Neighbour hell! Advice please!

recoveringshopper

Hi people
Looking for some advice.
I am currently in a property I bought about 8 years ago with a deposit from a key worker scheme. Basically it was a good deal - they gave me the deposit money and I only need to repay it when I sell.

Have been happy in the home for most of the 8 years but recent tenants in the property next door have been making my life hell, and it's gone on for so long, I want out (have looked into 'support' avenues and found them all pretty applling).

I can't figure what to do for the best. DO I sell up? or doI rent out my property and move elsewhere in the hope that the evils next door go away?

On top of this, I am about 6-8 months away from completing a DMP which will mean I am debt free. Although I know that rationally it would be best to postpone this decision until this is up (as I will then have more funds to play with), I just don't know if I can cope with waiting it out any longer. Even as I am typing I can hear the carnage next door!It affects my health, I feel ill and stressed all the time, and basically can't bear to be in the property.


Any advice would be gratefully received please. There is no clear cut answer as there are pros and cons to all of this, so any ideas would be AMAZING as I can't see the wood for the trees! :mad:

Caroline_a

What problems are you having with your neighbours? You don't need to suffer in silence, as there are ways to address various issues!

recoveringshopper

Basically there are a bunch of teenagers living there unsupervised...and not nice teens either, the kind who scream and screech and yell, and think that everyone else has a problem if they finally say anything about it!

I've tried the council and got nowhere, and had offers of mediation, but my problem is that the official tenant (the mother) says all the right things 'I'll have a word etc' and then nothing changes...and as she isn't there, any kind of mediation will only be more of the same I've already done..

They've been gone for a few weeks, which was utter BLISS, but now are back with a vengeance...

Believe me I'm not thinking about moving light heartedly...this is after a year or so of torment without light at the end of the tunnel, so I'm feeling like getting out would be best for my own sanity!:eek:

nic_santorini

Sounds like they needs some kind of behavioural contract. There are new promises made by the Home Secretary that replace ASBO's etc and also states that if there have been 5 or more complaints by 5 separate people to agencies and they have not acted, then they have a legal obligation too, unfortunately, the council have offered mediation, so this may count as acting - what exactly are they doing? How many times have you complained? Have you got any recordings/evidence?

globetraveller

Poor you! What a nightmare. Perhaps record the noise and give to the mother? Do you think she just couldn't care less or is just maybe not very assertive?

recoveringshopper

Her idea of parenting the situation is to come to the house, yell and scream at the kids, and then leave them there...so basically adding fuel to the fire!

And the problem is that they are an end of terrace property so any 'anonymous' complaint is clearly me...I feel really on my own with it all, and had some really unpleasant dealings with the kids (shouting abuse etc) even just for talking to the mum. Plus I live on my own, and at any time there can be upwards of 4/5 teenagers there, and they are really nasty ones...


I contacted the council and they told me to log everything which I did, and that they could write to them to say there'd been a complaint, but again I fear the recrimination and making things worse...plus I've heard that when you sell a property you need to declare any formal complaints against neighbours etc so didn't want to do this in case I wanted to sell...

God, I sound so pathetic! but the thing is it's almost gone on so long now I don't know if I can feel comfortable in my own house now, even if by some miracle things changed!

And the worst of it is, this realy isn't me...I'm not some shy retiring wall flower, and I spend most of my days kicking teenager butt as a teacher, but it's so different when it's your home and the kids are the way they are..

WhiteHorse

Fight fire with fire.

Rent your house to some real thugs ... the sort who will respond to annoyance by going round and smashing their teeth in.

patman99

So, the official tenant is the mother, but she appears not to live there. If she is living elsewhere she could well be committing fraud.

As for the hellish teens, do you know who actually owns the property?, if not, a visit to the Land Registry website should throw this up. Write a letter of complaint to the property owner. They will probably be completely un-aware that the rental agency has rented it to NFH.

We took this action after neither the site management company or the letting agent were willing to deal with our complaints.
The owner promptly issued the relevant paperwork to evict them and also sacked Boydens for failing to uphold the complaints made against the tenant.

If you try to sell, you could be on a sticky wicket with the new owners if you do not make it known during the sale that you have raised complaints against the occupants of the house next door.

meds12_2

Offer the Mum money if she moves them on. Good old fashioned bribery.

Contact the EHO - they will come and put monitors in your house.

Call the police every time they shout abuse at you - it is harassment and illegal.

Buy a very barky dog, or play your music very LOUD while you are out teaching.

Write an anonymous letter to the Mum, warning her that there are !!!!!philes in the local area / care in the community scheme / halfway house for violent criminals, etc.

Put dog poo through their front door (this may be illegal )

recoveringshopper

patman99 wrote: »

So, the official tenant is the mother, but she appears not to live there. If she is living elsewhere she could well be committing fraud.

As for the hellish teens, do you know who actually owns the property?, if not, a visit to the Land Registry website should throw this up. Write a letter of complaint to the property owner. They will probably be completely un-aware that the rental agency has rented it to NFH.

We took this action after neither the site management company or the letting agent were willing to deal with our complaints.
The owner promptly issued the relevant paperwork to evict them and also sacked Boydens for failing to uphold the complaints made against the tenant.

If you try to sell, you could be on a sticky wicket with the new owners if you do not make it known during the sale that you have raised complaints against the occupants of the house next door.

Tried to go down this route before. Did the land registry search and got the owners name but guess where his address is lsted as? That's right, next door to me...

WhenI contacted theletting agent I raised this issue of fraud - if she is the tenant and not living there, surely they would want to be made aware? they pretty much didn't give a toss..

I think the problem is that the landlord is the type who, as long as he gets his ren paid, won't be fussed...he clearly spends little on the maintenance of the property unless he absolutely has to. And as their rent is being paid by the council, he is always going to be getting his money..

even tried contacting the council housing dept and got absolutely no response whatsoever, so really feel like I'm banging my head against a wall. Complain and inflame...and nothing happens, or put up with it and suffer...

neither are really great but the hell I endured the last time I 'raised my head above the parapet' was so stressful I can't tell you..

That's why I eventually thought moving...though I hate to feel like I'm admitting defeat, I think life is too short for me to endure this any longer...feel like life is on hold and I am entirely at the mercy of a bunch of sods who couldn't care less, and that's just not how I want to live my life!

RuthnJasper

Are the teenagers legally allowed (e.g. old enough) to be living by themselves? Just a thought.

One of my work colleagues had exactly this problem with neighbours of his parents. Mum rented the flat below them for kids to go to the local college. They weren't abusive, fortunately, but they were VERY noisy. They were also obviously (the whole building stank of it) smoking weed, as well as playing drums and electric guitars at all hours. My colleague's mum is agoraphobic, so she had it going on all day, and his father has several mental health-related issues already. The neighbours were making my colleague's parents very, very unwell and pleas to the lads' mums fell on deaf ears. He tried to resolve the situation amicably. He also got some of his hard-nut acquaintances to pay the lads "a little visit" (I don't advocate trying this, however).

What finally resolved it in the end, though, was when they got the Police along when the smell of pot was particularly rampant. My colleague had warned the mothers that he would do this, but got nowhere.

I really feel for you OP; it's a dreadful thing to have to put up with. Good luck. xx