I live in a small block of council flats. My downstair neighbour has been a nightmare ever since he moved in almost five years ago. To give a few examples of his actions...
His cooker was confiscated because he continuously left the gas on and we all had to get evacuated in the middle of the night.
He has loud parties almost every weekend (from around Fri night to Sun night).
The first time I politely asked him to quieten down, he pinned me against the wall while i was holding my (then) newborn dd.
He has made threats towards me ever since.
Whenever i come in and out of the building, he stands at his front door (he lives on the ground floor so i have to pass his house to get up to mine) with a knife and stares at me.
He drinks and smokes drugs all day which wafts up into my home through the crappy floor. And he leaves his glass bottles in the corridor/close which the other neighbours have to clear away.
I phoned the anti-social people after i realised i couldn't risk confronting him myself anymore, and they've been great. We've had an ongoing case now for just over four years.
Yesterday, i called them to come out and witness noise as his music was blaring yet again. But he has gotten sly with this and usually sees the council people coming, so turns it down until they leave (which is why it's taken so long to 'catch' him), but yesterday he kept it on and the noise team recorded it. They brought police officers out with them as last time they went to his door, he was very agressive.
I waited upstairs and listened to what was going on. The police ended up barging in through his door after knocking for ten minutes. He was issued with his final warning from the anti-social team. So if he does anything else within the next six months and they catch him/witness it, he will get taken to court to be evicted.
However, I've been at this stage before. So I don't hold up much hope. The anti-social team are just too slow to respond to my call outs. And the local police aren't much better. Last week i waited four hours on them coming out (I phoned at midnight) and by the time they came out, he'd turned his music off (at around 3am).
I think it's completely unfair that someone like this man is allowed to live in a lovely block of flats with decent, respectful neighbours when he treats them like shit.
Unless you've experienced a terrible neighbour before, I don't think you'll understand just how it can affect someone. It's really started to make me anxious. I'm jumping at the slightest noise from him. I can hardly sleep on his 'quiet' nights because I'm expecting something to happen. It's just awful.
IMO, all people like him should be housed together. That way they can play their music, take their drugs, be abusive in one giant party.
I can't even relax in my own home. I can't afford private renting, and the council won't rehouse me so i'm going to have to put up with this guy for the forseeable future.
Humph.