nasty old man next door :-(

mrcow

Actually we had a PCSO who offered to "have a word" about a "grumpy" neighbour like this.

This guy is a bully.
The only way to deal with a bully is to stand up to them. He won't like the PCSO telling him off. He'll hate you putting up your own fences. And he'll hate you setting up CCTV - make sure he can't interfere with it when you're out.

jenhug

Everyone elses suggestions are far more sensible than mine, I suggest you follow their advice instead!

krazyburd23

Yorkshire Terrier Owner – I will do the pictures tomorrow, I’ll take photo’s of absolutely everything :-) Also, good point on the fence being away from the boundary! I have contacted the council already this week to check out what’s acceptable out the front, I wasn’t sure if there would be limits on the height due to us being in a semi-detached bungalow (i.e. blocking sunlight etc). They didn’t seem bothered by that, only about making sure it’s not too high near to the road. It’ll be a pain having such high fences but as soon as he is gone (awful thing to say I know!), I can whip them down again.

With regards to the CCTV, we actually have it already!! (It was installed because my partner uses the workshop for his business to make furniture etc, he has quite a lot of tools and equipment down there). Unfortunately it hasn’t picked up any of the neighbours antics because it doesn’t cover the area near the fence. Sounds ridiculous I know but the camera’s are super sensitive, e.g. they go off every few minutes when it rains, if its windy a blowing bush can trigger them etc. So we had to turn the sensitivity right down and had blocked out practically anything that moves L He knows they are there but doesn’t know they don’t work properly and it doesn’t deter him :-(

RobotsinDisguise – I had no idea you could pick things up at the tip, will pop down and see if they have anything useful that we can pick up cheaply, at least for the time being until we get a more permanent solution. I am linked to a freecycle group too, so will pop a mail out aswell :-)

Maggy50 – this is interesting, sorry your sister had a similar issue with her neighbour. I am not sure mine has dementia though, he seems to clued up on past and present to me, but will certainly keep it in mind and watch for any signs.

Gold Dust – I think you are right about the stalkerish behaviour, I never thought of it like that but it doesn’t surprise me!! Apparently he knows how much everyone paid for their houses since they were built – ours was £100 originally back in the day!!! – So with that in mind, this record keeping has been going on a long time and isn't just a hobby for an elderly person with too much hands on their time!

Krlyr – that’s a good idea about extending the height of his fence but I can 99.9% say he will not agree to it unfortunately, nor would he have anything attached to it and I believe we need his permission to do it otherwise it'd be criminal damage? (I think that's right). Plus he wouldn’t want to help us to block him out and stop his nosing, he seems to thrive on it. I did put up some old bits of wood along the ground level to stop my dog getting into his garden but it just falls down when the wind blows lol, now we just have to stand guard every time he goes out to the toilet. He has been really good and not shown any signs of trying to cross over but I like to keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn’t eat anything from the garden. I don’t trust that he isn’t still pouring things over the fence! I think the previous owners had cats and he didn’t care about them when he poured weed killer over :-(

Gobbledygook & Mr Cow – thanks for this, I just did a google search and found the local PCSO his description says: ‘I am working hard to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour. Please come and speak with me regarding any problems you may be having or to simply say hello’. There is a phone number and email address, so I will drop him a line and ask him if he can help with the situation. I’d prefer to keep it off record but I do think if someone official was to have a word in his ear it may help!

Errata

Dear me, what a nightmare. I'd suggest you have a look at thw Gardenlaw website and see what it has to say, you may also get some sensible answers to your problems if you post them on there.
Take lots of pictures; carry a notebook and pen with you so you can immediately jot down what he's saying to you and yours as he's saying it, and do contact your local community police officer for advice, information and support in dealing with the old man, his relatives and his workmen.

krlyr

Sorry, in your case I didn't mean attach it to his fence. I was thinking of ways to put screening up without using the neighbour's fence, as we weren't sure if they'd be OK with it. That's where my idea of tree stakes came from - easier to put in than fence posts, you could just use quite long ones so they went deep in the ground and should stay up without concrete holding them on. I was thinking I could then stretch wire from stake to stake at various heights - have a strip in front and behind the stake, and have the screening inbetween the two pieces to hold it in place.

You could easily do this right on the edge of your boundary and it wouldn't affect his fence/property at all - but his failure to maintain the fence and allowing it to fall on your screen would then be him commiting the issue of damage to your property.

There are rules as to how high your fencing can go, but I think it's something like 6' 6" or so on. If you want to put 6' screening up to block his view, there's nothing he can do about it if its on your side of the boundary!

rochja

http://www.wickes.co.uk/invt/187762/?source=123_75
http://www.wickes.co.uk/invt/540063/?tapopen=cm
http://www.wickes.co.uk/invt/221100/?tapopen=cm
http://www.wickes.co.uk/invt/187724
To paraphrase the song: they are all you need to get by.

busiscoming2

What a nasty neighbour you have.

I second putting up the fence yourself. It will ensure your privacy. As well as asking on freecycle etc, try asking at a local independent builders/fencing merchant as they may work out cheaper.

goonarmy

Id buy a supersoaker and try some adversion therapy. Id possibly use something in the water, sticky lemon juice or soapy fairy-something along those lines. Then id use it when the neighours activity was unacceptable. But thats me.

DaveTheMus

If he is 90 he probably fought in WWII......something to think about.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

DaveTheMus wrote: »

If he is 90 he probably fought in WWII......something to think about.

is this an excuse for his behavior though? as said already be respectful but firm.


I could be the transport secretary, doesn't give me the right to dictate who can and cant park on a public highway outside my house though does it?


OP have your phone video camera on and post the letter with video as proof. or you could sent it via signed for.


you could also put no trespass signs on the boundary to your property. but once he is "served" with a no trespass letter then that's it.