Garden fence and next doors unruly children

[legofansmum]

Hi please could people offer advice at my wits end.

I live in a terraced house alone with my 8 year old DS who has autism.
In February 5 fence panels blew down in a storm. I am still waiting for the housing association to replace them. They are only replacing them because next door is a private rental not one of their properties. However, the housing association have said they will only replace if next doors landlord goes half. I am still waiting despite lots of false promise, complaints and phone calls.
Next door have 2 boys 5 and 7 who are left to do what that like. Their eldest son loved to take toys off my DS and watch him have a meltdown. Their youngest son keeps telling DS that he will punch him if he doesn't play with them. DS wants to be left alone. They won't leave him alone. They've even entered our house twice and taken DS toys.
Friday, after I lost it with housing association they put up a temporary tarpaulin to divide the gardens (my suggestion ) their kids have stood on chairs to peer over it(not just for a glimpse but 30 mins plus to call at and torment DS) thryve climbed over it , thrown stones and even a bloody ladder In to my garden. Took one of DS's toys and threatened to throw it into garden behind,greatly upsetting DS. I intervene but they don't listen. Their parents aren't nasty people but are wet and don't follow through any punishments. The kids are left to their own devices.

I'm at my wits end. They're antogonising my DS in what should be a safe space.

Any ideas how to get rid of them. When the fence is finally repaired I'm going to try and grow plants perhaps up it. He tarpaulin is 6ft and doesn't stop them.
Can't afford to move and love this area and my other neighbours.
Worried as school hols are nearly here and ds is energetic and entitled to a garden to play in.
Thanks for reading.

I agree Wierd, otherwise no one should ever plant anything in their own garden just in case it might slightly injure a tresspasser. What happens if the trespasser is allergic to something in the garden? I can't believe the rights of trespassing children appear to take precedence over OP's poor son.

(Before anyone jumps on this, I'm not suggesting anything to seriously hurt the children, only something to deter them if speaking to the parents doesn't work, which I suspect it won't)

I'm in rented accommodation and I am entirely responsible for maintaining all fences and gates.

If at all possible I would pay for the fence myself if I were you, then plant climbing roses against it.

If you don't have anyone to help you put up the fence, it might be cheaper to get the panels yourself and find a handyman rather than a fencing company.

DH is a handyman and he's compared his prices to a fencing company and he's definitely cheaper.

The Children's behaviour is seriously appalling and out of order, not to mention criminal if they are entering your home to intimidate your child. Is there any chance the parents are unaware of how bad they are being? If you can, you need to speak to them and make them fully aware of everything. If you can't face it, see if a friend or family member can do it for you. If neither are an option, I'd suggest keeping a log of all incidents, including glaring over fence (do this from now anyway) and call the police on the non emergency number. Hopefully they can send someone out to have a chat with them and make them aware of the severity of the situation. It is not wasting police time, there is a serious issue here. If you are able to, get the fence panels yourself, it'll be worth it. See if there are cheaper ways of doing it. Personally I'd definitely plant something like raspberries against the fence as they grow like crazy and are delicious! They would hopefully be a deterrent to the little brats without risk of serious harm/death as is possible with things such as ponds or new dogs. They are kids after all and I'm sure no one actually wants to hurt a child even of they are being vile. I really hope you get this sorted, good luck.

OP the solution isn't them going on holidays for 10 days, please talk to the parents.

You need to tell the children to pack it in and leave your DS alone. If they continue, talk to their mum and dad.

This is obviously upsetting you OP but you sound just as wet as you claim the parents are! These are small children, I would think it highly unlikely that they are that awful at their age that being told off by a neighbour would have no impact.