be wondering what powers your condo board has in preventing you from buying a 120-pound rRottweiler.

When you bought your condo, you were likely handed a booklet of condominium rules and regulations. Along with smoking and pet bans, the list of rules could have included restrictions on how much noise you can make, decorations you can adorn the outside of your condo, etc.

The town council in Bridgewater will have until October to decide whether to block the conversion of a 143-acre parcel into the Child’s Bridge Farm subdivision that would add 97 homes to the town.

While the Bridgewater construction project would seem like an economic boon during this particularly difficult real estate market, not all Bridgewater residents are happy with the proposed project. The site of the Child’s Bridge Farm project oversees a scenic part of land near the Taunton River, and current residents are afraid that the construction will ruin the scenery, bog down local roads, and generally invade the peaceful existence they currently enjoy, reports The Enterprise.

Brockton Mayor Linda Balzotti is pushing for new abandoned property law that would establish a registry for vacant and unused properties. The abandoned property registry would serve dual purposes of tracking abandoned homes as well as curbing the urban blight of ugly, unkempt land.

The proposed ordinance would require owners of vacant homes to register their homes on the city list and pay a $150 registration fee, reports The Enterprise. This fee would pay for the costs of the city to monitor the property as well as pay any up-front maintenance costs.

Massachusetts adverse possession laws may seem like an arcane topic only discussed by law students in law libraries. However, the laws may actually have much more relevancy to you than you may think.

So what is does adverse possession mean? The law states that if you’ve been in possession of property, improve it and openly possess it, then after a certain amount of time you may acquire legal title to the land even if it is owned by someone else. It’s a little like legal stealing.

A neighbor dispute got out of control and led to a Dorchester shooting. Neighbors often do not act very neighborly, and that was certainly the case in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston over the weekend.

According to The Boston Globe, an unidentified man and his neighbor, Charles Johnson, got into an argument when Johnson apparently parked his car in front of the other man’s driveway. When the man asked Johnson to move his car, the two got into a heated argument.

The Taunton real estate owned by former Boston Financial Trust trustee Michael O'Donnell has been called a nuisance to his neighbors, and now O'Donnell may understand why.

According to the Taunton Daily Gazette, O'Donnell's property, located at 115 Tremont Street, was formerly a busy farm and garden supply store. But since O'Donnell took over the land ten years ago, his neighbors claim that the property has deteriorated into an unsightly collection of dilapidated buildings, old cars, and random machinery.

A neighborly nuisance dispute is cooking up between a Norwood resident, Bill Clough, and neighborhood meat factory Home Market Foods.

The cause of the dispute? The constant smell of barbecue.

According to Wicked Local, Clough opened his window one morning several months ago and noticed a meat-cooking smell. Clough initially ignored the odor as the smells of a nearby restaurant.

But as the smell persisted for the next few days, then weeks, then months, Clough discovered that the meat smells were actually coming from Home Market Foods, a nearby factory that produces meatballs and meatloaf.

The residents of Lynn say there is something in the air; and it sure isn't love. Lynn residents are upset over a stench that has filled their community air for the summer because of a dairy factory. Rocco DiFillipo, owner of the Brickyard Bar and Grill on Blossom Street said that the smell is causing patrons to opt for indoor seating: "It's like rotten milk, and it's strong enough to make people go back inside. It's been bad."

Garelick Farms Creamery has been emitting the smell of "sewage and sour milk" thanks to the death of microbes that the creamery uses to break down waste before the waste is sent to the city's sewer treatment facility. Luckily, the creamery has sent for a new batch of microbes from a Budweiser plant in New Hampshire. In the meantime, the creamery has issued an apology to Lynn residents over the smell. A spokesman said: "We are working with local officials to take necessary steps to correct the situation."

Brighton residents and Boston College officials joined together to prevent a landlord from offering housing to additional students. The Boston Herald reports that the landlord manages a property that residents and officials claim is a nuisance property. BC Community Affairs Director Billy Mills said: "We stand as neighbors on this one. It's one of those houses that's a continual problem. You've got a large house where the kids continue to party and they're loud."

The nuisance property was already cited for violations this past October for overcrowding; even in an illegal attic apartment. The illegal attic apartment had no windows and only one exit.