Neighbour Problems!!

Woody39

Where the ball goes over it is an area where the old lady doesn't sit. She has a garden bigger than mine and sits on the patio outside her house which is lower than our house! I do care if the ball hits her and will be very upset if it does. She just wont compromise. I have tried to talk to her twice now and just end up walking away as she is rude. In a period of 11 months approx 5 balls have gone over. Its not that many. I want to be neighbourly but I cant win. Quite happy to put a net up and we do move the goal round the garden. I have as much right as she does to use my garden and will not be dictated to by her.

Brock_and_Roll

The OP it seems has been totally reasonable in their dealings with the old lady. A youngster of that age playing football for a couple of hours is a perfectly reasonable activity in their own garden.

Also:

1) Presumably at that age the OP is using cheapo footballs which are so light they unlikely to damage or hurt anything or anybody. Also it does not matter if she does not give them back.

2) Never heard of bats getting stuck in nets - if they did the cricket nets of the UK would be awash with dead and dying bats. If their echo location allows them to catch tiny flying insects on the wing in pitch darkness, I am sure they can detect a static net

Whilst I am sure it is tempting for the OP to tell the lady to "get stuffed", its probably best just to ignore her. There is nothing she can do legally or otherwise that sould give the OP a moments worry.

poppysarah

Bats only come out at dusk - so although it'd be a PITA you could put nets up when he's playing and take them down afterwards.

They're probably quite unsightly if they're up all the time anyway.

Bogof_Babe

How about getting your son a badminton kit? Or a ping pong table?:rotfl:

BornAtTheRightTime

I think posters are too ready to question the behaviour of the OP here and are not looking at the neghbour's behaviour in a similar critical light. In fact the OP is looking for a solution despite being left with no course of aciton by the neighbour, other than a blanket ban on what many would consider a reasonable activity in one's garden. The OP has also stated only 5 balls have gone over in nearly a year and not in the neighbour's seating area - not excessive IMO.

Personally I question why the previous owners persisted with a net given that the neighbour will certainly have expressed her dislike of the net to them. Was it because they had found she was not a reasonable person to deal with and this was their best compromise? If bats had been getting stuck in the net I imagine the previous owners would have removed it, as bats are protected and it sounds like this neighbour wouldn't have hesitated to call the RSPCA or Police on them! I suspect this old lady simply wants her version of peace and quiet when outside and is making up excuses to justify it.

OP should ignore the nastier comments on here and put the net back up.

Brock_and_Roll

As a slight aside to the argument, if it were me I would go and get the balls from her garden if she refuses to give them back.

Legally, the OP could take action to force the lady to give them back (and there is legal precedent for this), but she could counterclaim about damage etc if such a silly case were ever to clog up the courts or England.

As trespass is a civil matter, as long as no entry is forced or damage done (aggravated trespass), then there really is nothing she can realistically do.

When I was a youngster, if you kicked your a ball into a neighbours garden, you snuck round and got it back. Miserable old neighbours with nothing better to do than start petty arguments are nothing new - in fact I fully intend to become one myself! Humbug!

As for suggestions here to stop laying football and take up badmington etc.....pathetic. I would take up the bagpipes!

In any event the problem will go away in a year or two as the youngster outgrows the garden for football and/or the old lady moves on.

Bogof_Babe

Brock_and_Roll wrote: »

As for suggestions here to stop laying football and take up badmington etc.....pathetic. I would take up the bagpipes!

It was meant to be lighthearted, but as you wish .

I'd like to see the case where someone was forced to return a ball - that strikes me as an impingement on the garden owner's right to have no contact with the object. If a ball came into my garden and I didn't want to touch it, why would the law force me to?

Many householders these days have good fences/hedges/gates to prevent intruders, so sneaking in to fetch a ball is not an option. They'd have a job to get into ours for a start!

amblondon

Based on what the OP has said, I'd suggest that OP writes a letter to the neighbour: expressing her wish to agree a way forward; that in the absence of being able to agree this to date, she will be putting a net up to to minimise the number of times that balls will land in the neighbour's garden; that if a ball does land in the neighbour's garden the OP will be pleased to collect the ball at a time convenient to the neighbour and that the neighbour should let her know when it will be convenient; if this is not convenient to the neighbour, then the neighbour is free to dispose of any ball landing in her garden if she wishes; and that OP would be pleased to discuss this entire arrangement.

Keep a copy of the letter. If your neighbour wants to get legal about it let her but I wouldn't waste my time worrying about it if I were you.

Put the net up and let your son play, preferably with lightweight balls that you / he won't mind losing if necessary. If it really is only once every two months that a ball goes over I can't see what the issue is.

I am basing this, unlike other posters, only on what the OP has written here rather than making my own assumptions (ie speculating pointlessly) about the situation.

Cheers

Brb

5 in a year ? LOL I've thrown that amount back over this week alone.

Woody39

Any suggestions on how to put the net up! We already have 3ft retaining wall with 1ft kickboard and then a 6 ft fence = 10ft. I dont want it to be a permanent fixture as it will be a complete eyesore and the neighbour will only complain that it is interfering with her trees and nesting birds/bats. We cant fix it to the fence as she put the fence up and paid for the fence (before we moved in) but it is my boundary! That is another issue. The whole thing is driving me potty.