Neighbour creating narrative of harassment

princeofpounds

Yes it is exhausting, but so far you are doing things the right way. Don't worry about her claims of harassment - you simply haven't harassed her so it is baseless and she will not be able to demonstrate it in court. You have more evidence of harassment than she does (although it probably still falls short of criminal harassment). You do not need to worry about this counterclaim, nor do you need solicitors to pursue small claims. It's not Judge Rinder (and even he would give this short shrift I suspect).

If she mentions using the resources of her employer to you in a form you can evidence, then you may decide to approach the employer. Otherwise, just leave it alone - her job and the TV program are not really related to this dispute in any way.

For anything that involves threats or intimidation, keep reporting to the police. For the lower-grade stuff, you may find it easier to work the the anti-social behaviour team at your council. Ultimately you may be able to develop the case for an ASBO, but I suspect this will eventually be resolved by her moving.

calleyw

gettingtheresometime said:

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.

Not sure what declaring a dispute has to do with the op if its the neighbour is selling? The point I was making is keep your head under the parapet and get on with your life and the neighbour will be gone soon. Anyone with half a brain will be able to see if the neighbour has declared a dispute with all the neighbours in the street who is the cause of them. 

I am guessing the neighbour is moving because she has got bored and knows she can no longer hassle people. 

To the op, i hope you get some peace soon.

Yours

Calley x

gettingtheresometime

calleyw said:

gettingtheresometime said:

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.

Not sure what declaring a dispute has to do with the op if its the neighbour is selling? 

As I said, it would be the neighbour whose selling would have to declare the dispute to her buyers. To some buyers they may think twice about buying if there are deemed to be 'problem neighbours' (not saying the OP is a problem neighbour though!)

calleyw

gettingtheresometime said:

calleyw said:

gettingtheresometime said:

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.

Not sure what declaring a dispute has to do with the op if its the neighbour is selling? 

As I said, it would be the neighbour whose selling would have to declare the dispute to her buyers. To some buyers they may think twice about buying if there are deemed to be 'problem neighbours' (not saying the OP is a problem neighbour though!)

And as I said.  If she has to declare all the disputes and its with half the neighbours what does that tell you!!!!

To me that screams that the seller is the issue not the other neighbours.

Yours

Calley x

Deborapollo

Can anyone share an experience of a counterclaim of harassment in a small claims matter? & how was that resolved? 

thorsoak

I take it that you have already looked here :- https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/discrimination/taking-action-about-discrimination/taking-action-about-harassment/

TBagpuss

Sorry you are going through all of this. 
Make sure that as well as keeping a log of her harassment of you, you log each and every incident with the police, and ask specifically that they log it as harassment and provide you with a crime reference number. 
Harassment is defined as an 'ongoing course of conduct' so the police need evidence of multiple incidents before they can take action.

It's also worth sending a letter explicitly stating that you consider her actions, and in particular, any sending of texts or other electronic messages, or other direct contact with you to be harassment and the moving forward, she is not to contact you except via her solicitors or in writing via royal mail, and that you will provide a copy of the letter to the police and any relevant court as evidence that she has been warned that her behavior amounts to harassment and must cease, should it become necessary. Send the letter in the post and get proof of posting.
Keep a copy. This can help if the police are involved and she claims that she was only responding to you or was not intending to harass you.

I agree that writing to her employer, with copies of the abusive and threatening messages, is also an option. Be clear that her harassment of you started after she failed to pay you as agreed for damage caused by her to your property, and that she has escalated to harass and threaten you, including making false allegations to the police, and you assume that she is acting without their knowledge or authority, given that she is expressly using their name and involving them in her threats you feel that they should be aware. You can mention that you understand she has made similar threats to other neighbours.

In most jobs, using your employer's name or reputation in this way would be a huge issue and result in disciplinary proceedings.

In the small claims court, the court is looking at whether the claim you are making is proved. If she owes you money, then she would still owe you money even if you had later harassed you, her allegations of harassment are not relevant.
If she tries to counter-claim for the fences, she would have to show that she had a legal basis for getting you to pay for the fences and/or CCTV. I can't see how she could do so. Clearly, you did not agree to pay for them. Even if it were true that you were throwing things into her garden then her appropriate course of action would be to apply for a restraining order, involve the police or local authority to get them to take action.

In a small claims court he judge might let her ramble on about it -Judges are often fairly lenient with people who are representing themselves, in terms of letting them wander of the point so they feel they have 'had their say' but ultimately would need a valid legal reason to take into account any counter claim. 

It's also not impossible that she will simply fail to show up at court. A clot of bullies do back down when you call their bluff by standing up to them. 

If she has put up 7' fences you could also let the council planning office know - mostly, fences should only be up to 2m tall so they may be able to require her to lower the height.
There are, i think, also rules about where CCTV can be pointed and if they are directing it into your home or garden that may also be a form of harassment, and if it captures images outside their own premises then they have to comply with data protection laws, which includes complying with any Subject access request you might care to make for all images or any of your family members (which might also be very handy to disprove her claims...)

Kim_kim

jennystarpepper said:

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.  

This! 

Absolutely you must do this right away.  If she does work for them she is abusing her employment to coerce you.  

Snuggles

So she loses her job, can't afford to move, and the OP is stuck with her. Bad idea.

gettingtheresometime

Snuggles said:

So she loses her job, can't afford to move, and the OP is stuck with her. Bad idea.

Exactly !

As I've said before, the OP has to ask herself why a consumer programme would be interested in doing a feature about a neighbour dispute - & to be quite frank they wouldn't - yet the potential implications of the OP contacting the neighbour's employers are too great to even contemplate.