Opinions please - are my neighbours anti-social??

[Scottish_Maleficent]

I'm considering making a complaint about my neighbours, because in my opinion a lot of their behaviour is anti-social. But I'd like your opinions........

Here are my points.......

• They have, in the past, allowed their dog to foul in our garden.
• They have a cat which is not allowed inside the house, and so every night it sits on our doorstep and cries.
• The dog is never taken for walks, instead it is let out the front door to relieve itself on a small grassy area in front of our house, ignoring the strict dog fouling laws we have here.
• The dog is sometimes shut inside the house for hours on end, and barks continuously.
• They play music at all hours of the day and night - loudly.
• On bin day, they put out their wheely bin the night before. It is always overflowing with rubbish, and the slightest bit of wind blows the rubbish all over our garden and the rest of the street and they refuse to pick it up.
• When they have visitors, the visitors always park their car in front of our house or directly opposite our driveway, making it difficult to reverse out of the driveway (narrow street)
• The husband and wife go on holiday leaving the son and daughter alone in the house, he's 18, she's 14. Party time then follows, and the daughter has several times been lying in her front garden completely wasted.
• The 14 year old daughter has a boy racer of a boyfriend, who drives up and down the road at hugh speed - ignoring the 20 miles per hour speed limit.
• The 18 year old son had friends who have no regard for other people's property, and throw their beer bottles into our garden.

My husband has tried to speak to our neighbours regarding a lot of these points, but to be honest, they are not the best educated people on the planet. I have had to call the police twice in the past due to noise at 3am, when the parents were on holiday, but still it continues and it all makes me so mad............

Do you think this is anti-social behaviour, or am I just being cantankerouse old so and so?? LOL!

 

[BRobson]

That is horrible That is anti-social behavior all right. I am not sure what you can do about it though.

Do you think the animals are being neglected - you could report that to the RSPCA.

Sending you a . Hope you can find a solution

 

[UKDEB]

Some of it is, some not so much.

When they're away, they can't control what their offspring are up to. It doesn't matter what they tell them, it's human nature for teenagers to throw parties when their parents are away. The neighbours opposite us are very fond of informing us of the minor misdemeanors our girls get up to when we're away. If wouldn't dream of grassing up their girls who, frankly, do far worse.

As far as people parking outside your house is concerned, you have no right to that space. It's public property. You just need to let it go, or it will eat you up. Yes, it's annoying, but no-one's doing anything wrong.

The boy-racer boyfriend? Definitely not their responsibility.

Whilst I sympathise, unless you live in the middle of nowhere, much of this is life in 21st Century Britain. Your best strategy is to befriend them and then try to tackle it.

To be completely honest, this is all about your perception of what's going on. You can choose to let it get to you, or you can choose to live and let live.

 

[higgy66]

What a nightmare! What can you do? If you make a stink they could get worse out of spite. Have they been your neighbours for long. Are they likely to stay for years and years??

Also you have to be careful now with neighbours because if you have any kind of dispute and then decide to sell up and don't mention this to the new owners you can be liable for the cost of the property to the new owners if they also have trouble with them.

Unfortunately the law is not on out side!


Sending you lots of hugs as this is something I worried about when we were looking. We chose a property with a church on one side and a large house on the other side. Now, if we have trouble with neighbours from one side chances are they're dead!

 

[BingsingsWaltDisney]

Hi Cath

Your problem is indemic in todays society

there are a number of things you have to consider. I think it will probably be the same in Scotland as it is in England.

Inform your local council enviromental health department noise pollution that you have a problem neighbour and it would be better if a number of your neighbours would back you up. this should be completely confidential.

Next time the young girl gets wasted dont call the police call the on duty Socisl services officer. again this should be confidential.

we in england have what we call CSU which is the community safety unit. it is their role to investigate anti social behaviour. we are quite lucky were we live because all the officers are pretty keen.

next inform the local fire brigade that your having problems with parking and traffic down your street. they should investigate this as if they were called on emergancy they must be able to gain access

the draw back to all this (and i speak as someone who lives in England) is that if you were ever to sell your house you have to put down on the documentation the estate agent gives you if you have had any problems with your neighbours. Now you cant tell lies and say that you havent complained as youve already admitted to doing so twice. Who wants to live next door to the neighbours from hell

as for the dog fouling tough on that were i live, they have guys wandering around the borough justing fining people left right and centre. again it seems to work. Contact the dog warden in the first instance before you contact RSPCA

so all in all Cath you have my complete sympathy
I dont like being the bearer of bad news

dont shoot the messenger , and i hope that everything turns out OK

 

[GrumpyUK]

Ok, here are my thoughts...

They have, in the past, allowed their dog to foul in our garden.

Is there a problem with a boundary fence? Whose responsibility is this?

They have a cat which is not allowed inside the house, and so every night it sits on our doorstep and cries.

Not a thing you can do about this. There is no lawful requirement for them to have the animal in the house (it is not a licencsed animal) and they cannot control the noise it makes

The dog is never taken for walks, instead it is let out the front door to relieve itself on a small grassy area in front of our house, ignoring the strict dog fouling laws we have here.

You need to check the dog fowling laws - your local council will be able to adivse on a street by street basis. If they allow their animal to do this (that is they are aware the animal is lose and they do not supervise it) then they migh be breaching a civil by-law.

The dog is sometimes shut inside the house for hours on end, and barks continuously.

More difficult. If the animal is left for days there is a cruelty issue (contact RSPCA for advice). if they leave the animal alone whilst they are at work (for example), I doubt that much can be achieved EXCEPT you might feel you need to report this to the councils anti-social behaviour co-ordinator (your local council is required by law to have one), as thet still have responsibility for their property.

They play music at all hours of the day and night - loudly.

Again you need to report this to the anti-social behaviour coordinator. But first the councils noise abatement team (again they will have one of these

On bin day, they put out their wheely bin the night before. It is always overflowing with rubbish, and the slightest bit of wind blows the rubbish all over our garden and the rest of the street and they refuse to pick it up.

Does your local council issue guidlines about when rubbish should be put out? Some areas say it must be put out after 0600. Check with the council as they might, again, be breaching a civil by-law. (Rubbish blowing out of the bin is an act of god - nowt you can do)

When they have visitors, the visitors always park their car in front of our house or directly opposite our driveway, making it difficult to reverse out of the driveway (narrow street)

Not unlawful - not a thing you can do (are there residents parking permits?)

The husband and wife go on holiday leaving the son and daughter alone in the house, he's 18, she's 14. Party time then follows, and the daughter has several times been lying in her front garden completely wasted.

You might be able to report this under anti-social behaviour BUT it would be against the 18 year old (as the 'responsible' person at the address. If the 14 year old is left alone over night in the address this shold be reported to the councils childrens social services team (there will be an emergency duty team manager 24 hours a day). Also (if the child is alone overnight) the police should be informed. As to the child being 'completly wasted' depending on your interpretation this should also be reported to police as there could be grounds for taking her into protective custody (police cannot leave a child drunk - somebody has to have responsibility for here well being)

The 14 year old daughter has a boy racer of a boyfriend, who drives up and down the road at hugh speed - ignoring the 20 miles per hour speed limit.
The 18 year old son had friends who have no regard for other people's property, and throw their beer bottles into our garden.

Check you local traffic laws - if the 20mph is correct and is being breached this is both an anti-social behaviour and a police matter (if this causes a public nuisance [i.e it impacts on your other neighbours and comprimises public safety] then police can consider something called ANPR (automatic number plate recording) to identify the culprits and charge is necessary.

My husband has tried to speak to our neighbours regarding a lot of these points, but to be honest, they are not the best educated people on the planet. I have had to call the police twice in the past due to noise at 3am, when the parents were on holiday, but still it continues and it all makes me so mad............[/I]

I suggest you keep a diary of events (police should have advised you of this). If the council agree that these people are acting anti-socially then your dairy could be used as evidence in a civil prosection (an ASBO or a ABC - acceptable behaviour contract). Are any of the other neighbours affected by what you write about? Strength in numbers - the council and police will take everything from every source into consideration.

However you must be completly satisfisfied that this is the course of action you would like to take, as sometimes things can become more difficult before they can get better. Try the diary thing and then go along to your Citizens Advice Bureau and see what they say - they might suggest you talk to one of their lawyers. Your local council will also be a good first point of contact.

Good luck!

(This is all opinion so not legally binding! I take no responsibility!)

After all that...I like Debs answer. It might be difficult by try befriending! (Teenagers do get up to all sorts but as long as they are safe that's all that matters)

 

[Ware Bears]

for you Cath.

Are they homeowners or do they rent the property?

 

[GrumpyUK]

Bingsingswaltdisney


"we in england have what we call CSU which is the community safety unit. it is their role to investigate anti social behaviour. we are quite lucky were we live because all the officers are pretty keen."

This depends on where you live. Generally CSUs are for reporting and investigating hate crime: domestic violence, racially agrrevated offences, homphobic crime. They are NOT for neighbour disputes unless on of those factors come into play.

 

[natalielongstaff]

you have already had some great advice cath so im just giving you a

 

[Sunny Soph]

Here's some more for you, Hope you can get something done

 

[wifey]

Those neighbours are the epitome of anti-social, We have some like that in our street too. None of them seem to realize they are making complete idiots of themselves and showing lack of respect to themselves and others. I think Karmic justice will pay them back sometime
Our town is the 4th most antisocial town in the county so we can totally relate to your situation, keep on at your council and ask for the paperwork from them to keep a diary their behaviour and take it from there.

 

[anti-social-watch]

Sadly their is too much of it

anti-socialbritain.co.uk

put the www in front of it

 

[OneLittleSpark]

Firstly , you shouldn't have to be so miserable in your own home. I can't offer any legal advice (besides, I think that one's pretty well covered already), but I can offer some advice to deter the cat. If you fill a household spray bottle with orange juice and spray it on your doorstep, it should stop the cat sitting there. They hate the smell of orange, I think it's just too overpowering for them. If that doesn't work, you could try a 'deterring' shot from water pistol (please, nobody flame me for this, I love cats and have 5 at home, but it's a good deterrent and they learn pretty blooming quickly), but the neighbors might not be too happy if they caught you.

Good luck, I hope it all goes well!

 

[Scottish_Maleficent]

for you Cath.

Are they homeowners or do they rent the property?

Ye Elaine, they are homeowners, and unfortunately not likely to move as they have just finished building an extension!!

 

[Ware Bears]

Oh dear

Sending you more

I'm lucky in that we've got very good neighbours either side, thank goodness.

 

[Ali and boyz]

Cath my sil has had terrible problems with her neighbour and it all came to a head because xmas. she phoned the local authority and the guy from the council came out and issued them with an ASBO. Unsure what authority you are in but let me know and I will pm you.