Neighbour Issues - at the end of my tether!

basil92

tomtontom wrote: »

Why are the cars impacting on your quality of life?

I had a neighbour who kept parking a lorry outside. It annoyed me, but as it was doing me no harm I chose to ignore it. Life is far easier as a result.

My neighbour who lived/lives opposite me on a narrow street, permanently had an ancient camper van parked right outside my living room window. It blocked the light into my house and irked me somewhat (ok, a lot!:p)

He never actually used it, just loaded and unloaded it with boxes of 'stuff' and more irritatingly only ever in the early hours of the morning. The slammed doors at 3,4, 5am frequently woke me up

I never said a word, but it did significantly impact on my life.

Maybe I should have said something but i just fumed quietly and sometimes cried because of my disturbed sleep:o

A few days ago the van disappeared and I haven't seen the neighbour for some time. I suspect he is a late neighbour now which actually made me feel sad for him and his partner...but he did cause me years of disturbed sleep: I felt unable to complain because it would have been dismissed out of hand...

Yep, more fool me:o

passatrider

tomtontom wrote: »

I'm not belittling his concern, I'm being realistic.

I would put money on the OP reporting the same or similar problems in six months time - as he has done for the past five+ years.

I thank you for your input but you have no idea what I'm dealing with to be fair. I have had issues here much deeper than this but chose to ignore them. If It affects me then I have a right to speak up, as do you.

Mr.Generous

find the adverts for the cars he's selling - then you got your evidence.

ERICS_MUM

Are the cars taxed, insured and with MOTs in order to be parked legally on a public road ?

[Deleted User]

See if you can get hold of his mobile number, put it into google and see if any car ads come up?

You could even search for your area on ebay and see if you spot any of his cars on there. Build up a record and then the HA might be interested.

If he's on benefits, phone the benefit fraud line and tell them you suspect he's running a business.

ilikewatch

Worth bearing in kind that it can be very difficult to prove that someone is operating as a motor trader rather than just frequently changing cars. There was a time in my life when I owned 2-3 cars at a time and would buy one/sell one every few weeks. However, I never bought to make profit, just liked to change cars frequently.

Ozzuk

I think what Tomtontom is trying to say is you have to pick your battles and sometimes just accept situations as being out of your control - if you don't then your stress levels will build making it even hard to deal with it.

Yes this person is being selfish - but he is perfectly entitled to park anyway in the street (if not parked illegally). He doesn't even have to use his own drive. You could build evidence on the business side though if you really wanted to. You are able to park on your drive - the fact that visitors can't is an annoyance again, you have no right to expect visitor facilities.

It would annoy the hell out of me as well and I'd like to think I could rise above it but I probably couldn't - doesn't mean you shouldn't try to though.

As for the rats...make yourself a pest, call every day until they take you seriously.

heuchera

I've lived in enough flats/shared residences to know that I don't much care who I live near, as long as they're taking reasonable care of the place and not making a racket all the time.

I have a neighbour downstairs who is always sticking her nose into other people's business, and getting involved in their various dramas. Police, social services, you name it, she's known to them.

She readily admits that she doesn't want to move because it'd be 'boring' somewhere else!

pmlindyloo

I am sad to say that neighbour problems are not dealt effectively by many landlords.

First of all you need to look on your housing association's website and find out their policy on anti social behaviour. (Always useful to quote this to your housing officer.)

Secondly, if you haven't already done so, keep a diary of the neighbour working/repairing cars/parking in an anti social way, sight of rats - what is being done. Take pictures of the aviary showing how it is affecting the fence. Basically getting some evidence.

Next, (don't know if this possible) try to get your neighbours involved. Ask them to make complaints to the housing officer. The more the merrier type thing. Also, refutes the possibility of your being seen as a 'whinger'.

If you have a community police officer in your village, pay them a visit and explain your problems about the cars.

Visit your local councillor and ask for some help.

In situations like this you have to be like a dog with a bone. The more of a nuisance you make of your self to your landlord then the more you are likely to get a response.

You could also involve CAB and ask them to telephone your housing officer and find out what they have done, what they intend to do and what help (evidence) you need to provide.

Basically the landlord won't do anything if they think they can get away with it.

If you are not up for this 'fight' then you can ignore your neighbour and carry on as you are.

Personally I very much dislike people making other people's lives a misery.

FBaby

Unfortunately, wherever you live that means you have next door neighbours, you run into the risk that they don't share the same principles in life than yours, hence not seeing eye to eye. It doesn't make them in the wrong though, which is the problem you are experiencing.

I too live in what seems like a similar close than yours. People have their own drive, but for most, it is only for one car, so when you get extra cars, it is in between houses and it does mean that manoeuvering around is very annoying.

I am experiencing this with my neighbour. They only have one car, but SIL seems to have moved in (in an already very crowded house) and parks her car in front, which mean right at the edge of ours, and that means that we ourselves struggle to do the same in front of ours and so often have to go and park up the close. It is annoying, especially when we need to load/unload the car and especially when we never had to deal with this issue before, but we had to accept that they are doing nothing wrong at all.

I get the feeling it is the same with yours. What he does annoys you, but he is within his right to do so, or the rights he is breaking is not an issue with those who are in a position to decide, which is not you.

You need to swallow your frustration, accept the situation, and hope they move out soon enough.