Nightmare Neighbour parking dispute

Marija_1

Jeepers_Creepers said:

What is the point of Tokmon.

Marija, I think it's pretty clear your neighb knows exactly what they are doing, and that is why they are doing it. It's what they are - yobs, thugs, morons. Distorted view of their own entitlement, and a complete disregard for others. It's a personality disorder, and I doubt they can change. They can only be forced to behave.

I think all you can do, then, is challenge it under all the powers available to you; legal (if you can), police and the council. Once you start, you run with it - you don't avoid them. You meet their eyes. You explain their behaviour is pathetic and unacceptable. Don't you become rude or offensive, tho', and stay calm. If they react badly, that is good - more ammo to you.

So, as said by others, get CCTV cameras set up. You can do this (I believe) covertly or overtly, the former justified by the genuine risk you feel you are under, coupled with their past behaviour. If you have to approach them, or they do you, have your phone+camera on record. Again, up to you whether you make it obvious.

If you haven't yet engaged the local Bobby, then I think it's worth doing so now. Describe EVERYTHING that has been going on, and the fact the previous occupant of your house was forced to leave because of this. A number of the examples you mentioned before do amount to criminal trespass and damage. Did you report any of these things at the time? If not, that's a shame. Harassment was/is also almost certainly involved. As is 'nuisance'. These are not trivial issues - they make people's lives thoroughly miserable. Explain to the Bobby that you have decided to tackle the issues now, so you anticipate an unpleasant response/retaliation from them - the police should now be on notice about this. I would hope/expect the local Bobby would be sympathetic, and would actively encourage you to contact them immediately (our Bobby was great when we had an issue with an a'ole neighb over a decade ago - they were told to 'cease and desist'.)

Also speak to your local councillor, and ask what powers and help the council can offer if called on. Again explain everything that has happened, and that you now intend to tackle it, so would like to know what they can and cannot do to help.

And do you have LP on your house insurance? Cool - call them up for advice too.

Then - go for it. Report everything that can be reported (eg breaches of covenants re operating a business that causes a nuisance). Report ANYTHING and EVERYTHING they say or do in response that is remotely unacceptable. If they cuss, call the police. If you feel any sense of even implied threat, call the police. Be tolerant of nothing; any encroachment into your garden (if these slabs are still poking across the boundary, I think I'd give them written demand to remove them within a week, or you will remove any part that is trespassing over your land. Then do so with a club hammer and bolster. Any damage they cause to your decking, you give them a week to compensate or sort it, or else you'll get a person in to do so and then sue them for the cost using MoneyClaim.org. All written, all recorded, all watertight.

Meanwhile, you just look at them and say "What did you expect?" Don't get drawn in to any argument. Smile and walk away when you want to.

These are your choices: (a) tackle it, eg as above, (b) do nothing and live with it (until it completely escalates beyond toleration), or (c) move.

Many thanks for your advice Jeepers Creepers. 
Yes Tokmon's obviously trolling, and attempting to distract. 
 I look this neighbour straight in the eyes and he avoids eye contact with me - he's spineless with no moral backbone and just a selfish arrogant attitude. I must say whilst the local councillor and police have been next to useless, Environmental Health has acted appropriately for the noise issue. As selling up isn't an option at present I'll take the useful suggestions/advice I've received from you guys and formulate my plan to address this the best way possible.

Jeepers_Creepers

Marija_1 said:

Many thanks for your advice Jeepers Creepers. 
Yes Tokmon's obviously trolling, and attempting to distract. 
 I look this neighbour straight in the eyes and he avoids eye contact with me - he's spineless with no moral backbone and just a selfish arrogant attitude. I must say whilst the local councillor and police have been next to useless, Environmental Health has acted appropriately for the noise issue. As selling up isn't an option at present I'll take the useful suggestions/advice I've received from you guys and formulate my plan to address this the best way possible.

That's a good result - he's a pathetic spinless bully, then (and not a psychopath... )

Try and turn the tables, then. Show zero tolerance. Obviously there has to be a reason to call the police, but if a valid reason does occur (and you've had a few in the past) then call them up immediately. Insist they act. Put neighb on the back foot.

Do you think he's doing up these cars to sell on? If so, I'd hope this would become obvious. Check local Facebook 'Marketplace', eBay and Autotrader (do a search for the make and model of cars you see, within a 5 mile radius, for example). Or is he 'just' doing repairs for folk?

Marija_1

Titus_Wadd said:

I sympathise with OP's parking and neighbour problem; but please don't dump a jalopy to make a point if you are in anyway likely to seek injunctive remedy in the future.  It's best to keep your hands clean and dwell on the moral high-ground (though it's not always easy). 

In my experience- NFH blocking half my drive for 8+ months; threats of violence and criminal damage and the police doing the square root of FA when the NFH broke into my home it seems my best bet is civil action for breach of covenants and nuisance and injunction to stop the noise nuisance caused by the twerp's covenant-breaking business activity.  The £ remedy might not be what you actually want, if more courteous parking is; our barrister advised we quantify our loss (which we can do) to claim damages. 

If you have legal cover with your house insurance, union membership etc use it for advice and a couple of cease & desist letters if they agree you have a case.  Paid for from your own pocket will cost a couple of £K and still might be ignored.  I hope you can achieve a bit of peace OP; it's stressful having this kind of irritation picking at your quiet enjoyment of your house.

Thanks Titus_Wadd. Very sorry to learn of your awful experience and hope you got your situation sorted and have some peace now. 

Yes it's all about being reasonable to me. A bit of noise here and there, and/or occasional parking encroachment in front of the house no problem. Leaving the damage aside, but when one's sanctuary is encroached by persistent loud screeching noise and repetitive music loops 7 days a week, you look out your rear window and see a tonne of your neighbour's wood stacked up, you cannot open your windows or use your rear garden in the summer due to the noise and industrial spray painting,  then you look out your front and your view and one of your entrance's is effectively permanently blocked by his large sized Landrover, yet his own driveway is empty, you cannot study or work from home, over time the totality of this begins to affect one's mental health, one feels under siege, and to me anyway, a sense of injustice when, with the exception of the Environmental Health, it's otherwise falling on deaf ears with the other authorities.  I sought legal advise through home insurance. They're the ones who advised pursuing a nuisance claim through small claims court, but unfortunately their cover doesn't provide for small claims courts, so they can advise me of the process only. I'm still trying to establish whether the restrictive covenant is enforceable in this case and may seek specialist legal advise specifically regarding this. 

As other posters have advised - my options are to either put up with it (no chance), fight it (as realistically as possible), or leave (ideally shouldn't need to have to, and if so I'd have to disclose it to future owner/s and the underlying issue remains unaddressed).

Marija_1

Jeepers_Creepers said:

Marija_1 said:

Many thanks for your advice Jeepers Creepers. 
Yes Tokmon's obviously trolling, and attempting to distract. 
 I look this neighbour straight in the eyes and he avoids eye contact with me - he's spineless with no moral backbone and just a selfish arrogant attitude. I must say whilst the local councillor and police have been next to useless, Environmental Health has acted appropriately for the noise issue. As selling up isn't an option at present I'll take the useful suggestions/advice I've received from you guys and formulate my plan to address this the best way possible.

That's a good result - he's a pathetic spinless bully, then (and not a psychopath... )

Try and turn the tables, then. Show zero tolerance. Obviously there has to be a reason to call the police, but if a valid reason does occur (and you've had a few in the past) then call them up immediately. Insist they act. Put neighb on the back foot.

Do you think he's doing up these cars to sell on? If so, I'd hope this would become obvious. Check local Facebook 'Marketplace', eBay and Autotrader (do a search for the make and model of cars you see, within a 5 mile radius, for example). Or is he 'just' doing repairs for folk?

He originally attempted to intimidate me with his demeanour but stopped when he found that didn't work. He's full of violent bluff, empty threats etc., and so he's not a physical danger, but his actions have a psychological impact.
He's only sold one of his cars over the past three years. I think he may doing them up over a long time period to eventually sell in the long term, which makes it difficult to prove he's 'trading'. The last car he worked on (for months) was a neighbour's from down the road, presumably cash in hand, but I have no evidence of any payment. 

I did have the idea, if the legal route isn't viable, of uploading his activities online for public scrutiny as it's pretty extreme behaviour and I'm sure any reasonable person would agree it's unacceptable, but I suspect the law would defend him if I was to do so. 

Tokmon

Marija_1 said:

Jeepers_Creepers said:

What is the point of Tokmon.

Marija, I think it's pretty clear your neighb knows exactly what they are doing, and that is why they are doing it. It's what they are - yobs, thugs, morons. Distorted view of their own entitlement, and a complete disregard for others. It's a personality disorder, and I doubt they can change. They can only be forced to behave.

I think all you can do, then, is challenge it under all the powers available to you; legal (if you can), police and the council. Once you start, you run with it - you don't avoid them. You meet their eyes. You explain their behaviour is pathetic and unacceptable. Don't you become rude or offensive, tho', and stay calm. If they react badly, that is good - more ammo to you.

So, as said by others, get CCTV cameras set up. You can do this (I believe) covertly or overtly, the former justified by the genuine risk you feel you are under, coupled with their past behaviour. If you have to approach them, or they do you, have your phone+camera on record. Again, up to you whether you make it obvious.

If you haven't yet engaged the local Bobby, then I think it's worth doing so now. Describe EVERYTHING that has been going on, and the fact the previous occupant of your house was forced to leave because of this. A number of the examples you mentioned before do amount to criminal trespass and damage. Did you report any of these things at the time? If not, that's a shame. Harassment was/is also almost certainly involved. As is 'nuisance'. These are not trivial issues - they make people's lives thoroughly miserable. Explain to the Bobby that you have decided to tackle the issues now, so you anticipate an unpleasant response/retaliation from them - the police should now be on notice about this. I would hope/expect the local Bobby would be sympathetic, and would actively encourage you to contact them immediately (our Bobby was great when we had an issue with an a'ole neighb over a decade ago - they were told to 'cease and desist'.)

Also speak to your local councillor, and ask what powers and help the council can offer if called on. Again explain everything that has happened, and that you now intend to tackle it, so would like to know what they can and cannot do to help.

And do you have LP on your house insurance? Cool - call them up for advice too.

Then - go for it. Report everything that can be reported (eg breaches of covenants re operating a business that causes a nuisance). Report ANYTHING and EVERYTHING they say or do in response that is remotely unacceptable. If they cuss, call the police. If you feel any sense of even implied threat, call the police. Be tolerant of nothing; any encroachment into your garden (if these slabs are still poking across the boundary, I think I'd give them written demand to remove them within a week, or you will remove any part that is trespassing over your land. Then do so with a club hammer and bolster. Any damage they cause to your decking, you give them a week to compensate or sort it, or else you'll get a person in to do so and then sue them for the cost using MoneyClaim.org. All written, all recorded, all watertight.

Meanwhile, you just look at them and say "What did you expect?" Don't get drawn in to any argument. Smile and walk away when you want to.

These are your choices: (a) tackle it, eg as above, (b) do nothing and live with it (until it completely escalates beyond toleration), or (c) move.

Many thanks for your advice Jeepers Creepers. 
Yes Tokmon's obviously trolling, and attempting to distract. 
 I look this neighbour straight in the eyes and he avoids eye contact with me - he's spineless with no moral backbone and just a selfish arrogant attitude. I must say whilst the local councillor and police have been next to useless, Environmental Health has acted appropriately for the noise issue. As selling up isn't an option at present I'll take the useful suggestions/advice I've received from you guys and formulate my plan to address this the best way possible.

My comments were neither trolling or an attempt to distract. Your posting suggests that because you can't use your driveway as intended you are driving in and reversing out on the road. So I wanted to point out it's actually safer to reverse in and drive out rather than what you are currently doing, especially if the road is as dangerous as you say!.

But you decided to dismiss this and state how dangerous it was to do that but reversing out is actually more dangerous due to the reduced visibility. 

It's surprising how many times I have seen someone reversing onto a main road from a driveway in a dangerous manner so a lot of people obviously don't realise this is the riskier option so that's why I wanted to point it out to you.

Titus_Wadd

Marija_1 I'd keep in touch with Environmental Health; our local EH out of hours team have been helpful and conscientious and have been the only "authority" to show us any consideration, the out of hours lady who tackled our NFH over the Easter holidays was plucky and did not take any nonsense from him!  The local Police and other council departments: Planning and Anti-Social Behaviour talk a good talk on their websites with mission statements and putting victims first messages which lack any real substance when asked for help!

Log everything, channel your anger and frustration to help fuel your "long game" but without it eating into your time to the point of obsession!  Google his name, address or phone number as these will throw up any business he's engaged in.  Search for his name on Companies House if you know his full name; the company address may be registered elsewhere at say his accountant's address.  Even if you find cut and dried evidence of a car business being run from your road the council may decide not to do anything with the information, just be prepared to be underwhelmed by their response.

Could you pop back sometime in the future with an update please?

TW x

Cakeguts

I am in London and if someone parks over the drive in such a way as the wheel of the car is next to the dropped kerb then we can call the council and they will take the car away and issue a fine.  The owner of the car also has to pay to get the car released and storage costs which are over £100. The last time we did this it was a car belonging to a local estate agent and it wasn't the first time that they had obstructed a drive in our road. 

Cakeguts

I hope you realised that he had accidentally dropped some wood over you fence so you acted as a good neighbour and returned it?  I also think that if you have to remove a camera that someone has "accidentally" attached to your wall you accidentally dropped it when removing it?  I mean it is quite difficult to hold onto a camera and repair holes in soffits at the same time.  (You don't want anyone to have to go up and down a ladder too often)  Encroaching slabs might get cracked by something heavy like a hammer being dropped on them from your side?

Jeepers_Creepers

Marija_1 said:

He originally attempted to intimidate me with his demeanour but stopped when he found that didn't work. He's full of violent bluff, empty threats etc., and so he's not a physical danger, but his actions have a psychological impact.
He's only sold one of his cars over the past three years. I think he may doing them up over a long time period to eventually sell in the long term, which makes it difficult to prove he's 'trading'. The last car he worked on (for months) was a neighbour's from down the road, presumably cash in hand, but I have no evidence of any payment. 

I did have the idea, if the legal route isn't viable, of uploading his activities online for public scrutiny as it's pretty extreme behaviour and I'm sure any reasonable person would agree it's unacceptable, but I suspect the law would defend him if I was to do so. 

You've checked each vehicle's status on DVLA? If anything is 'out', then report it immediately.

It does sound, tho', that it would be hard to get him on 'business use', sadly. But keep logging...