Me and DH moved house at the beginning of last year. Next door neighbour and his wife and children had moved in about 3 weeks before us.
He was very friendly from day 1 but was always wanting to borrow something - lawnmower, hedge cutter, hose pipe, screwdrivers, drill - loads of things. He also borrowed money twice - one time £50 and the other time £100 (he came to the back door at 10.30pm for the first loan and 7am for the second which annoyed me).
Anyway about 4 months after moving his dog got into our garden through a gap in the hedge. It's a thick hedge and there was a gap big enough for him to get into his side and then wriggle his way through to us. We have 2 dogs but they were indoors at the time. He had already told us his dog did not like other dogs so I called out to him and he came into our garden and got his dog. I showed him where the dog had got through and he said he would put something there so he didn't get through again.
About a month later our dogs were in the garden but up by the house. We have a fence round the patio with a gate so that if it is muddy we can keep them off the grass. Next door's dog came through (in the same place as before) and started barking and growling at our dogs. One of our dogs started barking back at him. As soon as he did so next door's dog flew at him and grabbed his face. Our dog was screaming and the other dog was just literally ripping at his face.
The neighbour came in and had to keep punching his dog in the head to get him off our dog. Our poor dog's face was ripped open one side and he was bleeding badly. The neighbour was so apologetic and kept saying he would pay for the vet and please would we not report his dog or tell anyone about it. He said he had not done anything to the hedge as he forgot!
Our dog needed over 100 stitches in his face from his mouth up to his ear. The vet bill was £500.
We were meant to be going to London for a long weekend 2 days after this happened but could not go as we could not put our dog with a sitter when he had to have painkillers and antibiotics every couple of hours. Also he can get a cone off within seconds so had to be watched 24/7.
We had paid out for an Airbnb, theatre tickets and tickets for the anniversary games at the Olympic Stadium - about £400 in total.
We told the neighbour we had lost the money but never expected him to pay it only the vet bill plus the £100 he still owed (this was over a month after he borrowed it). He kept saying he had no money and would have to pay weekly but just didn't. He paid £25 about a month after and then nothing. We didn't want to hassle too much - he has 2 young children and had just found out his wife was pregnant again (not planned) and they obviously don't have much money.
He then started getting stroppy saying we should have sorted the hedge so he was only going to pay half. He said he would pay £250 In October and then the remainder in November (the attack was in July). He paid the £250 but then nothing.
I must admit we didn't chase him partly because we felt sorry for them and also we didn't really want the unpleasantness when it was the next door neighbour. The thing that annoyed us the most was that he just didn't say anything else about it. If he had said they just could not afford it we would not have been so annoyed.
So we haven't spoken to them since October. We put a fence along our side of the hedge (over 100 foot long so cost a fair bit). Their dog still lunges at the hedge every time one of our dogs is in our garden snarling and barking which bothers me.
The last couple of weeks the guy has been a pain. He keeps moaning about us parking opposite his garden gates. He doesn't park in his garden and, even if he did, it is an ordinary width road and we park partly on the pavement so he can easily get in and out. If we don't park there other neighbours do.
Wednesday he started shouting about our car and said we were not to park there. There are no yellow lines and there is room for his 2 cars to park too so we couldn't see what his problem was.
We have had 2 large metal gates stored in his garden from about last June. He had more room for them than us and, at the time, was happy to store them.
To be honest we had forgotten about them. Anyway on Wednesday he said he wanted the gates moved the next day or he would get the scrap man to collect them. DH said he would move them but could not do so before the weekend. They are really heavy and need at least 2 people to move them and there was no one to help until the weekend. DH warned him that if he got rid of them we would take it further and also take him to Court to get the money back for the rest of the money owed to us
This afternoon a scrap guy came round and took the gates away on a truck. It looked like a tow truck with a hoist and that is how he lifted them.
I haven't told DH because I know he will be furious. Also I guess the neighbour got money for them and they were over 6ft high and very large and heavy so possibly a good amount.
I am so angry when I think how we helped him so many times plus we didn't report his dog or tell anyone when we could have told all the other neighbours.
I know when I tell DH he will want to take him to Court for the vet fees and, quite possibly the money we lost on our cancelled trip.
I do realise that we should not have left the gates in his garden for so long and he was entitled to want rid of them but to give us 1 day to move them and to probably make money from them when he owes us I think is disgusting.
Would you take him to Court and, if so, would you also claim the money lost on the cancelled trip?