Problem Neighbour. Thoughts?

seven-day-weekend

There is a man in our street who has lived there for years. (so have we). It is a street of largely terraced houses, consequently people have to park in the street. There are no parking restrictions. This man, many years ago, used to slash the tyres of any car which parked outside his house. He has stopped doing that now, presumably the council/police have told him it was illegal.

I once parked my car outside his house as there was nowhere else to park. He came raging out of his house and shouted 'move that f*9king heap!' in an aggressive voice. I told him I was entitled to park it on the highway and pointed out that the reason I had parked there was because someone else had parked in front of my house, it was just a consequence of living in that street. He said he was then going to burst the tyres. I said if he did that I would call the police, and walked off. I was shaking and upset, but no way was I going to let him intimidate me into moving the car. (He didn't slash the tyres).

At the back of his house is a car mechanic's yard. When I worked in the Council's Enforcement section, he was forever reporting the garage for making a noise, revving cars up, putting cars on ramps etc. The irony was that the garage is perfectly legal and he knew it was there before he moved into the house. We had to write him letters saying that the garage was doing nothing wrong, but we also had to investigate each complaint first, what a waste of time and resources.

To the OP, I would be polite to the lady so that she has no (genuine ) ammunition, but don't hesitate to report her to the appropriate authorities . A call to Social Services may not come amiss.

MentalMinnie

It's gone VERY quiet. I'm confident I haven't caused her to have a heart attack cos her bedroom curtain and light were on. Maybe the police warning have had an effect on her. I'm not calling social services yet, I don't want to open that can of worms unless absolutely necessary. Worst case scenario is that they decided she can't live on her own and cart her off to a home. I would feel a bad for her.

I think the threat of an asbo has given her food for though.

MentalMinnie

Just an update for anyone that remembers this thread. We moved out in May last year after we bought our own place.

Received a phone call from our old letting agents asking if we'd be willing to provide statements about the problems we had with the neighbour as she's been causing problems for a couple that moved in to the street last year. Letting a property from the same agents - the problem neighbour took a dislike to the couple as the are Eastern European. There's been numerous incidents with her, she'd been warned by the police etc and it all culminated a few days ago when she took a parcel from their doorstep and wouldn't give it back. An argument ensued and she apparently hit the woman over the head with her walking stick. She was arrested but that's as much as I know. The agents have contacted us plus another tenant that lived on the street at the same time as us. The council and social services are involved as well.

meritaten

Thanks for the update Minnie. What a sad situation. I hope you will provide statements - actually you could use this thread as it contains details with dates etc!
this woman must be mid eighties now! and its shameful that this behaviour has been tolerated for so long.

MentalMinnie

She will be as I remember the story of her 80th birthday which was 3-4 years ago now.

I will definitely give a written account - the woman is a menace,mand I'll have all the complaints with the police and council to back my statement up. The letting agents asked if they could let the relevant authorities know that they could contact me and I said it was fine. I doubt they'll stick her in the nick if convicted but I wonder if they'll force her in to a home? Can they do that?

The poor woman at the agents was the same one that I'd originally spoken with last year. Think she's had a gut full! As soon as we'd left she found problems with someone else. I'm still surprised no one has battered HER to be honest!:rotfl:

meritaten

I do hope you have nice neighbours in your new home!
I re-read the thread this evening and tbh - even if the woman DOES have mental issues, the authorities SHOULD have recognised this and done something before now.
but don't be surprised if the arrest comes to nothing - they are reluctant to prosecute old people and unless they order psychiatric tests its unlikely any mental health issues will be dealt with.

MentalMinnie

We have LOVELY neighbours here! To be fair all the neighbours at the last place were lovely except her, but she was so vile it tainted living there.

I re-read the thread as well. Can't believe we went through that. Terrorised by an old lady.

I also doubt the arrest will result in anything, but someone needs to do something about her, she can't be allowed to remain there.

CKhalvashi

IME, it probably won't even be dealt with now, probably nothing more than a caution (if she accepts it) or a NFA.

I've had few problems with a neighbour in the 8 years we've lived here, and although it's been nothing like this, she's just sent me a text message asking why lights are on at 2am (I'm on really weird schedule this week and have just got in)

I really hope for everyones sake it gets sorted out, though. I'd advice writing to whoever needs a statement, too, as this can only make more chance of issues being sorted.

TrickyWicky

Heh, reminds me of an old lady i once had living above me.

She was in her late 70s, convinced everyone she was a sweet old lady who loved everyone and deep inside she was a twisted scheming old moo!

It started with her feeding my cats in the back garden that we shared. Then she'd start leaving hte communal front door unlocked every night, then came the stench of her unwashed self (she had no running bath or shower). Then she pinched one of my cats, another one also took interest.. then through her hole in the back door (once a cat flap that broke off exposing a square hole) she started to get a rodent problem.

So, what did she decide to do when she found a dead rat in her kitchen? Frame the bloke below of course. I was in my bathroom and i heard her saying to someone "yes go down there and put it outside his back door. good lad, now go and get a camera.." I was livid! Needless to say he got back and Roland had vanished over the fence lol. I wasn't going to confront him though as he was a brick but he should have known better than to try and frame someone - especially on someone elses instruction!

In the end somebody made a threat against her that scared the **** out of her and when she went to get support from another neighbour they sided with me and told her to stop being a b**ch constantly.

By the time we'd got to this point, all the local neighbours knew what she was like. Mr rat planter was from the other side of the road and i suspect he lasted a month or two before eventually working it out for himself.

As luck would have it, after moving out i went back there a month later to get any post that had gone there. A young girl answered the door with a black eye and she was clearly cautious of anyone and said she lived there with her BF. When i asked her how she got on with the old lady she said they'd had nothing but trouble.. but her boyfriend had a big mouth and had shut her up many times

What goes around..

TrickyWicky

CKhalvashi wrote: »

she's just sent me a text message asking why lights are on at 2am

Send her a reply like this: "To see which curtain twitchers are still awake"