We moved to a new house a year ago and unfortunately we seem to have moved next door to a very unwell, spiteful woman.
She doesn’t want us living here and she goes to extreme lengths to make this known.
Since we moved in we have been met with dog poo thrown in our garden and on our windows, broken glass on our back door step, weed killer on our plants and a constant need for her to be standing at the window/door whenever we leave our home or come home to watch us in an intimidating manner.
The antisocial behaviour stopped when we loudly spoke about how we will contact the police with the cctv evidence we have against her.
However it didn’t stop there. As she is finding other ways to harass us which now seems to be persistent thumping on the walls, slamming doors and cupboards, stomping around the house in what sounds like shoes made of bricks, and tv on full volume overnight.
I never sleep due to all of this noise, I now need to wear ear plugs which will not be possible in 2 months as I am pregnant and will need to be able to hear my new baby wake.
I have spoken to the council noise department who said there is nothing they can do as doors closing and walking are normal parts of living. I informed them the decibel is often up to 80. They will not respond to me. I don’t want to involve the police as I fear this will make things worse.
Neighbour called me over as she’d had a call from the council asking her to be considerate, she told me that I’m an awful person as she hasn’t made any noise and it’s just the boiler… I disagreed that a boiler would cause these sounds, so she has ramped up the noise even more. Knowing I have no one to help me and she has got away Scot free she seems to think she can do what she likes.
I’m exhausted and stressed. I am not enjoying my maternity leave as she repeatedly slams the same door over and over (for 3 hours I counted) before I left to the shops to escape. My husband is supportive and tries to help me, but it’s a difficult situation when we have no control. He luckily sleeps through it and isn’t affected the way I am. Loud noises are a ptsd trigger for me, and the fact she does them on purpose to upset me makes it even harder.
I am worried it will trigger post natal depression or I won’t be able to enjoy time with my baby, have family visit or have naps due to the constant noise. It’s very difficult to ignore as it’s so loud and intrusive.
She doesn’t work, aged 50 at a guess, has one visitor who I presume to be a relative aged around 35 (I can’t approach this person as she has called me the C word for no apparent reason). Just thought I’d add this for background as I’m not sure if people would suggest a mental illness.
I just can’t go on like this. I don’t know what I’ve done to upset her so much she has to disturb us. We are two adults who cause no trouble or noise disturbance, no pets or irritating visitors. I’m stumped what to do. Short of moving house Id love some realistic advice on how to cope. I don’t think we can afford soundproofing at the moment. Thanks if you made it this far.