Blocking purchase

scrummy_mummy_2

Whilst all of the advice given so far is sound...it has been given to a sane person from other sane people...this woman (& partner) appear to have a different view of reality. To them the World and the things and behaviours that go on it (and that are acceptable) are different to the World we see.
Whilst doing all the sane stuff like getting police involved etc...it might be worth ringing your local social services team and speaking to someone in their psychiatric team...they might know these individuals (or perhaps should at least be aware of them!) Ask if there is anything else you can do to protect yourself from this harrassment/behaviour. It may be that ultimately you have to bring a civil action for a restraining order...still, this is a sane act which you are expecting insane people to comply with.! It may be that they are already known to Social Services and have a 'condition' that leads them to behave in such a way but that they have been assesssed and are not actually dangerous...just all mouth and no trousers.
I'd ring the psych team and ask for their help. They are better place to deal with distorted individuals than we are. Don't know if there are any national organisations for advice on this sort of thing.???


Good luck.

callmelinda

scrummy_mummy wrote:

Whilst all of the advice given so far is sound...it has been given to a sane person from other sane people...this woman (& partner) appear to have a different view of reality. To them the World and the things and behaviours that go on it (and that are acceptable) are different to the World we see.
Whilst doing all the sane stuff like getting police involved etc...it might be worth ringing your local social services team and speaking to someone in their psychiatric team...they might know these individuals (or perhaps should at least be aware of them!) Ask if there is anything else you can do to protect yourself from this harrassment/behaviour. It may be that ultimately you have to bring a civil action for a restraining order...still, this is a sane act which you are expecting insane people to comply with.! It may be that they are already known to Social Services and have a 'condition' that leads them to behave in such a way but that they have been assesssed and are not actually dangerous...just all mouth and no trousers.
I'd ring the psych team and ask for their help. They are better place to deal with distorted individuals than we are. Don't know if there are any national organisations for advice on this sort of thing.???


Good luck.

I think it would be against some data protection act for any authority or organisation to disclose whether or not these people have a mental condition which is known to them.

This is a serious matter regardless of any mental condition that these people may or may not have. I don't think that's something to pursue since not only you will not find out it's probably the case that people that deal with mental conditions aren't going to be able to diagnose the actions of such people from afar either and the "strange" people aren't going to go sit in with a practitioner.

Whatever is wrong with them, whether they are disturbed or just bullies and timewasters, you have a right for them not to be hassling you and making threats and I wouldn't worry about trying to work out their minds, I'd worry about being safe.

scrummy_mummy_2

I did not recommend that the 'personal details' of the individuals concerned should/would be likely to be discussed between social services and the OP...I recommended that social services advice be sought on what, if anything else, can be done by the OP when faced with these people who may (or may not!) actually be clinically unstable/deranged/insane/abnormal. Whatever words you choose to use.
No client confidenatiality can be breached if the OP names the individuals concerned to Social Services, but Social Services do not discuss any personal details they have on the individuals if they are registered with them.
Of course no-one can be 'diagnosed' from afar, and that is not what I was suggesting should happen, but their behaviour patterns, if true, are outside of what 'normal society' would consider the accepted norms and so it is a reasonable assumption that someone/some organisation who is TRAINED and exposed to varying degrees of mental issues/problems/health on a daily basis may be able to suggest an alternative or complimentary approach to ensure that the OP (and the other parties) are kept safe.

callmelinda

Scrummy, I assumed by saying that social services may know these people, you would, by default, have to state their names which would be pointless since the social services couldn't say whether they had dealt with them before or not. No background knowledge could be attained from the call.

So, working on the basis social services can't tell you about individuals, you're presenting them with details of odd behaviour of someone you really don't know well and nothing more - there's no medical background, knowledge of medication etc. You're trying to seek good, reliable and accurate advice - which I agree, is something worthwhile if you can get it and I'm not trying to belittle that idea at all so please don't think I am. I'm simply saying the level of information social services professionals would be working off has to question the quality of advice they could possibly give, no matter their training. In fact, I would think the more trained they are, the more they may feel that they can only give good advice if they actually know about the person's condition.

I didn't say you were suggesting mental illness could be judged from afar - I'm saying that if they don't have everything they need to know, then calling up for advice on the situation is basically asking for the social services to judge what might be wrong and give you advice based on that.

Since mental illness can be incredibly hard to diagnose in its various forms even when knowing everything about a person, plus, when it is diagnosed the advice on how to act towards the ill person will vary on knowing about the individual, I just don't see the benefit of this route.

Personally, I would rather stick with concentrating on collecting evidence of their threatening or harrassing behaviour and then seeking protection from the authorities. If it turns out they have a mental illness, that's one thing, but I don't think knowing one way or another about their mental state should change the fact you should just be avoiding engaging in any direct conversation or communication with them other than to state "please do not contact us" if they call.

udydudy

pip_on_the_move wrote:

The couple we were selling to turned out to be total nutcases. We refused to sell to them, so they have made an offer on the house we were going to buy. We have a huge flat, and they want the extra space. The house we were going to buy is teeny tiny because we want a smaller place, and we know they don't actually want to buy it.

How long can they go on pretending they're going to buy the house before they have to own up and pull out of the purchase?

Is this common?

I would strongly suggest you lodge a complaint with thepolice everytime they come around your house. that way after 3-4 complaints it will be deemed as harrasementa nd unlawful tresspass should they enter your house. If they are threateneing you then it is no longer a civel matter at all.

I had a similar matter (not property related) and I made it a point to persist with lodging a police complaint and getting a crime reference number. Finally after 2 years of persistence and repeatedly receiving a ice cold response from the police (though they had to lodge the complaint & give a crime reference no every time) they formally arrested the person and I believe finger printed the person. so now either I can mmove court for an injunction wich will be much easily granted against the person contacting me or coming to my house.

Also this injunction once i get it will also empower the police to arrest and detain her. The l;ast time the arrest was more to do with cautioning and stuff like that (I am not from a legal background).

I would suggest you do that. Give their names and lodge a complaint to the police and after 3-4 times move court for an injunction giving your repeated complaints against them. If you can afford a CCTV camera like the ones available from maplin then have them which will also be proof of them harrassing you.

I will PM you links of the harrassment act which this would come under. I did my ground work form scratch. if you need any help PM me direct and I will give u details of what i did.

maninthestreet

pip_on_the_move wrote:

We went to the police, and they don't want to know. They said these people haven't done anything criminal. She can come here and wander around and as it's private property it's a civil matter, not criminal. We let them listen to a voicemail message where she's going on about having the neighbours evicted, and they didn't bat an eyelid. All just hot air apparently. Everything's civil around here I think. :rolleyes2 I still can't get over the fact that they don't mind being recorded on voicemail talking about stuff like that.

I don't think our local force has a very good reputation. And they don't understand harassment law at all. They're hopeless. We would call them if the pair turned up and got violent though, but they're not much use in any other circumstance I'm afraid.

We'll speak to a solicitor on Monday, and hope the mad pair don't turn up and start boiling bunnies in our kitchen before then. :rolleyes2

There is a clearly a prima facie case for breach of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997; visiting you property uninvited, telephoning you, etc consitutes harassing behaviour, it is not reasonable under the circumstances, and this constitutes a criminal act, not merely a civil offence. You need to lodge a formal complaint with your local police force about they way they have handled your original complaint.

Mrs_Arkwright

callmelinda wrote:

Scrummy, I assumed by saying that social services may know these people, you would, by default, have to state their names which would be pointless since the social services couldn't say whether they had dealt with them before or not. No background knowledge could be attained from the call.

So, working on the basis social services can't tell you about individuals, you're presenting them with details of odd behaviour of someone you really don't know well and nothing more - there's no medical background, knowledge of medication etc. You're trying to seek good, reliable and accurate advice - which I agree, is something worthwhile if you can get it and I'm not trying to belittle that idea at all so please don't think I am. I'm simply saying the level of information social services professionals would be working off has to question the quality of advice they could possibly give, no matter their training. In fact, I would think the more trained they are, the more they may feel that they can only give good advice if they actually know about the person's condition.

I didn't say you were suggesting mental illness could be judged from afar - I'm saying that if they don't have everything they need to know, then calling up for advice on the situation is basically asking for the social services to judge what might be wrong and give you advice based on that.

Since mental illness can be incredibly hard to diagnose in its various forms even when knowing everything about a person, plus, when it is diagnosed the advice on how to act towards the ill person will vary on knowing about the individual, I just don't see the benefit of this route.

Personally, I would rather stick with concentrating on collecting evidence of their threatening or harrassing behaviour and then seeking protection from the authorities. If it turns out they have a mental illness, that's one thing, but I don't think knowing one way or another about their mental state should change the fact you should just be avoiding engaging in any direct conversation or communication with them other than to state "please do not contact us" if they call.

Agreed.

I work in exactly this area, and I'm afraid to say that if someone called us up with a scenario like this, we would not tell you whether the client was known to us even if you gave us their name and details, nor would there be anything we could do without the person in question's say so. Contrary to popular belief, Social Services cannot just dive into somebody's life and say 'we've had a report that you might have mental health issues, we want to come and see you' - we need that person's permission to visit and assess them, except in extreme cases.

carolbee

Hi Pip, hope you are safe and well, what is happening with the situation?

real1314

I think you should go back to the police and tell them that you feel that you are being stalked by this couple. Explain that you have told them you do not want to sell your house to them, but they persist in coming around, which you feel is intended to intimidate you. Tell them all about the "make up evidence against the neighbours" thing etc etc.

The fact that it's on private property is orrelevant when it comes to stalking, which is in effect what they are doing.
You might want to consider asking for an injuction against them - your solicitor should be able to hlp with it.

Good luck.

Melissa177

Now I'm worried we haven't heard from Pip for ten days! All okay, Pip?