The neighbors never mow the lawn, their front porch is collapsing, and there's a car up on blocks in the driveway. How can we make them clean up?

THE FIRST STEP: Talk to them about your concerns and try to be sympathetic. Maybe they want to fix that porch but can't afford to right now.

THE NEXT STEP: Inform your neighbor of the relevant local ordinances. "A neighbor's messy yard devalues your property," says Cora Jordan, an attorney and mediator in Oxford, Mississippi, and the author of Neighbor Law (Nolo, $18, www.amazon.com). So it's in your interest to make their property presentable. Many towns have explicit rules about landscape maintenance. Broken-down cars in plain sight are usually a violation of local law. A typical ordinance requires any disabled car to be either enclosed or placed behind a fence.

THE LAST RESORT: Check for violations of health and safety or fire codes. "If a house appears unsafe or uninhabitable — it has a badly leaking or sagging roof, for example — the owners can be forced to bring it up to code," says Brian Dunkiel, a partner in the law firm Shems, Dunkiel & Kassel, in Burlington, Vermont. Contact your city clerk's office and ask where to report the violations. Encourage other neighbors to do the same.