Vile Neighbours Making Life Hell

[Candysandy]

OK, so our neighbours moved in around three months ago and to say we haven't got off on the right foot would be a bloody understatement...Pretty much every week they've been having garden fires, burning all kinds of crap producing really vile noxious fumes and making it impossible for me to enjoy my garden or peg washing out etc...
During the recent hot spell we've been having they've really been ramping it up and having a fire on a daily basis,I've been off work for a couple of weeks and they've been burning stuff from around two in the afternoon til around 10pm , the smoke is really black and thick and gets right on your chest.I've had to keep all the windows and doors shut and the house has been like a bloody sauna...absolutely unbearable...we've actually had to leave the house and go for a long walk to get to respite or go to my mums to cool down!!!
I had a word with one of the girls that lives there as she asked me to bring my washing in last week as she was going to have a fire.I told her I wasn't happy about it and asked her to desist having them in the day to which she replied "We have to burn the rubbish to get the garden done". I told her she could put it in her brown recycling bin, compost it or take it to the tip. She just stared at me blankly and went about having her fire til 10pm...
Last week the smoke was so bad my eyes were streaming just from nipping out and feeding the rabbits so told her I wasn't happy and she ignored me.
I had no alternative to phone the council and they issued them with a letter. Saturday night I came in and the girls father(who has the bonfires with her) was waiting in their garden.
He told me I had no right to report him and that he could do as he pleased. I told him his daughter was in possession of a letter which said otherwise and how I had the right to enjoy my garden and breathe clean air and he leaned right in towards me and said "I'd watch myself if I was you ".
My husband witnessed it and told him not to threaten me and he lunged over the fence shouting "Come on Specky" and tried to punch my husband. His wife then came out and started getting in my face and shouting all kinds of crap that wasn't true...real vile stuff saying my son was a pervert checking out his daughters and just trying to score cheap points because she hadn't got a leg to stand on...we reported the lowlife to the cops and eventually they spoke to him and gave him a verbal warning and told him basically to wind his neck in...now the parents seem to come most days, being super loud and obnoxious,making us feel uncomfortable in our own home...I don't feel we can stay here any longer even though it's been our home for 23 years ...any advice would be greatly appreciated...AIBU to feel sick and depressed and contemplate selling up or should I find a different way of dealing with it? I genuinely feel frightened of what he might do next ,,,

I hate people like this. I grew up on a rough council estate and the only way to deal with this type is to either make friends with them...fakely go over there with a peace offering even though you're not in the wrong. And say "We've got off on the wrong foot! let's be mates"

OR

Piss up their doors and burn their car down.

You're never going to get anywhere with them I'm afraid. If they are tenants then there's some hope as if you keep complaining to the landlord they will probably get evicted. If not, I'd move. Life really is too short to have to make noting their bad behaviour your full-time job.

Are there any local byelaws that sau when you can have bonfires? I’ve certainly lived places where there are - might be worth ringing up the council so the can inform the neighbours if they are breaking them!!

Real anti-social behaviour. You cant have black, smoky bonfires everyday - what normal person does that. But that is it, you are not dealing with normal people.

Whilst you can keep on reporting like pp's have told you, it doesn't change anything really does it? You are still stuck with these horrors and it has gone from zero to hell pretty quickly hasn't it.

What a shame when you have lived there 23 years. We have have problems with second home owners who want us to cut our hedge down so they can enjoy the view into our private garden. Their home is 50 feet away and they are here maybe three weeks a year. Still entitled but in a different way.

I would have a look round at some other properties, go on some viewings op. They are completely in the wrong, but you cant live like this.

If we hadn't had the job relocation and moved, I imagine I would have had a complete breakdown by now from the intimidation, harassment and not feeling safe in my own home.

Just as an aside. If they have bought and are renting to their children, find out who they are and where they live. This will be on the deeds. Then report them to hmrc. No way will these scumbags be declaring the income.

Their bonfire behaviour is a 'private nuisance' and as such you can take action in the magistrates court yourself under s82 of the environmental protection act. For evidence take videos on your phone of the bonfires. Hope that helps.

This is how to do it.

You would be required to show the Court that you have attempted to resolve the problem yourself. To do this
you should write to the person concerned and tell them that you believe they are causing a nuisance. You
should tell them in the letter that if they do not do something to stop or reduce the nuisance themselves, then
you will be considering taking a private action under Section 82 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.
Your letter should state the reason for your complaint – e.g. that nuisance is being caused by excessive dog
barking/playing of loud amplified music/smoke from bonfires. You should keep copies of all correspondence
sent or received regarding your issue. An example letter is provided at the end of this leaflet.
The letter you send is the first piece of evidence you will need to help persuade the court that you are
suffering from a statutory nuisance.
Once you have sent the letter you should begin logging when the nuisance happens by writing down the
dates and times on a simple diary monitoring form (example provided). You should record on the form how
the nuisance affects you and why it is stopping you from enjoying your property – e.g. you cannot sleep
because of the noise or you were not able to sit in the garden because of smoke from a fire.
You may also wish to begin gathering other forms of evidence such as approaching others (e.g. friends or
neighbours) who may have witnessed or experienced the problem themselves and would be willing to support
you.
Be careful, however, if you decide you want to record or video the nuisance. This type of evidence can be
very useful but to avoid any action being taken against you, you should ensure you have told the person you
are recording that you may be gathering evidence in this way. You can advise them in your initial letter. If you
do take photographic or video evidence you should be sure to only take it of the nuisance occurring and
nothing else or they may have a case against you for invasion of privacy.
Don’t forget – You must keep copies of all correspondence sent or received regarding your issue.
If the person causing the problem chooses to ignore your letter to them and continues with their action then
you should write to them again and inform them that you will be applying to the Magistrates Court for
proceedings to be taken. You must give them at least 3 days notice of your intention to do this. An example
letter is provided with this leaflet. You must keep a copy of this notification for future reference.
If the problem continues then you should gather together all your evidence and contact the Justices Clerk at
Wrexham Magistrates Court, Bodhyfryd, Wrexham (tel: 01978 310106).
You will be required to visit the Court in person with your evidence. The Court is open weekdays from 9.30am
and you should aim to visit around this time. You should go to the Clerk’s Office and explain that you want a
Summons served under Section 82 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. You should be prepared to
produce your evidence to show the Magistrates that you have an arguable case.
If the Magistrates are satisfied that you have a case that should be answered, you will be given the time and
date of the hearing. The Court officers will serve the Summons requiring the defendant to turn up at Court at
that time to defend the case. A charge is made by the Court at the commencement of proceedings – you
should speak with the Court and ask what these charges are. After the Summons has been issued, you
should continue to keep a record of evidence as described above which you can bring to the Court on the
date of the hearing.
On the date of the hearing you should arrive for the time allocated with your evidence and any witnesses you
may have. You will be required to explain to the Magistrates your side of the problem and will need to produce
your evidence to show when and how it occurs, and how it affects you. You, and your witnesses, will be cross
examined by the person you are accusing or by their legal representative.

Obviously you would use your local magistrate court.

No one is allowed to burn black noxious stuff.

Thanks Jonbb that’s useful to know

A family bought the house connected to my lovely semi in a quiet area. They ripped out the beautiful mature hedge between our gardens with a JCB churning my lawn in the process, extended their house on 2 sides and upwards and raised the level of their back lawn removing any privacy in my garden or back of my house. They and their extended family were permanently in the garden with horrible loud music, fires, hot tub, sumo wrestling parties (with those blow up fat suits!). Dog barked at our dog through the fence constantly. If the parents were out the teen sons played banging music or practiced rapping on a microphone, if the parents were in the little sons were screaming in the garden (didn't really mind that- just kids playing). If there was ever boxing on pay per view the would have parties and stay up screaming at the tv til 5am. Dug up my internet cable. Also parking on the st became difficult because of their multiple cars and vans. Previous to them moving in my house had been a quiet lovely haven with idyllic private garden.

I just had to move. It's not worth the impact on your mental health.

If the parents own the house and the girls rent it from them make sure that the authorities know as if the the daughters are receiving Housing Benefit, the fact that the parents own it would be looked at very negatively! Play dirty with people like this.

Are ther not Neighbours the other side who are experiencing the same problems with fire who would support you OP?

Sounds horrendous

If the parents own the house and the girls rent it from them make sure that the authorities know as if the the daughters are receiving Housing Benefit, the fact that the parents own it would be looked at very negatively!

Not necessarily. It's true that councils look at such cases very closely, but you can still get HB when renting from a relative providing you're able to show it's drawn up as a proper commercial tenancy, rather than just being created to screw the council over

All that said, I doubt these particular parents have done it properly, in which case a call could well be worthwhile

Apologies - bold fail on the heading there

As everyone has already said - write everything down - times, days etc. no matter how trivial.

Take photos or videos of everything. If black smoke is billowing over your fence record it. Likewise any threats or confrontation.

The smoke I would have thought was an environmental health issue. I got contacted by them for playing music too loudly in my car - by a house that is on the other side of the woods from me!! Turns out there was a neighbour with the same surname and it was them they were complaining about, but if they can contact someone for a car stereo I'm bloody sure they can step in one it comes to noxious fumes from bonfires.

The most important thing is not to engage, keep your distance and dignity at all times - hard I know.

Try not to let it get you down OP. I've been where you are and it's not nice, but you will prevail in the end.

Carrot, that sounds awful.

Can I ask, how did you come to terms with having to move from your lovely house? I still feel quite resentful that I am having to move, even though it is really exciting in lots of ways.

My garden also got ruined by the neighbours extension (thanks very much, Party Wall Act) and they refuse to pay the compensation to us. He knows that we are moving and can't risk having to declare taking them to court.

In fact, we aren't selling now. But I can't face dragging it all up again in court.

This guy has just completely won and got his own way, trampling all over our feelings and driving us out of our home of nearly 20 years. It is that I can't get over.

We live in a village OP and everyone burns their fecking rubbish as an alternative to paying the £40 for a brown garden waste bin. It infuriates me.

Report and photograph every time. It's the only way. Our local EH are very good at coming straight out if there is a corker on the go.

loveka, our kids were getting bigger and we would have needed to move in the next few years anyway. It just sped up the process. In some ways the neighbors ruining the pleasure of that house made it easier to move on. Luckily the family that bought our house had never seen it before it was spoiled (for me) so they thought it was nice!

ps. forgot to say, loveka, if you possibly can find the positives in moving. The garden you always wanted? Walking distance to nice shops and cafes? Down/ up size? Or a new exciting blank canvas for a new chapter.

My neighbour became violent last year, he tried to have a fight and started throwing stones in order to get a reaction. He would glare and shout comments out of his window at us.

We just called the police everytime and they would speak to him, eventually they got sick of him and threatened to take it further. It then stopped, it is possible to get them to stop you just need to be persistent!

Thanks, Carrot. Yes there are upsides to moving. We have bought a much bigger house 250 miles away! It is a whole new fresh start. We wouldn't have done it I don't think, had it not been for the neighbour issues.

I just want to go now, but we have to wait for work to be finished on the new house.

Thank you for all your kind words, accounts of personal struggles with arsehole neighbours and sage advice, I appreciate it all! To be honest we've been thinking of moving for a while,we've had a catalogue of problems living round here, but lately it's really calmed down and then this happens ...Talking to DH and we both think we'd love a fresh start...this family are insufferable, I've met a few arseholes like them over the years and in my experience, they rarely change...certainly not people you can reason with and I don't think I want to spend the next few years shitting myself every time I hear a loud noise or having to keep incident diaries logging their twattish anti social behaviour. I'm not sure I can trust myself to keep my dignity every time the scum try and provoke me...like many of you have said...life really is too short...Sigh...what a bloody nightmare...