photographic evidence of neighbour from hell.

mikeyranson

I have a neighbour who is on the verge of a breakdown caused by a witch that resides below her flat. This has been going on for a number of years now. The council are no good as always. They will just monitor the situation and then you hear no more.
The neighbour from hell, is a criminal lawyer by trade so could manipulate the law to suit her best.
Constantly throughout the summer, she has weekly groups of people in her garden that party, make noise and so on. She has in the past lit bonfires on her lawn to antagonise the good neighbour. The good neighbour has the flat above where her bedroom overlooks the garden of the witch below. The bad neighbour has one of these garden chimneys that she purposely places directly under the good neighbours bedroom window. so you can see the hassle.
The council have told her to keep taking evidence, notes and dates and even taking photos and video as evidence.
A party took place two weeks ago and went on until past midnight. We have rules on our estate that 10 pm is the cut off point for noise or loud gatherings. The good neighbour took photos and video of the gathering which was dated and timed, to be used as evidence. This week, the bad neighbour posted a letter to the good neighbour titled "Letter before action"
She has mumbled on but claiming that it has caused the bad neighbour harassment, alarm and distress. So knowing her job very well, using her knowledge of the law, is now turned the tables on the good neighbour. The audacity of this woman.
My question is, is the good neighbour breaking the law by taking video and photographic evidence for evidence.? She is filming from her bedroom window that overlooks the bad neighbours garden.
many thanks

hollydays

The council advised her to take videos?
Because if so , how can she have turned the tables.
At this point , it's looking like two people who are possibly both being petty.

Wouldn't you just put a chimenea on your patio and sit near it if it's cold ?I don't see the problem.

KingS6

There is no law saying you cannot film in a public place or in your own home.

How do you think CCTV works?

If the council have advised her to keep taking photographs and videos for evidence gathering, it would be counterintuitive to tell her to break the law for the sake of catching someone else breaking the law. Council wouldn't want to open themselves up for wrongdoing now would they?

I digress but I think this is the wrong section of the forum for this? Who are you praising, venting or warning against?

hollydays

Where is it stated there can't be any noise on your estate after 10?
Is loud music involved ?
You've not mentioned the noise being excessive?

k3lvc

hollydays wrote: »

Where is it stated there can't be any noise on your estate after 10?
Is loud music involved ?

Maybe OP lives in Switzerland - often the case there but then neighbours talk to each other and by mutual agreement manage 'gatherings' after the curfew

hollydays

k3lvc wrote: »

Maybe OP lives in Switzerland - often the case there but then neighbours talk to each other and by mutual agreement manage 'gatherings' after the curfew

I see..any yodelling involved then?

daytona0

KingS6 wrote: »

There is no law saying you cannot film in a public place or in your own home.

How do you think CCTV works?

Aye, but don't forget that it is her lawn being filmed and as such not strictly a public place.

Would be interesting to know how that affects things, and also whether the council theoretically own the lawn in which case there is nothing wrong at all with it!

mikeyranson

I understand it, that you can not cause a noise in a residential area between 11pm and 7 am. I cant actually find these times, but i stand to be corrected. The estate has rules as part of the covenants that state, no noise that causes a disturbance or annoyance to others after 10 pm each evening.
I have just been to my neighbours and the party started at 10.30 pm and finished at 4.00 am. This is a residential development with a mix of house, flats and freehold property. This is not a council estate. Both the good and bad neighbour live in a lease hold property. The estate is managed and we have a board of directors that run the estate. The good neighbour is kept awake during each gathering. By noise, smoke and music. I'm in the process to see if anyone else has been kept awake by the noise.
The council has asked her to maintain a log and take photos as evidence. Yet when i asked the council today about whether it is legal to take photos and video as evidence, nobody could tell me anything.
CCTV would not work as it is the back of the good neighbours property that looks over the front garden of the bad neighbour. She would not have any legitimate reason to install CCTV at the back of her property as she has no exit or access there. The good neighbour lives n top of the bad neighbour.
The lawn/garden belongs to the bad neighbour.
I posted here as i couldn't find a channel for noisy neighbours.

hollydays

Why has no one else complained?
What is the exact wording of the letter before action?
Is it not just that you..she..are trying to get back at your neighbour?
The covenant, why are you consulting the council not the board of directors? I'm sure a lawyer would need to look at it, but it doesn't mean total absence of noise. It sounds all a bit hyacinth bouquet to me.

When you start referring to someone as a " witch" and the neighbour from hell, I'd question who has the problem.

sheramber

She can report the noise to whoever owns the covenant.

If it is the board of directors has she reported it to them?

The police can also act on late night noise. Has she reported it to the police when it is happening? Several of my neighbours reported another neighbour's dog barking for hours on end and the police called on the offenders.

Environmental health can deal with ongoing noise. They will look at your neighbour's evidence and then , if necessary, put in noise recording instruments.

If it is flats I would expect more than one neighbour to be upset by the noise.

agrinnall

hollydays wrote: »

When you start referring to someone as a " witch" and the neighbour from hell, I'd question who has the problem.

Just what I thought as soon as I started to read the OP.