Holiday decorations stay up too long

Visitor Question: We have a problem in our smaller city with people leaving their holiday decorations up for way too long.

For example, as I am writing this today, it is two weeks after Halloween, and my next door neighbor still has one of those 12 foot tall skeletons hanging partially over our back yard. Maybe foolishly, we were willing to tolerate this until Halloween, but now it is time for it to come down.

Another example is that further down the block, we have a neighbor who has already put up colored Christmas lights all along the front of the house, outlining the windows and doors as well as the roofline. She also put a color wheel out in the front yard and apparently plans to leave it there till Christmas, or I'm afraid it will be Valentine's Day.

Are there any codes that describe when people can put up holiday decorations and when they are required to take them down? If so, do the codes describe what constitutes a holiday decoration? I can see one of these neighbors arguing that these items are not specific to holidays.

Editor Reply: Yes, this is a question that comes up fairly often, especially in homeowners associations (HOAs). However, apparently you aren't living in under an HOA, but are wondering about regular city codes.

The answer is that many cities do have a code requirement about when holiday decorations can be put up, and even more often, they make a requirement for when they must be taken down. The problem is that these regulations vary from community to community, so you must investigate what your specific city's codes say.

I have heard several groups that advise HOAs say that the holiday decorations should be removed two weeks after the holiday. That seems a little harsh to me, but certainly a time limit is very reasonable.

I am aware of city codes that allow up to two months after the holiday for the removal of decorations. Longer periods of time seem a little more common in areas where winter is brutal, apparently on the thought that bad weather may make it difficult to remove decorations such as lights safely.

In my own city there is no regulation about when decorations can be displayed before a holiday, but there is a removal requirement after the holiday.

I have not seen or heard of a definition of a holiday decoration, or an enumeration of which holidays merit decorations, for that matter. I suspect that some city has such an ordinance though.

To sum up, you will not know if this is a code enforcement matter until you look at your own city's codes. Either you can call city hall and ask the question, or if you do not want to do that, or if your "smaller" city does not keep regular office hours, see if the codes are published online. Most cities have done this because it reduces the number of phone calls to city hall. There are even services that host these municipal codes so that your city does not have to burden its own website with the storage of this content.

Then after you learn the code, the next question for you will be whether you want to file a complaint in either or both of these instances.

Since these are close neighbors, you may want to weigh the likelihood that you will be identified as the person who complained, and if so, whether that would harm your relationships with these neighbors.

The other suggestion that we make frequently is that you should not underestimate the value of a direct conversation with these neighbors. If you are friends now, most likely you will remain friends afterward if you approach the subject in a light-hearted way and with extreme tact. However, if you hardly know these neighbors, that may be too difficult, and I would understand.

If you have a neighborhood association, ask the president if there could be a discussion of this problem when you meet. Framing the conversation in a general way rather than pointing the finger at a specific resident may be another way to move this agenda forward.

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