Nightmare Neighbours - IAG

ChelseaJ

Hello,

I really need some advice in regards to dealing with my next door neighbours from HELL.
My house is an ex council house, that I have lived in for the past 10 years, and have had to put up with all sorts from my neighbours over that period....ranging from fights outside the property, loud music into the early hours and people under the influence of drugs and alcohol making noise at unsociable hours.

Most recently, my neighbours house has turned into a nightclub/youth centre....which really is the last straw. At any given time, there could be anywhere from 5-10 teenagers being anti-social ....playing loud music constantly, taking turns riding illegal motorbikes up and down the street drinking and smoking cannabis, outside the house.
I have spoken to their parents in numerous occasions - they simply apologise sarcastically- but things simply seem to be getting out of hand now.
The police have been at the property roughly around 3 times over the past month, but this doesn't seem to have had any effect on their behaviour. I can only assume that someone else in the neighbourhood has reported them?

I am now to a point where I would like to put the house on the market and leave - for my own sanity more than anything - as my job is demanding as it is, but I have I not slept properly for months, and usually have to stay over with friends and relatives as it simply is too much to bare.

I have done some research about how to deal with this moving forward, and it seems like reporting them to the council/environmental health is the best bet? However, I am concerned that this could go against me when putting my house up for sale on the market?
With that said I feel if something is not done, no one will want to buy the house....if any potential buyers come to view it, and all of the above is taking place outside.

Cheers

tykesi

Remember if you do report them you will have to declare the dispute on the Property Information Form when you sell. If you don't report them you don't need to mention anything at all and if you're lucky you will find buyers who don't view at a time the neighbours are causing issues.

Your call but you need to decide morally what you're prepared to do to sell the house.

ChelseaJ

I see your point.
Do you know how the process works when you do actually report a neighbour? When I looked briefly at my local council report form, it didn't ask for any of my personal details, just info about the neighbour in question and what was actually happening. So I thought I may be able to submit information anonymously or is this not the case?

bairn7

Have you looked into whether your council have a current policy of repurchasing ex-council properties?

ChelseaJ

To my knowledge, the houses in the area or no longer owned by the council, they are owned by a housing organisation. Do you know if they would still purchase properties?

TBagpuss

You may get more answers if you post on the house buying, selling and renting board.

You would probably have to disclose the issues if you sell whether or not you complain, I believe that the question asks whether there are any disputes or if you know of anything likely to cause a dispute.

In terms of what else you can do:
- Do you know whether your neighbours own, or if they rent from the Council / HA?
If they rent, then they may be breaching their tenancy if they are causing a nuisance, and the landlord may be able to take action, and /or offer a mediation service.

If they don't, then you can contact your council - I thinjk it would be environmental health for noise nuisance but look on your council's website. Normally for things like nuisance behaviour or noise issues you would be asked to keep a record for a while setting out the type, duration etc of the problem to show what the pattern is, and they can then potentially take action.

It may also be worth you (and other neighbours) speaking to the police to ask whether there is anything which they can do - for instance, if you're sure that the bikes are illegal, then letting the police know this and asking if they can arrange to patrol in your area at the relevant time may help. You can also ask them what steps they can take about anti-social behaviour more generally.

Have you tried speaking to the young people themselves at all? I ask because I have had good results that way, with a group of teens who used to hang around near my house. I think perhaps teens get a lot of flack and so being asked politely and treated a reasonable people can make a big, positive impression on them! I appreciate that you may already have tried this, of feel it won't work, but thought it was worth flagging.
(I found that compromise worked well - in my case, there was a weird little wall on the pavement outside my house which made it very attractive for the latchkey kids / teens to congregate there. I didn't try to stop them completely but did ask them politely not to smoke when my windows were open, to put their cigarette ends into the bins not on the floor, and so on. It worked really well, and apart from the fact that the bin-men probably thought I was an alcoholic because of the number of 'white lightning' cans in my recycling box (as the teenagers would tidily crush them and put them into my box, when they were sitting out and drinking) and I got a lot less hassle than the neighbour who tried to chase them off every time they came close to her property.

ChelseaJ

Hi Tbagpuss,
Thank you very much for taking the time out to give me this informative response. I will post on that forum also and see what responses I get.
To answer your questions:

My neighbours own their house unfortunately.
When I looked on the my local councils website, they ask you a serious of questions i.e. have you tried speaking to the neighbour etc, then you complete a brief form outlining what the issue is.

In regards to other neighbours complaining, I think many of them are quite intimidated to speak out - as many people usually are on council estates for fear of repercussions.
The bikes definitely look illegal - usually scooters with no number plates and the kids ride them around with bandannas or masks on, to conceal their ID.

I have spoken to the teenagers on numerous occasions, always with the utmost respect and diplomacy. (Like you said...the all guns blazing approach never seems to get you anywhere in life) But I feel as though I am simply speaking on deaf ears, as the following day, they're behaving in the same anti-social manner yet again :-(.

DoaM

just curious ... what does IAG mean in the thread title?

adonis

Probably information advice and guidance,
I don't think it stands for Its all good