Help! My new neighbour is a nightmare. How would you handle the situation?

[rosebudding]

Help! My new neighbour is a nightmare. How would you handle the situation?

My new neighbour moved in a few months ago. He’s a young (around 30) single man. He has a huge amount of friends who are often high or drunk and always round. He frequently has loud parties in the garden with loud music and constant week smoking and bbqs from the afternoon until past 3am. his garden is meters away from my daughter’s bedroom window so she can’t sleep and can’t leave the window open otherwise her room will stink of weed. We can’t use the garden when he's having a party and can’t plan parties of our own as we’d be driven inside due to the noise and smoke.

They also use the narrow passage between our homes all the time, even in the middle of the night to access his flat. They shout and slam the door constantly. They park in my drive. His dog also barks solidly until the early hours when he’s left outside by himself. The passage is always full of his furniture and rubbish.

What should I do? I haven’t said anything so far as I feel a bit intimidated. Moving isn not an option. I have lived in this house all my life and my elderly father, who I take care of fulltime, cannot move. It is his beloved home and he is familiar with it and the area.

Honestly, this sort of anti-social behaviour never changes. They never improve. It’s just who he is and it won’t stop. You either live with it or you move because you won’t be able to control what he does.

Move. You won't change him, he'll change for no one. Move.

The morning after the parties get that hoover out.. Enjoy your garden then. Loudly.. Report the drug use to the environmental health.. And the police.

Report the noisy parties to the council. They will have a noise / antisocial behaviour team.

Record evidence
Report
Dont confront

Is it rented or has he bought it?

You say it's a flat. How is the set up? Is the garden his or communal? Is there a management company? It's it private or social housing?

Thanks for replying. He just bought it sadly

@rosebudding do you know if he is council/social tenant or private ? I'm just thinking if he is council/social he may be on a probation tenancy. So definitely report him.

Have your other neighbours said anything ? I wounder if you could do a joint complaint

The council still manage reports of home owners....

Thanks for replying and asking. My house is detached and privately owned. The house next door is split into three flats. It is privately owned. He has the ground floor garden flat. The garden is all his. No management company.

Shit I just saw he's bought it.

Yeah :-(

1. Try to resolve issue peacefully by speaking to him first and appealing to his good side. If it fails ,proceed to next step.
2. Find his weaknesses and try to use it to leverage the situation. If it fails, proceed to next step
3. Black magic / mild evil eye methods to make him stop his behaviour or move out
4. If nothing works, you'll have to move

In England and Wales, the local authority AND/OR police can still temporarily close a property to all and everyone for ASB even when it is owned (3 months then a max extension of 3 months so no more than 6 months).

Local authority environmental health can also serve notices to stop nuisance, can prosecute and seize equipment.

You can therefore either report everything to the la/police where appropriate or try to move.

There may be a freeholder, I would report the anti social behaviour but people like this never change. It may be in his lease about noise, neighbours, smoking weed won't be allowed.

Report every party to the police. Imagine how the people in the flats above him feel too, some people are selfish

Try and find out who his freeholder is - the info will be on land registry. There will be a clause in his lease about noise and nuisance to neighbours and it's up to the freeholder to enforce the terms of the lease.

Also, try your local council's noise abatement team.

Thank you, I had no idea they had that power. Never had any issues with any neighbours before in my life and I'm nearing 40! x

As soon as you start reporting, you will then have to declare those issues if you ever try to sell. So, you’d end up trapped as people don’t want to buy next to someone who has several reports made against him.

Just think carefully about your long term plan with this.

Maybe he won’t have loud parties for years on end, is it possible he’s young and thrilled with his new garden flat, but might get a partner and quieten down? We had neighbours who were dire when they first arrived but then had a baby and stopped all the garden partying! I’m very sorry, having bad neighbours is stressful. Let’s hope he starts middle age sooner rather than later!

That would be fabulous!!

They say that talking to them first is a good idea but he's so selfish, I just feel like I'd get annoyed quite quickly

I’d also be cautious about reporting, if you ever wish to move it will cause you issues, and in the meantime you need to live next to him and he could start a vendetta.

for me, reporting is the last stage, I’d urge you to go and speak to him, be nice, welcome him to the neighbourhood. Explain you’ve a child and elderly father, and as much as you don’t want to ruin his fun, anyway to keep it down.

are the parties not just at the weekend, does he not work,and his stuff could be just there temporary, make sure you don’t over egg what’s going on, as the way you’ve written it it’s a constant issue, is it?

This is what I mean by over egging, have you even spoken to him and asked?