Advice Needed - Neighbours

janninew

bennymac wrote: »

i can see both sides of the dog argument in this myself but its no reason for scratching someones car thats just vindictive.
my neighbour had a girl move in with 3 dogs... i was quite happy with him as a neighbour before but now i have to put up with dogs barking at me when i go into my own garden plus she lets them out very late at night around 1am sometimes and they bark around the garden at rabbits etc which wakes us up etc. I get very fed up with it as it was so peaceful before but as i said would never stoop to vandalising someones car.

As far as im concerned though there is no dog argument going on! My dogs make hardly any noise, compared to their kids who spend all day screaming and playing in the garden. I would never allow my dogs to bark late at night, i'm very considerate of my neighbours.

janninew

dieselhead wrote: »

Sorry but I'm going to have to disagree with the above a bit. To me with the exception of the car scratch it sounds a bit like 6 of one and half a dozen of the other.

If next doors dogs were coming into my garden I would be furious, and I OP I really think it should be you who is blocking the hole in the fence to ensure it dosn't happen again. Also are your dogs outside for the majority of the day, I think people are happy to put up with a certain amount of barking and doggie playfulness, but that type of noise can get tiresome after a while.

As for the ball popping well they shouldn't have thrown it over should they, if it leaves their garden then they should consider it a bonus if they get it back, so I certainly wouldn't buy them another one.

As for the scratch on the car, unless you have any proof I think its going to be impossible to do anything, other than keep an eye on things.

Think you've got the wrong end of the stick!! My dogs have never been in my neighbours garden! I would never allow that to happen and of course my neighbours would have every right to be furious if it did! When i'm at work my dogs are in the house, never in the garden. They make minimal noise when i'm at home, i've lived here for 6 years with my dogs and i've always gotten on well with my previous neighbours, i'm pretty sure they would let me know if i was making to much noise!

gratefulforhelp_2

Having been in a situation with dreadful neighbours, I would advise that you look on one of the advice websites for problem neighbours.

A key thing they will say is that your fence is your best asset, so I would get someone round to fix the hole, or do it yourself.

My problem was with my dog, and the neighbour also. If she said "woof" even once after 9.30, he was round shouting the odds. It escalated to him threatening my husband with a shovel...

You do not need to replace the ball, it shouldn't have been in your garden. If it had broken a prized plant, would they have paid to replace that?

You will need a crime reference number to claim on your insurance as your car has been vandalised, this will involve contacting the police. You need to think carefully about who you tell about your suspicions, as other posters have said, you will have to reveal this when you sell, if anything is recorded in writing.

Huge good luck with this, it's horrid.

p.s. other advice from nasty neighbour websites include

wear shades when out so they can't see your eyes/know you're rattled
speak about them to others as little as possible, and if you do refer to them as Mr and Mrs............ to distance yourself
Consider whether you want to put up with this, or would it be better to move?

If your dogs do cause a statutory nuisance, they can get environmental health to do something, as they probably don't there's nothing they can do, except act like thugs.

tomstickland

The neighbour has not gone about this in a sensible manner. If they have a problem with the dogs then they should calmly explain what the problem is.
The car scratching suggests that they are a bit mental.

dieselhead

janninew wrote: »

Think you've got the wrong end of the stick!! My dogs have never been in my neighbours garden! I would never allow that to happen and of course my neighbours would have every right to be furious if it did! When i'm at work my dogs are in the house, never in the garden. They make minimal noise when i'm at home, i've lived here for 6 years with my dogs and i've always gotten on well with my previous neighbours, i'm pretty sure they would let me know if i was making to much noise!

I'm sorry, I had read that incorrectly, disregard my comments!

red_devil

If a ball comes into someones garden technically they have to leave it where it is!

The_Banker_5

red_devil wrote: »

If a ball comes into someones garden technically they have to leave it where it is!

Is that just a ball or is that every object that comes into someones garden?

Kaz2904

Well my neighbours have a lab. We didn't know they had a dog until we heard her crying at night (occasionally) after a couple of weeks.
After that we rarely heard her but knew they had her because neighbours asked if her crying bothered us.
Then the window cleaner came one day and startled the dog, then went round the house peering in every window. She now barks every time someone rings the bell.
If she's in the garden and we go out into ours she will play quite happily but if she spots us she says "Woof woof woof!" (get out of my garden!).
My kids kicked a ball over into their garden and it was popped by the dog. Neighbour said sorry dog popped it- she does that. There was never any question of it being replaced.
Neighbours daughter said they were off for the weekend and I asked if I was supposed to be feeding the cat, she went and got her Mum who came out and said she was trying to find a kennel. I asked why when we had said we would look after the cat. After lots of umming and ahhing they left the dog with us.
She still woofs if we go in the garden! (Or knock on the door for that matter!)
I think that the best feeling I had was when I got up in the night one night and went downstairs because I had heard a noise. I always run my hand down the wall when I walk downstairs because I'm not very steady on my feet. I got half way downstairs and heard her woof. Now I know that if anything happens to us at night, the dog will wake next door up and they will come and help!
Doggie is lurvely and the kids know that if a ball goes over, it's there loss!

RLH33

We have two dogs who can, on occasion bark when in the garden, but luckily we have very good neighbours who don't mind and in fact will tell them off themselves if they know I am out!! I have told them they can do this though.

If I were you, I would either go round there, or next time you see them, apologise for the dogs popping the ball but say that that is what dogs do and that as the ball came into your garden you aren't going to pay for a replacement. Then very sweetly I would say that your car has been vandalised and ask had they seen anything seeing as they live right next door. I would then tell them that they had better be careful about their car as it may happen again. Then explain that the damage to the car has worried you and that you have called the police and will be keeping a close eye on the front garden from now on and if it happens again you may consider getting cctv for the front.

Tell them all this very nicely and innocently not accusing them in the slightest but also making it clear that if it happens again you will not take it so lightly. You never know this may shame them into thinking twice about their actions.

RAS

janninew wrote: »

The fence belongs to both of us, when it was damaged in winter we split the cost in half, so i suppose it belongs to us both.

Er... No.

Check you deeds. As a rule boundaries belong to one household or the other. occasionally they are a joint responsibility. My west boundary is next door's responsibility and the east boundary is shared because the hill slopes and the lower half of the wall is below my garden level.