Harassed by neighbour

stand272

Hi Everybody,

First of all i'd like to apologise if this post is in the incorrect section and how long my post may be!
We are having real issues with our neighbour who lives in the adjoining semi. We've only been in our house since June 20 and problems started to arise shortly after, and it is now at a point where both the council and police are involved. 
They are making our lives quite miserable, apart from the usual aggressive and intimidating behaviour, they have now started calling the police and reporting us for Covid breaches. I must add that we have never at any point breached any regulations, but anytime he see's a car outside of our property we get the inevitable police visit. The police officers who have visited (on 3 occasions now) have been great and understood our frustrations, making notes on their system that we consider the reports malicious. We firmly believe that this is a form of harassment and desperately want this to stop. We have spoken to the police who at the time advised us to think hard about making an official harassment complaint due to the implications it could cause if we were ever to sell the property in the future. He did however advise that they have received 5+ phone calls from our neighbour (he probably shouldn't have told me that!) and that it will be noted that they are considered malicious.
Last week we also received a rather threatening letter from the council alleging that we are now the creators of excessive noise and that an investigation will be taking place, courtesy of the problem neighbours next door. We of course appreciate that they can hear activity in our house (its a semi) but we absolutely disagree that it is excessive.  We feel this is just another avenue for them to make our lives more miserable.
The council mentioned sound recording equipment and we are curious to know if anyone else has had a similar experience of this before? Although intrusive we are happy for this to go ahead as we have no doubt that the noise we produce is that of a normal family going about our daily lives. However, are the devices that councils use open to manipulation? Is there a way said neighbour can fabricate or create noise with the blame then ending up with ourselves? May be a silly question, but we honestly believe they are capable of this. 
We've spoken to other neighbours in the street and as many as 5 households have confirmed they have had issues with this neighbour in the past, mainly involving having abuse hurled at them in the street. We have also managed to track down a lady who lived at our property 17+ years ago who advised she moved due to the problems they were causing and the problematic phone calls to both social services and the council. 
We've contact a solicitor who will be sending a cease and desist letter shortly and we will be making an official complaint of harassment to the police, but will wait for the inevitable explosion once the letter arrives. Has anyone else had similar experiences of this sort of behaviour and the recording processes used by councils?
Regards,
Stand272

George_Michael

One thing that I would suggest is that you buy a couple of portable recorders and keep one by the front door (out of sight) and whenever you get someone at the door, start the recorder before you answer. If it turns out to be a harmless caller, simply delete that recording.
Leave the other one where it can be used to record any noise that comes from the adjoining wall area or keep it in your pocket and turn it on whenever you are out of your house and near to the neighbours property.

Something like this might do the job:
16GB Digital Voice Recorder, Mibao USB Professional: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics

stand272

Hi George_Michael,

Thank you for taking the time to read my post and for your advice.
We do have exterior cameras at the front and rear of the property, with the former covering the driveway, they aren't great when it comes to picking up audio though. We will be ready with audio recording when the inevitable next outburst occurs! We have also purchased a cheap dB meter for our house and we note the reading when we create 'noise'. I'm just concerned that the system the council use may be open to manipulation.

Thanks again.

williamgriffin

What does the intimidating and aggressive behaviour consist of?

Reports made to the police and council are not necessarily harassment. If the police have been to your address on a number of occasions there has to be more than a car parked outside your address. As for the council if they are considering noise monitoring equipment there has been evidence supplied to them that there is noise coming from your property. 

Belenus

I am sorry you are having these problems.

Do you own or rent the house?

If you bought it last June, did the vendors make you aware of any neighbour issues?

If this has been an ongoing issue for decades then it is unlikely that they too didn't have a problem and they should have informed you.

I have no idea what you can do about that. Talk to the solicitor or conveyancer who dealt with your purchase or talk to another solicitor.

Good luck.

stand272

Unfortunately we purchased the house and the vendor didn't declare any disputes with neighbours on the paperwork. However, we have found out from nearby neighbours there were some major issues, which were also recorded! A previous owner from 17 years ago is also willing to write a statement about the awful experiences she had with them too. We've asked our solicitor to look into this and have also got in touch with the council requesting any historical complaints involving the two addresses. 

Thank you for your message!

Jeepers_Creepers

If the previous owner didn't make any of the issues 'official', then you are probably stuffed from that point of view - they can simply claim it never really bothered them.

From what you've said about 2 previous occupants and also other neighbours, it does appear you have a problem that isn't going away by itself. So you either sell up and lie about why, or you tackle it.

Honestly, the day you wake up and decide "Ok, this is nuts - they cannot get away with this, making our lives a misery" is almost certainly also the day a large weight lifts off your shoulders. It will involve two things - recording of evidence, and action.

'Evidence' will be a chronological note of everything they do that could be construed as being unreasonable behaviour or harassment. ALWAYS carry a small easy-to-switch-on recorder on you - you can get sound & vid recorders disguised as key fobs, for instance - they do work. Never avoid them should they approach you - they want to intimidate, and will become worse if they sense you are trying to avoid them. Be absolutely calm, do NOT get drawn in to an argument, but if they accuse you of anything - excessive noise, etc - simply say "That's complete nonsense". Be calm, be in control, be assertive - when you decide you've heard s enough, just say "Uh-huh - I'm going now, you can carry on your rant without me." Stuff like that - it'll drive them nuts. If they react badly, then - good, that's what you want. Don't tell them that previous occupants have said anything, or other neighbours - give the person NOTHING. Just show them you are not bothered by their accusations, and rebuff them - with a smile if you can manage it.

'Action' is presenting this to the police, calling them up INSTANTLY every time an act of threat, intimidation or harassment occurs. You are going to build up a record against them, and the cops will want to put it to an end when they know you are on their case. This could be an asbo or similar.

Basically, these clowns need to know the game is up. Until they do, they'll carry on.

LP on your home insurance? Call them up for advice too.

stand272

Thank you Jeepers_Creepers for your constructive and detailed advice. Although proving more difficult each day, we have so far not risen to it and have managed to avoid placing ourselves in a bad light which could further help their ridiculous cause. The police recommended we start a diary and log all incidents, so we have done this.

The home insurance is a great idea, i'll look into it.

Thanks again.

Rosa_Damascena

Your neighbours need an ASBO, or at least a namecheck on Nightmare Neighbours From Hell or whatever the programme is called.

williamgriffin

Rosa_Damascena said:

Your neighbours need an ASBO, or at least a namecheck on Nightmare Neighbours From Hell or whatever the programme is called.

Unless the OP is in Scotland there's no such thing as an asbo. 

poppellerant

My advice would be to focus your anger towards writing your diary as and when things happen.  When I had problems with my neighbours a few years ago, I found it quite therapeutic typing my diary and it also helped me think of things I could do to improve the situation.

If you have a spare mobile phone, use this to make recordings.  It might even able to record 24/7 if you kept it on charge, providing it has enough free space.  Don't be afraid that taking videos or photos of somebody is illegal either - as long as it is purely for evidence and not for distributing to your friends or on social medial.