Locked in my garden by my neighbour

Ant555

Norman_Castle wrote: »

Change the lock on the door to one that can be opened from both sides.

But the OP says the reason the lock was put on there in the first place is to stop drug users from hopping in the garden then opening the door and getting into the basement. If the undesirables could just open the door from the garden then there would be no point in having it.

Mojisola

RomC wrote: »

A new tenant moved in the building a few months ago.

Then cigarette butts starting being thrown out a window in the garden. A note was placed on the front door about it and it stopped.

Then lots of biscuit and chocolate wrappers, baby juice boxes started appearing in the garden. Then again a note was posted on the door.

The next day there was a dirty nappy in the garden. Once again a note very polite note was posted on the front door.

Today I was in the garden with 2 other neighbors. The garden is accessed through the building's basement. The access door has a bolt on the outside of it. When one of us was leaving, he saw that the door was locked from the outside. There is no other way out of the garden.

We are already considering contacting her landlord, I just want to know if there is anything else I can do.

It's easy to see the pattern of escalation caused by your notes.

Your neighbour obviously responds badly to them - either try a face-to-face with her or go straight to her LL if you're worried about a physical altercation.

Vegastare

is it a housing association/council property if so speak with them and keep record of the incidents.

RomC

I feel like this thread is getting a bit side tracked. The problem is not the garden having a lock. The problem is that someone (allegedly) locked us outside. A situation that could have gone pretty badly if I my elderly neighbour was there by herself.
I also feel like I haven't really explained the layout of the building. The front door is at street level. The garden is a level below. Upon entering the building there are stairs going up (to the flats) and stairs going down (to the basement). At the bottom of the stairs is the basement door (the one with the bolt and a padlock). To get to the garden you need to cross the basement, turn left and there is another door that leads to the garden. This second door can't be seen from the first door. To see the basement door open and locking it, someone would have to deliberately gone down those stairs. There is no storage in this part of the basement so the only reason to go down there is to gain access to the garden.
This is the reason we believe that this was done on purpose as a retaliation for complaining about the littering.

RomC

She doesn't and although we would like to escalate this to the landlord we don't really have proof of guilt so it my just be a matter of 'he says, she says'. We are pretty sure as this problems didn't happened until she moved in.
The notes left we passive aggressive which didn't help the matter. They were left in fruatration as a lot of time and money were put in the garden but I don't agree with them. I feel like a more polite note might have solved the matter.
My question is more of if deliberately locking someone in the garden os a criminal offence.

a.turner

RomC wrote: »

I feel like this thread is getting a bit side tracked. The problem is not the garden having a lock. The problem is that someone (allegedly) locked us outside. A situation that could have gone pretty badly if I my elderly neighbour was there by herself.
I also feel like I haven't really explained the layout of the building. The front door is at street level. The garden is a level below. Upon entering the building there are stairs going up (to the flats) and stairs going down (to the basement). At the bottom of the stairs is the basement door (the one with the bolt and a padlock). To get to the garden you need to cross the basement, turn left and there is another door that leads to the garden. This second door can't be seen from the first door. To see the basement door open and locking it, someone would have to deliberately gone down those stairs. There is no storage in this part of the basement so the only reason to go down there is to gain access to the garden.
This is the reason we believe that this was done on purpose as a retaliation for complaining about the littering.

But it didn't.

RomC

True it didn't. But what if it did? What if this happens again, she is there by herself and something happens? Just because something bad didn't happens doesn't mean it won't. I could drive drunk and get home fine. Or I could run over someone. Does that means I should drive drunk?
All I'm asking is if this particular incident is a criminal offence.

Rusty_Shackleton

a.turner wrote: »

But it didn't.

that's just a ridiculous attitude, as the OP very accurately points out with the example of drink driving.

RomC,it helps for others to follow the thread if you click the quote button on the message you're replying to, that way we see a copy of the original post just as A Turners churlish reply to you is at the top of this post

Anyway, to the matter in hand...
It's good that you recognise the notes were perhaps passive aggressive, but then you go on to say a better-worded note probably would've been fine - NO! any note is going to have come across as passive aggressive, it's not the content that's the problem, but the chosen medium!

If you feel you can do so, go and politely speak to the neighbour. Try to approach the situation as that you don't know it was them, and perhaps say that you're speaking to everyone in the building to ask that others are careful when locking that door due to your concerns about someone, potentially vulnerable, being put at risk.

Don't suggest it was your neighbour and don't suggest it was malicious or intentional. Give them the benefit of the doubt and give them an easy route to behaving like an adult, that doesn't cause them to lose face (e.g. suggest the door was locked by someone with good intentions who didn't know others were outside).

If littering continues or there are other door-locking incidents, again calmly approach the neighbour and raise the issue and ask them to stop the offending behaviour (and explain why you believe they're responsible, asking if it was them and if so, why). Only if you receive an unsatisfactory response and no change in behaviour should you escalate it. As others have pointed out, document these steps.

While I appreciate they've behaved pretty appallingly, in their mind they might just think they're retaliating for the passive aggressive welcome they've received. It doesn't matter what the truth is, what you want to do is be nice to them so their behaviour won't be seen as acceptable even in their own eyes. It doesn't always work, but it has the best chance of working without things becoming much more unpleasant for a considerable amount of time.

Much better to turn this person into a good (or even just acceptable) neighbour, than go the route of warfare trying to get them evicted, and possibly ending up with another nightmare neighbour anyway!

I also appreciate the above is easier said than done, but it's the best approach

RomC wrote: »

All I'm asking is if this particular incident is a criminal offence.

no, it's not. For it to be a criminal offence there has to be intent, and even if you knew absolutely this neighbour locked the door, there's no way the intent was to lock people out. If the person to lock them out was a building employee like a caretaker, they might have a duty of care, and so putting people at risk *might* be a criminal offence depending on the circumstances.

Mojisola

RomC wrote: »

All I'm asking is if this particular incident is a criminal offence.

No.

..........................

a.turner

RomC wrote: »

True it didn't. But what if it did? What if this happens again, she is there by herself and something happens? Just because something bad didn't happens doesn't mean it won't. I could drive drunk and get home fine. Or I could run over someone. Does that means I should drive drunk?
All I'm asking is if this particular incident is a criminal offence.

Some snowflake would say it is.