SMALL CLAIM COURT - DAMAGE BY NEIGHBOUR (UNKNOWN NAME, KNOWN ADDRESS)

Aylesbury_Duck

I think the answer to your question is that your parents need to know who they’re suing.

All other posters are pointing out is that in practice, it’s probably a fruitless exercise that risks escalation rather than solution, but only your parents can judge the risk.  We’ve seen plenty of cases on here of relatively small annoyances turn into very expensive neighbour disputes that with hindsight, the parties involved probably regret.  If you want pure legal advice without opinions, your parents need to consult a solicitor.  On a free forum where legal advice isn’t available, you have to deal with opinion and supposition as part of the deal.

Aylesbury_Duck

Caterpillar22 said:

Grumpy_chap said:

In any situation like this, and I don't mean to belittle the annoyance and displeasure that this causes the OP's parents, it is important to weigh up the response to the initial action and the potential outcomes:
 - Is a small claims case for £35 likely to reduce or increase future unwelcome behaviour?
 - Is a formal case over £35 worth it considering that will have to be declared as and when selling up as a neighbourly dispute?  (Assume the OP's parents own their property.)

In the wider context, is the anti-social behaviour truly directed at the OP's parents, or are these simply boisterous children that make a bit too much noise and generally impacting the whole street in the same way?

Is it possible that the damage to the gate was an accident and the neighbour's children could claim they were trying to be considerate to the OP's parents? 
I can see a way that could be considered - if the children accidentally put the ball over the fence and they know the OP's parents are disabled and have shown a tendency to be frustrated in the past, the children may have thought with all good intent that they would get the ball back without disturbing the disabled neighbours.
There are always two sides to every story.

Thank you for a good question.

the case of anti-social behaviour is ongoing for more than 18 months.
An informal agreement with neighbourhood police reached 12 months ago was broken 12 months ago.
The child has spearheaded antisocial behaviour over the course of 18 months.
The child attempted to unpick another lock yesterday (and two days after the initial incident), that incident again captured on CCTV.
The child spearheads anti-social behaviour with impunity, purposefully hitting the front of the house or the garden gate  with the ball multiple times a week against the flow of the game. 

Any likelihood of this family moving on at some point?  If not, would your parents consider moving?  I appreciate the house may be adapted and make that difficult, but living with unsociable neighbours is miserable, especially if there’s no end in sight.  At some point you have to question whether it’s better to throw in the towel for a better life in the long term.

Caterpillar22

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Any likelihood of this family moving on at some point?  If not, would your parents consider moving?  I appreciate the house may be adapted and make that difficult, but living with unsociable neighbours is miserable, especially if there’s no end in sight.  At some point you have to question whether it’s better to throw in the towel for a better life in the long term.

The house is indeed adapted, with both my parents and the family being the tenants in the private housing association (HA).

HA had distanced itself despite an anti-social behaviour being a clause in the (pressumably uniform) tenancy agreement, which can lead to tenancy being terminated. 

Small claim court serves the rightful purpose of establishing one instance of anti-social behaviour - in form of a criminal damage. It is a low-hanging fruit, factual and does not seek excessive damage, an offer which we hope will not attract a massive defence given that all evidence is self-explanatory and clear.

Situation is unlikely to improve as it has been a race to the bottom over the past 18 months.

Can a suggestion be made on where parents' particulars can be gathered from legally in order to submit a claim? I believe that it is possible to inspect the electoral register (https://www.eoni.org.uk/Register-To-Vote/Inspecting-the-Electoral-Register ) 

Aylesbury_Duck

Have you inspected it?  You can also search on places like 192.com if you have an idea of second name, and narrow it down from there, for example.

born_again

Caterpillar22 said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Any likelihood of this family moving on at some point?  If not, would your parents consider moving?  I appreciate the house may be adapted and make that difficult, but living with unsociable neighbours is miserable, especially if there’s no end in sight.  At some point you have to question whether it’s better to throw in the towel for a better life in the long term.

The house is indeed adapted, with both my parents and the family being the tenants in the private housing association (HA).

HA had distanced itself despite an anti-social behaviour being a clause in the (pressumably uniform) tenancy agreement, which can lead to tenancy being terminated. 

Small claim court serves the rightful purpose of establishing one instance of anti-social behaviour - in form of a criminal damage. It is a low-hanging fruit, factual and does not seek excessive damage, an offer which we hope will not attract a massive defence given that all evidence is self-explanatory and clear.

Situation is unlikely to improve as it has been a race to the bottom over the past 18 months.

Can a suggestion be made on where parents' particulars can be gathered from legally in order to submit a claim? I believe that it is possible to inspect the electoral register (https://www.eoni.org.uk/Register-To-Vote/Inspecting-the-Electoral-Register ) 

What has the HA said about this issue? Clearly they should have some responsibility given police involvement.

powerful_Rogue

Caterpillar22 said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Any likelihood of this family moving on at some point?  If not, would your parents consider moving?  I appreciate the house may be adapted and make that difficult, but living with unsociable neighbours is miserable, especially if there’s no end in sight.  At some point you have to question whether it’s better to throw in the towel for a better life in the long term.

The house is indeed adapted, with both my parents and the family being the tenants in the private housing association (HA).

HA had distanced itself despite an anti-social behaviour being a clause in the (pressumably uniform) tenancy agreement, which can lead to tenancy being terminated. 

Small claim court serves the rightful purpose of establishing one instance of anti-social behaviour - in form of a criminal damage. It is a low-hanging fruit, factual and does not seek excessive damage, an offer which we hope will not attract a massive defence given that all evidence is self-explanatory and clear.

Situation is unlikely to improve as it has been a race to the bottom over the past 18 months.

Can a suggestion be made on where parents' particulars can be gathered from legally in order to submit a claim? I believe that it is possible to inspect the electoral register (https://www.eoni.org.uk/Register-To-Vote/Inspecting-the-Electoral-Register ) 

It won't though. Small claims court is civil law.

Caterpillar22

born_again said:

What has the HA said about this issue? Clearly they should have some responsibility given police involvement.

HA has said that their threshold is a criminal conviction for withdrawing a rental contract. 

Caterpillar22

powerful_Rogue said:

Caterpillar22 said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Any likelihood of this family moving on at some point?  If not, would your parents consider moving?  I appreciate the house may be adapted and make that difficult, but living with unsociable neighbours is miserable, especially if there’s no end in sight.  At some point you have to question whether it’s better to throw in the towel for a better life in the long term.

The house is indeed adapted, with both my parents and the family being the tenants in the private housing association (HA).

HA had distanced itself despite an anti-social behaviour being a clause in the (pressumably uniform) tenancy agreement, which can lead to tenancy being terminated. 

Small claim court serves the rightful purpose of establishing one instance of anti-social behaviour - in form of a criminal damage. It is a low-hanging fruit, factual and does not seek excessive damage, an offer which we hope will not attract a massive defence given that all evidence is self-explanatory and clear.

Situation is unlikely to improve as it has been a race to the bottom over the past 18 months.

Can a suggestion be made on where parents' particulars can be gathered from legally in order to submit a claim? I believe that it is possible to inspect the electoral register (https://www.eoni.org.uk/Register-To-Vote/Inspecting-the-Electoral-Register ) 

It won't though. Small claims court is civil law.

powerful_Rogue said:

It won't though. Small claims court is civil law.

Accepted.

Can the judgement and the financial redress not be used to establish criminal damage as a fact, rather than an allegation? I am not legally savvy but if the following, in totality, take place to establish anti-social behaviour -

1. A small claim court establishes that an individual has caused damage to the property for £X and was ordered to pay for damage.
2. Social services being alerted based on the CCTV footage, that the same individual hits younger kids repeatedly, and propose some kind of an improvement plan.
3. Other instances of anti-social behaviour addressed via police investigation

The reason for a piece-meal strategy is a disregard for the wellbeing of victims (disabled people of retired age) and greater concern for the welfare of a perpetrator, this being already addressed in the second or third post in this tread, an approach also followed by the police.   

powerful_Rogue

Caterpillar22 said:

powerful_Rogue said:

Caterpillar22 said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Any likelihood of this family moving on at some point?  If not, would your parents consider moving?  I appreciate the house may be adapted and make that difficult, but living with unsociable neighbours is miserable, especially if there’s no end in sight.  At some point you have to question whether it’s better to throw in the towel for a better life in the long term.

The house is indeed adapted, with both my parents and the family being the tenants in the private housing association (HA).

HA had distanced itself despite an anti-social behaviour being a clause in the (pressumably uniform) tenancy agreement, which can lead to tenancy being terminated. 

Small claim court serves the rightful purpose of establishing one instance of anti-social behaviour - in form of a criminal damage. It is a low-hanging fruit, factual and does not seek excessive damage, an offer which we hope will not attract a massive defence given that all evidence is self-explanatory and clear.

Situation is unlikely to improve as it has been a race to the bottom over the past 18 months.

Can a suggestion be made on where parents' particulars can be gathered from legally in order to submit a claim? I believe that it is possible to inspect the electoral register (https://www.eoni.org.uk/Register-To-Vote/Inspecting-the-Electoral-Register ) 

It won't though. Small claims court is civil law.

powerful_Rogue said:

It won't though. Small claims court is civil law.

Accepted.

Can the judgement and the financial redress not be used to establish criminal damage as a fact, rather than an allegation? I am not legally savvy but if the following, in totality, take place to establish anti-social behaviour -

1. A small claim court establishes that an individual has caused damage to the property for £X and was ordered to pay for damage.
2. Social services being alerted based on the CCTV footage, that the same individual hits younger kids repeatedly, and propose some kind of an improvement plan.
3. Other instances of anti-social behaviour addressed via police investigation

The reason for a piece-meal strategy is a disregard for the wellbeing of victims (disabled people of retired age) and greater concern for the welfare of a perpetrator, this being already addressed in the second or third post in this tread, an approach also followed by the police.   

Nope.

Small claims court = Balance of probabilities

Criminal court = Beyond all reasonable doubt

If the Police/CPS are not treating it as criminal damage, you could look at a private prosecution, however that's likely to be very expensive.

https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/private-prosecutions

user1977

powerful_Rogue said:

Caterpillar22 said:

powerful_Rogue said:

Caterpillar22 said:

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Any likelihood of this family moving on at some point?  If not, would your parents consider moving?  I appreciate the house may be adapted and make that difficult, but living with unsociable neighbours is miserable, especially if there’s no end in sight.  At some point you have to question whether it’s better to throw in the towel for a better life in the long term.

The house is indeed adapted, with both my parents and the family being the tenants in the private housing association (HA).

HA had distanced itself despite an anti-social behaviour being a clause in the (pressumably uniform) tenancy agreement, which can lead to tenancy being terminated. 

Small claim court serves the rightful purpose of establishing one instance of anti-social behaviour - in form of a criminal damage. It is a low-hanging fruit, factual and does not seek excessive damage, an offer which we hope will not attract a massive defence given that all evidence is self-explanatory and clear.

Situation is unlikely to improve as it has been a race to the bottom over the past 18 months.

Can a suggestion be made on where parents' particulars can be gathered from legally in order to submit a claim? I believe that it is possible to inspect the electoral register (https://www.eoni.org.uk/Register-To-Vote/Inspecting-the-Electoral-Register ) 

It won't though. Small claims court is civil law.

powerful_Rogue said:

It won't though. Small claims court is civil law.

Accepted.

Can the judgement and the financial redress not be used to establish criminal damage as a fact, rather than an allegation? I am not legally savvy but if the following, in totality, take place to establish anti-social behaviour -

1. A small claim court establishes that an individual has caused damage to the property for £X and was ordered to pay for damage.
2. Social services being alerted based on the CCTV footage, that the same individual hits younger kids repeatedly, and propose some kind of an improvement plan.
3. Other instances of anti-social behaviour addressed via police investigation

The reason for a piece-meal strategy is a disregard for the wellbeing of victims (disabled people of retired age) and greater concern for the welfare of a perpetrator, this being already addressed in the second or third post in this tread, an approach also followed by the police.   

If the Police/CPS are not treating it as criminal damage, you could look at a private prosecution, however that's likely to be very expensive.

https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/private-prosecutions

That's advice for England & Wales. In Northern Ireland it's the PPSNI:

https://www.ppsni.gov.uk/

Similar principles though.

And I would be challenging the HA's stance of requiring a criminal conviction before doing anything. I don't see that being justified (they may of course use a criminal conviction as a ground for eviction, but they don't need to have one).