Neighbours are mad!! What would you do?

Jaspersmum

We live in a semi detached house and have always had problems with our noisy, rude neighbours!!
They let their dogs mess all over the open plan garden (our part) and don't think there is anything wrong with that!
Anyway their child has been bounding on his trampoline and looking into our house, so much so we closed the curtains.
The neighbour who had been drinking came round and squared up to my husband and said my husband had been staring at the child and he was going to take it further!!!!
They have moved around a lot (and have always left bad feeling behind) and they also have issues with the two sets of neighbours on the other side to us, they always seem to be arguing with someone!
My Husband is concerned that they will be saying to people that he stares at children - as in a perverted way or something!! When nothing could be further than the truth and we wish we would never clap eyes on any of them.
Any suggestions, would you come out fighting or just ignore the numpties.
Thank you

Antispam

Can you not put a fence up that's what I would do or if you gave one make it more secure. Difficult one to deal with bad neighbours sounds like they got a bad attitude and looking for trouble. I would log any incidents try and stay calm and not provoke any confrontation despite being possible provoked. Log any incidents date/time what happened just in case. Is house rented at one possible have a word if you can with landlord, dont think many landlords want bad tenants either

Have word with neighbours in passing to sound them out and possible put them right, if they are that bad I am sure others may have feelings for them

Maybe get some blinds for windows too

Desperado99

are they renting? you could complain to the landlord (at least about the dog mess)

browneyedbazzi

I'd probably do my best to ignore them. If he has as bad a reputation as you make him sound then no one is likely to put any stock into any comments he makes.

Are you council/housing association tenants or do you have a management company who are responsible for upkeep of the shared area of garden? If so it might be worth complaining to them about the dog mess issue because they may be able to take action against him for not clearing up.

krlyr

There's a saying, "Good fences make good neighbours", and a literal interpretation may help here. Sounds like these particular neighbours aren't making themselves popular so I doubt anyone will take their word for it about your husband, but if they're making a nuisance and making you feel threatened, log it with the local police.

bluebird

Get your garden fenced off with a good solid 6ft fence,end of dog fowling.
interested to know if they are renters?

Jaspersmum

Hi
Thanks for your replies, yes they are renters, we unfortunately are not, they started all this after Christmas, when we approached them about the dog mess. They think if they come out a few days later and clear it up then its ok and we told them it wasn't!! Anyway nothing changed and we approached the housing authority, they came round and spoke to them about it!! Anyway they were very unhappy about it and relations soured even further.
We do have fencing in the back garden which is 5ft and their child has to be bouncing on the trampoline to be seen or in turn to see us.
They just seem to be be people who cause trouble wherever they go and can see no wrong in their behaviour - I have never had a problem with neighbours in the past and we are really quiet!!

Mojisola

Tall bamboo plants in pots to hide the bouncing child would help. If they move the trampoline, move the pots.

Desperado99

Oh yes, we have bamboo in pots for that very reason!

Is it possible to have a fence? (I'm assuming the open plan area is out front) If the housing association have already been involved, you may find they are willing to pay for it.

polr

Can you contact the council? We had to do that recently with a neighbours son who would come home at all hours of any day screaming and shouting (lucky he hadn't to work the next day...) They are council tennants though so not sure if that's why they could do something but they spoke to them and have given us advice on what to do if it keeps happening. Might be worth a call?

desert_rose

You could look into taking out an injunction against them. This would mean that they'd have to keep a legally enforceable distance away from you and your property.

Failure to abide by the terms and conditions of the injunction will lead to the law being broken and legitimate grounds for arrest.

It sounds a bit harsh I know...but these 'neighbours', of yours sound like chav style bullies who enjoy a bit of drama. Give them what they want - in the form of an injunction and send a copy of it to their housing association.

You and your neighbours need to take the initiative here and installing cctv, taking photographs, keeping a notebook of times and dates will all help.

Check out the local council's information on dog fouling and environmental protection, they may just pop around to help re-educate your neighbour - or at least point out the hefty fines the courts can impose for breaking local by-laws