Neighbour creating narrative of harassment

Deborapollo

Feb this year New neighbour (moved in Jan 2020) asked for permission to access her roof off of our flat roof. Fell off her roof damaged ours asked that insurers not be involved as she had made two claims recently at her previous address for burglary. Relations were positive we agreed to keep good relationsCOVID happened she was furloughed & it became difficult for both of us financially so I understood when she said could we delay full roof repair. Month later, postman delivers our mail we inadvertently open a letter addressed to her. She responds aggressively by threatening action by her employer... a consumer rights. She keeps this threat escalating in WhatsApp messages for 2 months. We try & engage her in asking for the money for the roof repair.. She won’t engage we instruct our insurance company who pay out minus excess £500. Police attend our house for harassment allegation from her. The advice from our insurers is to claim from her in small claims action for the uninsured losses totally £800. We put in the claim. Police attend again on same charge of harassment but also that we have a civil dispute in place now. The harassment is in the form of dogs barking, poo being thrown over wall doors banging privacy breached, & cost to install cctv & fences & now put her house up for sale costs... we do none of these things. They leave for 2nd time stating again no further action this is a civil matter. She is creating a narrative for harassment to use as a counterclaim... we are living a much reduced life in fear of her threats & lies... but also worried sick about how much this could cost us as a counterclaim now & how to defend ourselves at home & in court. We cannot afford solicitors £210 + vat per hour we enquired. As an aside there are two other neighbours that we have since found out that she has threatened with the tv programmes involvement also... we’ve lived here 20 years with no incidence.  Please...any advice would be welcome

gwynlas

Very sorry to hear of your situation.
Who owns the property as it might mean you could involve the landlord.
You need to break this down into paragraphs as difficult to read and it involves a number of issues.
One she appears to be mentally unstable so you need to talk to social services for possible assessment.
She might contact a consumer programme but given she is the one who appears to be in the wrong then it is very unlikely that they would get involved.
Contact the police for advice as it is clearly her who is harassing you.

calleyw

I had real trouble reading that wall of text.  But the one thing that did stick out was she has put the house up for sale.  Does that not solve the problem?  As in a few months she could be gone.

Yours

Calley x

gettingtheresometime

calleyw said:

I had real trouble reading that wall of text.  But the one thing that did stick out was she has put the house up for sale.  Does that not solve the problem?  As in a few months she could be gone.

Yours

Calley x

Well she's an idiot for causing all this fuss then as she'll have to declare the dispute with the OP.
Do you know, for a fact that she works for this consumer programme or do you just have her word for it ....though why a consumer programme would be interested in a neighbour's dispute is anyone's guess.
Personally I would write her a letter, keeping a copy, stating that her telephone number will be blocked and that all future communication is to be in writing. Then block her number.
Also you need to bear in mind you have the evidence of a)the bank transfer b)the builder's invoice to back up your story.

jennystarpepper

If she is threatening action by her employer I would contact them.

Advise that (name of person, at this address) tells me you are her employer and that she informs me you are helping her take action against me and my terminally ill husband.  You must stress to them situation is causing your family great distress and can someone at their offices talk to you?  

I doubt for 1 min she is working for them.  If their is a slim possibility she is (my botty she is ) they may take a dim view of an employee making threats in their name, most employers would if is not approved.  

elsien

Make sure you have all your evidence for the damaged roof. 
Look up guides online for the small claims procedure so you know what to expect.
Remember that the process is aimed at people representing themselves, and that if your neighbour isn't willing to fork out for your roof, she's unlikely to be paying a solicitor to represent her. 
The chances of you having to fork out for her fence and CCTV are somewhere between zero and non-existent. She's trying to scare you, that's all. (Well, not all because it's clearly having an impact on you, but you get the gist.)  If it would reassure you, you could see if it is possible to get one of the free half hour appts with a solicitor to run over some basic facts. Otherwise, CAB may be able to give some guidance on what to expect. 

Your claim is for the damaged roof, no more, no less. Her counterclaim (if she makes one) would have to be relevant to that. Stick to the facts.
And as an aside, and separate to the court case which is about your roof and not about alleged harassment, keep a diary of any incidents. Keep reporting any harassment to the police, regardless of what she says and does. 
See the other neighbours are willing to do the same if she is equally impacting on them. You really don't need to be living in fear. 

gettingtheresometime

Just a thought but do you have legal cover with your house/car insurance?

tacpot12

gettingtheresometime said:

Just a thought but do you have legal cover with your house/car insurance?

You won't need to fork out £x/hr for a solicitor if you have legal expenses cover as part of your home insurance. Any legal expenses cover as part of your motor insurance won't cover this as it is not related to your car. 

MalMonroe

I'm so sorry to read of your awful plight. I've also had to cope with neighbours from hell but not with a terminally ill husband as well. This sentence you put really jumped out at me "we respect her need for calm & privacy". WHY? She doesn't respect anything of yours!

And you know, I don't believe that about her employer either. But if it were true, it would be a godsend for you if she/her employer DID do a programme about the fact that she is the worst neighbour ever.  Consumer programmes aren't allowed to just put any old garbage on TV, though, so who does she think she's trying to fool? Consumer programmes have to make sure everything they put on there is true and factual. Just look at the Jeremy Kyle disaster when someone from one of his shows killed himself afterwards. That has come back again to haunt JK and it will never go away. They did it wrong. Consumer programmes are even more careful now. 

However, if she's put her house up for sale, that's great. I just hope she moves ASAP and if she has to report 'her problem neighbours' prior to moving, well, that'd be a lie.

If you are worried about her taking action and you having to defend yourselves (I think she's winding you up though) just contact Citizens Advice and tell them what you've told us. They'll be able to point you in the right direction. I hate when the police say 'it's a civil matter' because they could do something but won't. Just lazy policing in my opinion. Have a look at this link - https://www.gov.uk/how-to-resolve-neighbour-disputes

But hopefully you won't have to cope for much longer.  [Good point by gettingtheresometime, above, btw.]

Next time someone asks for access via your roof, please say 'no'!

gentlepurr

I think you would find there is "no cause of action" for her fencing and cctv cost. In other words, you havnt caused something that has given her a need to do this, You have the back up of living there for 20 years without problems to back you up, it was her CHOICE to have fence and cctv, nothing you are legally obliged to pay for.

gp xx

Deborapollo

Apologies for late response I’m extremely grateful for the advice. Yes... we have legal cover with our house insurance and they are now aware of the matter. Advice is to wait and see what she comes back with but do a timeline of events since she moved here and back up with any evidence... has taken two days but it’s now done. Yes... she works for this programme and is listed in the credits but legal advice is...her unfailing is the threats to the neighbours, one of which has a threatening letter from her & can be submitted as evidence. She has won a claim previously and has put a copy of newspaper articles through our door detailing this win (thankfully kept). 

The response about Jeremy Kyle show puts this into perspective... we opened her letter by mistake, it was a one off occasion, and we apologised. The threats and assertions from her have been drip fed over months, it’s been intimidating and all because of, what essentially was truly an accident. It’s exhausting but can see clearer now & have advice and legal support. Many thanks again for taking the time to respond.