Neighbours Builders Latest!

Spender£

We have been having problems with our neighbours and their builders for months now after they sprayed paint in our fish pond and cut down our trees, I have asked about this on some previous threads.
The other day our CCTV caught their builders bringing their lunch into our back yard along with a couple of chairs and sitting in the middle of the lawn and eating it whilst laughing.
The Police sent some community officers to us to investigate, Unfortunately after viewing the footage they claimed the builders were probably doing work on my side of the garden and even though they technically should not be in the garden but it is a civil matter and not something they can help with unless they start damaging your property and cutting down your trees, spraying paint and trampling flowers is not going to be enough.
My partner does not want to waste money on solicitors and thinks we should have a picnic in their garden to see how they like it.
After googling it seems the plods might be telling the truth but it is obvious these people are not going to leave us alone unless we move house or hire thugs to seek retribution.

Any suggestions?

Devongardener

Maybe contact your local council and try to get it dealt with under anti social behaviour.  You seem to have records of the incidents as evidence.
Whatever you do, don’t use thugs or copy their behaviour.  Some solicitors offer free 30 minute consultations, you could try that to see where you stand legally.   It might be that a solicitors “cease and desist” letter will make your neighbour take this seriously.

Spender£

Devongardener said:

Maybe contact your local council and try to get it dealt with under anti social behaviour.  You seem to have records of the incidents as evidence.
Whatever you do, don’t use thugs or copy their behaviour.  Some solicitors offer free 30 minute consultations, you could try that to see where you stand legally.   It might be that a solicitors “cease and desist” letter will make your neighbour take this seriously.

Thanks I will look into this!

mebu60

Remember you will need to declare any formal issues with neighbours when you come to sell. 

531063

Maybe post the video footage on social media explaining who the builders are and do people think their actions are appropriate 

Eldi_Dos

As it appears to be a civil matter, get the contact details from their vehicles or your neighbour.Sent them a invoice for the use of your garden and any costs you may have incurred.

ThisIsWeird

mebu60 said:

Remember you will need to declare any formal issues with neighbours when you come to sell. 

As they will (should) regardless of whether the OP takes action.

Eldi_Dos

mebu60 said:

Remember you will need to declare any formal issues with neighbours when you come to sell. 

In this instance the problem is with the builders not the neighbours so would there be a need to declare anything.

ThisIsWeird

Hi Spender.
I recall your previous thread. This is still going on?!
I think in the previous thread you suggested that the neighbours themselves were complicit to some degree, at least not willing or bothered to become involved and help sort their builder's behaviour? How dismissive were they? How demonstrable is this? Did they, for example, join in with the builders when laughing, or similar? Got evidence?
You must have lots of examples of this anti-soc behaviour by now? Have you listed them in concise chrono order, briefly describing what happened, in a matter-of-fact way? (Unemotive)
And added any references to the evidence you have collected? Video clips, etc?
How many such examples do you have? From what you have described, these incidents surely by now amount to actual harassment, and not 'just' anti-social behaviour; it appears that it's very deliberate behaviour, designed to cause you stress and upset. If so, your LA should take this seriously.
(When I say to be 'unemotive' in your records, do still accurately describe how it made you (and your partner/family) feel. Eg. "Following this incident when they laughed dismissively when I pointed out they'd put paint in my fish pond, I felt so stressed that I was not able to relax for the rest of that evening, could literally feel my heart pounding in my chest for hours afterwards, and managed to sleep a max of one hour that night. This directly affected my work the next day..." sort of stuff. Just factual.)
So, a full, concise, as brief as possible, chrono record, with links to all evidence.
Include every time you communicated with them or your neighbour - what you said, how they responded. As verbatim as possible. Emphasise any time to told them to 'stop', or leave your garden. Have you said that to them, in an unambiguous manner? And how did they respond? 
Have you told them to not come on to your property at any time without your express permission? If so, when, and can you evidence it? If you have, and they still came in to eat their sandwiches - under the guise of 'doing work' - then they have clearly breached your instructions, and that PCO needs tackling. You need concrete examples like this. No vagueness. No "they should know not to do this....", but, "I told them unambiguously, on the Xth and then on the Yth, to never come on to my property again without my express permission" - clips 5&6. Do you have this?
Why do you think these builders are behaving this? Is it just the way they are - yobs? Or did something 'trigger' it (not justifying their behaviour, of course, but just trying to understand)? Did you say anything to them at some point such as "Don't park there" or whatevs? If so, add that to your notes.
Finally, is there any other useful angle you can add to this? Any other suggestions of a 'cause'; are you ethnic? Elderly? Infirm? From a different part of the country, even - an 'incomer'?!
Once you've done the above, then it's to your LA. And police again, if you think it's serious enough - at any hint of threat or aggression, for example.
Do not, of course, retaliate in kind... Do not picnic in your neighb's garden. Do not have your lunch in the builder's van. Do not laugh or mock them. 
But do tackle their behaviour, and tell them to stop. The more times you can evidence having done this, the more obvious it will be that this is deliberate harassment, designed to cause you upset. 
Asing as you know you are recording evidence, then use such incidents to give them more rope, so be emboldened to confront them - I mean, what can they actually do to you, that won't nail them further?! If you went to then after that last incident, and calmly-but-firmly asked them, "What were you doing in my garden?!", what could they say that won't be clear nonsense?
"Did I make it absolutely clear that you were to never come on to my property without my express permission?!" What could they reply to that, that wouldn't nail them?! Either, "No", in which case you could evidence they are lying, or "Yes" which means they are trespassing. 
"What makes you think it's ok to have your lunch on someone else's property, when they've made it clear you are not to trespass?" 
These may seem like Mickey Mouse Q's, but it's how to tackle such cases - simple, unambiguous questions, always questions, that they need to reply to. Repeat them until they do; "You haven't answered my question - what makes you think you can come on...". What can they say?! They either reply honestly, or they fudge/mock, or they refuse - all such responses will be incriminating to their behaviour. You will be handing them rope.
If you tell them to 'never come on to.your property again without your express permission', don't end it there, but add, "do you understand?" Repeat repeat repeat. Always a Q.
Enjoy doing this. Get on the front foot. 

chrisw

Spender£ said:

The other day our CCTV caught their builders bringing their lunch into our back yard along with a couple of chairs and sitting in the middle of the lawn and eating it whilst laughing.

I haven't seen you previous posts but getting the police and solicitors involved due to this seems a bit OTT. Presumably the building works must be nearing completion now? In which case it might be better to just suck it up for now in the knowledge it will soon be over.

ThisIsWeird

chrisw said:

Spender£ said:

The other day our CCTV caught their builders bringing their lunch into our back yard along with a couple of chairs and sitting in the middle of the lawn and eating it whilst laughing.

I haven't seen you previous posts but getting the police and solicitors involved due to this seems a bit OTT. Presumably the building works must be nearing completion now? In which case it might be better to just suck it up for now in the knowledge it will soon be over.

We can only go by what we are told on here, unless there's good reason to suspect it's an inaccurate or over-egged account.
From the other thread and this one, it sounds to me like deliberate bullying, harassment, and intimidation, and yobs shouldn't get away with this.
My advice in such cases is always; record (covertly if needed) for evidence, and 'challenge' the behaviour. 
If you know it's being recorded, and you get your approach - wording, Ie largely in the form of Q's - sorted in your head, it can be really gratifying. 
Give them enough rope.
Too easy to suggest such things are ignored; unless you've been there, you might not realise the impact it has on your life.
But, yes, I agree - temper it all with the likely continued duration. If these folks are gone in a month or so, and this will be the end of it, then take that into account too.