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AIBU?

To ask neighbour to pay for damage to my doorbell?

59 replies

DointItForTheKids · 20/02/2019 19:34

I have a Ring doorbell. I also have neighbours who seem to find it impossible to 1. monitor/supervise their children's behaviour in their garden/front of the house 2. teach their children to respect other people's property and privacy (something I've taught my own children).

The history with these NDN is for the 8 yrs I've lived here they have spent virtually every. day. shouting at their kids, calling them **ing dickhead, then the kids thunder up the stairs, doors slam, the kids screaming. Honestly, there's no respite - high days, holidays, birthdays, xmas, nothing makes it stop (unless they are actually away from the house). I can't even sit in my garden or living room in the summer because (due to aforementioned item 1.) the kids just stand on their play equipment and watch me as I try and sit in the garden and relax and even in my living room such that on a summer's day I have to sit with the French doors closed and the curtains drawn, just to achieve basic privacy.

For the first time in 8 YEARS of living here we had a noisy party here for my DD 18th. I had already instructed her that all activities must move to the indoors by midnight and the party be done by 12.30. At 11pm NDN was pounding on my door then pounding on the garden fence screaming at my DD and her guests about "have we got no respect, there's two children trying to get to sleep here (interesting in that they were of the age where they should already have been sound asleep by then anyway, not just trying to get to sleep)".

Today whilst at work my doorbell 'someone's young your bell' alert came on for the first time at 2.30. It was the NDN kids ringing. The younger boy child decides that's what's needed is to poke bash and prod the doorbell with his selfie stick that he had in his hand. On and off he repeats this EIGHT more times. I'm at work but I answer one of them through the intercom facility when I can see him stabbing at the doorbell with his selfie stick asking him to stop and to go away. He doesn't (of course).

The upshot is that I've got a scratched doorbell which was something I only put in to help with the security of my home for me and DD and I've not even finished paying for it as I wanted to get in and install it for the purpose stated - and now the little shit has scratched all the front panel and it was absolutely perfect before then because I've taken great care of it as it's an expensive item and that's what I do with things like that, I don't trash them, I take care of them and (probably stupidly) expect other people to do the same and, if not of an age/upbringing to be able to work that out for themselves, to expect that when causing damage to someone else's property that they would supervise those children, bring them rapidly back inside and tell them to behave themselves... anyway, back to reality.

So. Approach? Conversation with someone who only seems concerned with 'respect' to her whilst giving none to anyone else, and the possibility of answering the door to her towering husband who has been verbally unpleasant to me when I've been on my own on my doorstep once before and whom I don't want to run into. Or note through the door. Thankfully I have it all on video plus a pic of the damage to the doorbell. I'm not even looking for financial recompense, I just wish they'd actually observe their children when they play outside and ensure they aren't breaking stuff that other people own! I feel a letter with the pics is as much as I can manage - today I was literally RAGING, I'm absolutely sick of them as they have so severely impacted my enjoyment of living here.... they complain about one incident in 8 years of being noise disturbed - I've been woken up every weekend for 8 years before 7 am by their children! RRRR.

Best approach, what do people think? I still take parcels in for them (sorry, did still) and continue to take the same level of care about their property and right to peace and quiet day in and day out but it's not reciprocated.

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DointItForTheKids · 20/02/2019 20:40

Thanks perfect - thank god that for the most part these days it's slightly better than it was but there are still plenty of bouts of shouting and screaming and so on, and I've learned to just tune most of it out.

DD just said he was poking his selfie stick through the letterbox of my front door as well, as I say, absolutely no respect. Teaching children discipline and respectfulness is hard, no one's saying it's not, but it IS your job as a parent to do this. These two haven't got a clue.

I'm glad that the dad doesn't seem to be there a lot much these days, not sure what's going on there. I can't imagine that it can't have been intimidating and possibly frightening for those children when he (he's a good 6' 2" and strongly built) was shouting at them, thundering up the stairs after them and slamming doors and calling the boy a fucking dickhead. I don't blame the kids, they're a product of their parent's total inability to parent.

Not especially looking forward to the summer though as it will be another summer where I don't go out into the garden unless I know they're not around.

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