My neighbours are unbelievable

insulationwoes

Hi everyone,

I'm a regular poster here and I didn't know where else to put this as I know you guys are a lot nicer than some of the other forums and I trust your opinion.

I'm posting this under a new user name as I don't want to be recognised by the people in question who I know go on here as well so just in case they can't harrass me online as well!

It all started about 6 months ago when my wife and I decided we needed to get wall insulation for our aging terraced house as last year was absolutely horrendous for cold and as we could hardly afford to feed and clothe ourselves let alone pay the heating bill we decided this needed to change. We sought out a local contractor to do the work as we had looked into grants and the like but we weren't eligible and my mother had kindly gave us the money for it.

Anyway, the guy came in and started the work in September. It took him about a week to finish everything and he even insulated the loft for us as well free of charge which we were very pleased about. During this time our next-door neighbours (who we have never got on with) were complaining about the noise and the dust (there was no dust in our house whatsoever from the work so I don't understand how they had any from it?!). We apologised and told them that it wasn't going to be for much longer and that we were just getting insulation put in.

Now - I'm usually a very laid back person and I get on with anybody. Not these people. I hate to stereotype and judge but this family are the absolute lowest form of society imaginable. All of them (mum, dad, 2 eldest boys and 3 young girls) who somehow manage to fit in a 2 up 2 down terraced house house, play music all day/night, let their dog foul in the front garden (shared with ours) and don't clean it up. None of them work, the dad is on incapacity benefit and DLA for a herniated back even though he regulary lifts weights and works out in the back garden, mum is on the same sort of stuff for depression. The kids shout and fight all day and the 2 eldest lads have been in and out of youth offenders most of their life. Yadda yadda long list of stuff. Just general not very nice people to have as neighbours.

So I tell them we're having insualtion put in. Their faces drop.

"You can't"

Errrr... i'm sorry what?

"It's a terraced street you need permission from the houses next door to get that done or summink right? You havent asked us"

Now I don't know if that's correct for cavity wall insulation but the houses on our street are old and as such we had solid wall insulation put on the internal walls so we weren't even going near them! They reluctantly nod at me and slink back to their house looking annoyed.

Time passes, all the work is complete and we have a nice shiny (very warm) home and this winter was brilliant, we only had the heating on TWICE when it snowed and got very cold and the house was so much more comfortable to be in.

Fast forward to 3 weeks ago. Next door neighbour dad comes knocking at the door and drops the biggest mindblowing bombshell on me

"You need to remove yer insulation mate"

I ask why

"We've had to have our heating on all the time, usually we dont have it on because you and *their other next door neighbour* have yours on"

Yes that's right. They don't turn their heating on because they steal it from us.

"So you need to remove it because it's law that all terraced houses have to share the heat"

I honestly had one of those double take moments where I had to think about what he just said. I told him that i'm pretty sure that isn't true and they would just have to deal with it.

Fast forward again to today. They've been round again telling us if we don't remove the insulation they are going to take us to court. For what reason I asked, they said "for loss of heat and money".

I am absolutely shocked/stunned/bemused by this whole situation and i'm not sure what really to do.

bitbybit_3

You seem to have Neighbours from Hell. I feel really sorry for you.

Firstly your neighbour is Wrong. Wrong and Wrong. This is taken from an insulation site:

Question: My house is semi-detached/terraced and my neighbour(s) doesn't want cavity wall insulation. Can you still insulate my walls?

Answer: Yes, your house can still be insulated. The installer will need to form a hole at the top and bottom of the wall to insert a spacer at the junction between the two houses. This prevents insulation being blown into the cavity of your neighbour's house.

Assuming that your builder did the above, which he likely did then you are fine. There is NO LAW in the UK that says you must share your heating with your neighbours.

Does you neighbour own his own house? If not I would report HIM to the housing association for harassment and anti social behaviour.

Good Luck :money:

Hovel_lady

Tell them to take you to court then. Even lawyers need a good laugh.

mrsb83_2

They're talking nonsense. Ignore as best you can.

Kwaker_Knacker

I find this incredible. Share your heat with your neighbours??? Hahaha, never heard such an amusing statement in ages.

Ask the scrote if his d*** can touch his a*** cos he can go **** himself (but take out the asterisks when you mention it )

And tell him to bring on the court case, not that it would get anywhere near a court.

And while you're on, get onto the Council about the dog mess. Even if it's his own property the environmental people should still be able to get him to clean it up.

Unbelievable!!!

K_K

jonjamie1970

I'm sorry you had to type a big post but the answer is simple. I imagine that because now you have no heat loss through the roof then its not filetring through to his loft, are the loft areas open or seperated ?
Just tell them to Jog On, they wont have anything to take you to court with and they are full of it.

jonjamie1970

Oh and ring the environmental health line local to you with regard to the music etc.

Shovel_Lad

Print off a nice invoice for half your heating bills for however long you've been neighbours and present it to him. Tell him if he doesn't pay his "share" of the "shared heating" bill you'll take him to court.

Oh, and take a video of him working out in his back garden with his herniated disc.

jonjamie1970

Oh and another thing, a sneaky picture of the dad doing his weights would interest the benefit fraud hotline people, I begrudge working my !!!! off to support low life like this.

Maestro.

ahhh this is hilarious. tell them to take you to court. the legal fees alone will scare them off, and they wouldn't get a dime from you!

lamarsi

good grief and i thought my neighbour's were k**bs! loving shovel lad's advice!!
oh and I'm not changing my name in case they are on here and recognise me ha!!!