Bullying, Harassment & Criminal damage by unpleasant neighbour.

baz8755

We have happily lived in our property for many decades and had a few different neighbours without issue, however a couple of years ago that all changed. Shortly after moving in the new neighbour started making quite a few outdoor changes including:-
- Removing wall that separated from and back gardens to make a wraparound garden
- Removing substantial bushes that divided their front (now wraparound garden) from our rear garden
- Erecting a substantial shed forward of the main dwelling
- Erecting fencing around the previously open plan front garden
- Cutting down a tree on Council land that provided shade and cover to our garden
- Planting his own trees elsewhere on Council land to enhance his property. 
Along with various other minor things that affect our quality of life.

This affected our privacy and therefore enjoyment of our property but we just decided to let things be.
However last year he went ahead and arranged for Virgin media to install cable across our driveway which he has rights to cross but did so without consulting us. Despite our best efforts to have a say in where the cable would go and trying to get Virgin to commit to an agreed site plan and more concise Wayleave we eventually had to decline the wayleave and thus abandon the install, during this process we tried to keep him informed of our efforts to get things resolved alas to no avail.

This is where things got nasty as he rather unpleasantly confronted my wife and threatened to make our lives awkward (which we caught on camera) as well as threatening legal action. We tried to highlight efforts we had made and the way we had been treated and that we would still be civil decent neighbours.
Since then he has been making us uncomfortable by minor things (mainly deliberately staring at us out windows or running across the garden to stare at us, etc.

However this past week things have progressed as he is now deliberately parking across our driveway to restrict access to the extent that he will often move his car in a deliberate action when he sees us go out or come home.
Last night after we had gone to bed he painted the route he had wanted for his Virgin install across our driveway in line marking paint.

We therefore are getting fed up with this bullying & harassment as well as potentially criminal damage and would like to know what we can do as he has already made it clear that he has no wish to have communication with us.

user1977

baz8755 said:

he went ahead and arranged for Virgin media to install cable across our driveway which he has rights to cross

Does he have the right to install service media across the driveway?

but did so without consulting us. Despite our best efforts to have a say in where the cable would go and trying to get Virgin to commit to an agreed site plan and more concise Wayleave we eventually had to decline the wayleave and thus abandon the install, during this process we tried to keep him informed of our efforts to get things resolved alas to no avail.

That all sounds like consultation to me?

ProDave

The front / back garden bit is confusing it is unusual to have a front and back garden adjoining.  But in any event if his removing his plants has led to lack of privacy, then regain that privacy by erecting your own fence around your garden.

Planting or removing stuff on council land is not your business, let them take action if they see fit.

What harm is an overhead cable doing, I am pretty sure the utilities have a right to do that.

tacpot12

Have you tried calling Virgin to see if you can resume negotiations with them as to where the cable will be installed? They might contact the neighbour to let them know that the installation can go ahead (when you have agreed a route with them). They should be sensitive to that fact that the problem with the installation is causing a problem between neighbours.

As to the harrassment, bullying and criminal damage, keep a diary of the harrassment and bullying, and report any actual criminal damage to the Police. 

_Penny_Dreadful

ProDave said:

What harm is an overhead cable doing, I am pretty sure the utilities have a right to do that.

Virgin lay cables underground and it sounds like to do that will involve digging up some of @baz8755’s driveway. 

Grizebeck

_Penny_Dreadful said:

ProDave said:

What harm is an overhead cable doing, I am pretty sure the utilities have a right to do that.

Virgin lay cables underground and it sounds like to do that will involve digging up some of @baz8755’s driveway. 

Just to be pedantic they also do overhead depending on network area

Albermarle

_Penny_Dreadful said:

ProDave said:

What harm is an overhead cable doing, I am pretty sure the utilities have a right to do that.

Virgin lay cables underground and it sounds like to do that will involve digging up some of @baz8755’s driveway. 

Our neighbour recently had Virgin installed, and they have a fully block paved front of the house ( driveway and what was a garden) with a brick wall between most of the block paving and the pavement, and a wooden fence on each side. Virgin installers just drilled a hole in the base of the wall and ran the cable on top of the block paving alongside a fence . If you look over the wall you can easily see the cable running to a box on their house wall.

Flugelhorn

baz8755 said:

Last night after we had gone to bed he painted the route he had wanted for his Virgin install across our driveway in line marking paint.

We therefore are getting fed up with this bullying & harassment as well as potentially criminal damage and would like to know what we can do as he has already made it clear that he has no wish to have communication with us.

sounds grim - in view of the grafitti you could report him to the police 

Schwarzwald

baz8755 said:

- Removing wall that separated from and back gardens to make a wraparound garden
- Removing substantial bushes that divided their front (now wraparound garden) from our rear garden
- Erecting a substantial shed forward of the main dwelling
- Erecting fencing around the previously open plan front garden

>>> So the front part of the rear (?) garden is demised to him?
is the front [porch] (?) demised to him?
or in other words, you might not like what he did, but did his actions actually interfere with your lease?

baz8755 said:

- Cutting down a tree on Council land that provided shade and cover to our garden
- Planting his own trees elsewhere on Council land to enhance his property. 

>>> why did you not report this to council?

i think it boils down less to what actions you liked/disliked or agreed/disagree with but which rights under his/your lease and/or the council he is stepping over.

You might find he is harassing you.
he might think what he does with his garden is none of your business.

35har1old

Albermarle said:

_Penny_Dreadful said:

ProDave said:

What harm is an overhead cable doing, I am pretty sure the utilities have a right to do that.

Virgin lay cables underground and it sounds like to do that will involve digging up some of @baz8755’s driveway. 

Our neighbour recently had Virgin installed, and they have a fully block paved front of the house ( driveway and what was a garden) with a brick wall between most of the block paving and the pavement, and a wooden fence on each side. Virgin installers just drilled a hole in the base of the wall and ran the cable on top of the block paving alongside a fence . If you look over the wall you can easily see the cable running to a box on their house wall.

Installing cable on the surface doesn’t meet the required standard for cable installation.
Can easily be disconnect by third party intervention.
Sounds like Installation carried out by sub contractor with no supervision from Virgin should be at least 250mm

ThorOdinson

35har1old said:

Albermarle said:

_Penny_Dreadful said:

ProDave said:

What harm is an overhead cable doing, I am pretty sure the utilities have a right to do that.

Virgin lay cables underground and it sounds like to do that will involve digging up some of @baz8755’s driveway. 

Our neighbour recently had Virgin installed, and they have a fully block paved front of the house ( driveway and what was a garden) with a brick wall between most of the block paving and the pavement, and a wooden fence on each side. Virgin installers just drilled a hole in the base of the wall and ran the cable on top of the block paving alongside a fence . If you look over the wall you can easily see the cable running to a box on their house wall.

Installing cable on the surface doesn’t meet the required standard for cable installation.
Can easily be disconnect by third party intervention.
Sounds like Installation carried out by sub contractor with no supervision from Virgin should be at least 250mm

Have you ever seen the average VM install?

OP, do you have legal cover on your insurance? If so, call them for advice.