Harassed by our neighbour

danumd

Hi i need your advise regarding my ground floor neighbour. My wife and i we managed to buy a maisonette and we are on the top floor. We moved in 6 months ago and since then our neighbor keep coming to our door  banging so loud that we got scared.first incident happened when she informed us that one of her cat's has the habit to come inside our house and if this is bothering us we should tell her. We said that is fine and we will try to stop the cat coming in.All ok untill she came and start banging on my door so hard that i got scared thinking something bad happened accusing us that we keep her cat trapped overnight in to our home. I explained that we dont keep the cat in and she start shouting. I have to mention that she doesn't one the cat because the cat lives ouside and doesn't have any microcip. Second incident happened when again she came to my door  complaining about my garden door were  because of the storm the door makes noise. She went to my  garden and she opened the door blocking it with a brick. To please  her i changed  the garden door. Yesterday some friends came over to us and one of the couples has a boy 5years old that was playing. My neighbour came banging at 6 pm that the child makes a lot of noise and we should stop. Our friends had to leave because of her. I feel that after all our hard work  to save money to buy our house we are not happy. We feel harassed  and intimidated by her as she keeps whatching every move we make and every time when we meet her she has to stop us complaining about silly things. Please help me as i dont know what to do anymore

Slithery

Just ignore her.

kathrynha

Ignore her as much as you can but keep a diary. Also record her behaviour when she comes to your door.
If she continues you will have a collection of evidence when for when you complain

cattie

If a managing agent manages your property, try having a word with them. It's possible that the previous owner  had the same issues with her & that is why they decided to sell & move.  Do you know if she owns the flat or is a tenant?

A child is entitled to make normal playing noise during the daytime, only if late at night & excessive should anybody be complaining. It's a pity you didn't stop your friends from leaving as you're just giving the neighbour the opinion that she has the right to complain to you about minor or rather silly things.

lincroft1710

I think your neighbour may have mental health problems.

bouicca21

don’t encourage the neighbour by giving in to her whims. Just smile politely and ignore. Keep a diary of the harassment.  You may want to take out a police complaint against her, so the evidence will be useful for that.  At the very least it might be worth talking to the local community support team.

Does she own or rent? If renting then approach her landlord. 

It sounds as though she has mental health problems so maybe talking to social services might help.

-taff

I think you're overeacting. SHe's talked about a cat a few times, moaned about a child playing, and complained about a gate. Next time, just smile and ignore her. And remember you're not obliged to answer the door to anyone.

Smodlet

I don't see why complaining about the noise a child who does not live there makes means the neighbour must have mental health problems.  The cat is a different matter.

Whether the cat lives with her or not, there is no reason why you should allow him/her into your home unless you want to.  Having lived with cats for years, I know that any who are locked in when they wish to be out let you know in no uncertain terms so doubt you have imprisoned said tigger against his/her will; maybe he/she wanted a break from the nutty neighbour.

Brock_and_Roll

Frankly I would just tell her to do one - not going to be intimidated in my own by some mad catwoman next door. As for the cat, when I had little ones, I warned my multiple rescue cat owning neighbour in no uncertain terms about what would happen if any of them carried on fouling my garden. Problem solved.

Smodlet

Brock_and_Roll said:

Frankly I would just tell her to do one - not going to be intimidated in my own by some mad catwoman next door. As for the cat, when I had little ones, I warned my multiple rescue cat owning neighbour in no uncertain terms about what would happen if any of them carried on fouling my garden. Problem solved.

Just because someone likes cats does not make them "some mad catwoman".  People are not legally responsible for the actions of their cats/any other pets (afaik) except for dogs; dogs are different:  Once upon a time, a licence was required to own one; cats have never required one to own their humans.

It is physically impossible to prevent a cat from going to the loo wherever he/she deems fit.  While yelling or spraying water at them whilst on your property is probably acceptable to most, doing them any physical harm whatsoever is not; it should be illegal and probably is.

I sincerely hope you are not guilty of any such action, BaR.

Brock_and_Roll

Smodlet said:

Brock_and_Roll said:

Frankly I would just tell her to do one - not going to be intimidated in my own by some mad catwoman next door. As for the cat, when I had little ones, I warned my multiple rescue cat owning neighbour in no uncertain terms about what would happen if any of them carried on fouling my garden. Problem solved.

Just because someone likes cats does not make them "some mad catwoman".  People are not legally responsible for the actions of their cats/any other pets (afaik) except for dogs; dogs are different:  Once upon a time, a licence was required to own one; cats have never required one to own their humans.

It is physically impossible to prevent a cat from going to the loo wherever he/she deems fit.  While yelling or spraying water at them whilst on your property is probably acceptable to most, doing them any physical harm whatsoever is not; it should be illegal and probably is.

I sincerely hope you are not guilty of any such action, BaR.

I will not allow anyone's cat to put my childrens health at risk from toxiplasmosis while they played in their own garden - so I have taken action in the past and would do so again. However, I am an animal lover and can assure you there was no suffering involved.