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.

In my experience the animal welfare organisations are better than the welfare organisations that look after people in this society.
I'd report the dog being left outside to someone like the RSPCA - anonymously, with a record of when/how often he's being left outside, distressed, cold, no water (?) food shelter etc.
I'd be worried about the poor thing that might be considered cruel under the animal welfare act.

My local police will come out for any disturbance after 11pm... especially if you mention weed. I suspect weed may not be the only drug being used and also people drink driving. If it's truly terrible it is a 999 job.

If you're not comfortable talking to him would you be happy to write him a letter saying you're so pleased he's settled in & that you're happy for him to have parties etc however the noise is a bit intrusive on those around, could he keep it down after a certain time. Also point out that a few of the neighbours have noticed his friends smoke weed & the smell is drifting into their homes. Request that he askes his friends not to park on your drive as you have an elderly relative that you may have to seek medical help for in an emergency therefore need the driveway clear at all times. Let him know it's a friendly community & you're all very welcoming but are also considerate of each other & like to keep everyone happy. Sign off 'Your surrounding neighbours' then he'll not know who sent it.

I would consider things very carefully before you contact the local council or police etc. Any disputes where council are involved must be declared at the point of sale. If you rent, this isn’t an issue, but if you own your home then this may greatly affect your ability to sell. Having said that, you are also obliged to report any anti social issues or reasons that may affect someone’s decision to buy a property anyway, but I suspect people don’t usually oblige to this rule with their estate agent or conveyancer.

From my experience, talking to him will be pointless. When you’re dealing with arseholes, they remain arseholes.

his behaviour is extreme; he has absolutely no consideration whatsoever for those who live around him. You can be sure those living in the flats above him will be suffering as well.

I’m sorry that I have no real suggestions of what you can do. I can only sympathise. I have had my fair share of nightmare neighbours and my experience is that they don’t change their behaviour. I am currently having to deal one lot now. But my way of dealing with it is to fight fire with fire.

i have a family living below me who play extremely loud rap music on a daily basis, so loud my floor boards are shaking - they know exactly what they’re doing. I have spoken to them in the past but relations have broken down now. I’m now considering buying a treadmill so I can jog on their ceiling, give their flat a good shake and a taste of their own medicine. You cannot deal reasonably with unreasonable people.

My other suggestion would be to buy a whole load of ‘liquid ass’ and squirt it into his garden / patio, or where ever they hang out so the whole place hopefully stinks of shit. Do it on a regular basis- when it looks like he’s going to have another party.

if he’s going to inconvenience you, then you should inconvenience him.

As someone who moved due to 18 months of hell from some scruffy ableist chavs, I sued my ex housing association, and I'm now a member of the housing ombudsman resident panel - why are people suggesting to report this without OP ever speaking to the guy?

We all have different standards of living. He owns his place so is probably hard working. He might not be aware of your standards. Reporting this will affect both of your ability to move or sell your home in future. It should be a last resort. It seems from your title that you've already made your mind up that he's a wrong un. You need to reframe this in your mind if you want to get anywhere. At least see it from his point of a view.

Bazinga007 · 02/06/2024 14:13

You need to put a bit of Napalm Death on...

There's a blast from the past!