I'm feeling really anxious about this situation (I suffer from anxiety as it is and confrontation of any kind really triggers it).
What are your opinions on DHs reaction in this situation?
We have a passage running between our house and next door which is gated at the front. The back of the ginnel opens into our garden and then there is a gate into next doors garden. Access is for both houses.
Our neighbors are difficult as it is. They are noisy and inconsiderate, regularly having lots of people round during lockdown, making noise until all hours of the morning and so on...
One of the biggest problems we've had is that they never shut the gates at either the front of the houses or the gate between our garden and theirs. Because the ginnel opens up into our garden, it means our dog can potentially get into the street when let out to toilet. DH has asked several times that the gates be kept closed but there are so many people coming and going all the time they are regularly left open.
The lock on their garden gate has now been broken off and the gate swings and bangs and leaves our gardens open. We recently paid to have all the party fence re done with no contribution from them because it blew down. DH has asked that a new lock be put on their garden gate so it can be kept closed but nothing has happened and it regularly keeps us up at night banging.
DH is sick of it now and has basically screwed it closed. He's said if he wants to use it, he'll have to come from the front of the ginnel and unscrew it and until it's fixed, DH will keep going back out and screwing it shut again.
I would have just preferred to have paid to get it fixed ourselves (next door won't even though it's their gate), but DH is refusing to our of principal considering we did the fencing too (which technically their side should be responsible for).
It's also come to a head after a long list of things, as mentioned above. I've also seen them using our drive to get their motorbike onto the road (they have a garden at front, we have a drive), so they'll come out of the ginnel and go down our drive rather than their garden on their motorbikes, them and their friends whenever DH is at work and not parked on it. It's incredibly noisy as it goes right underneath our window and has woken our baby up before. I think they think we just be out as the car isn't on the drive.
I feel so stressed about the possible confrontation and I've explained to DH that as they have a right to use the ginnel we can't really screw their gate closed. He said he doesn't care, he's asked nicely, it opens onto our property and leaves our property vulnerable and basically 'what are they going to do?'.
I just hate the idea of heightening tensions when we have to live here and would rather have just taken the hit and fixed their gate, although I am known for being a pushover!