Neighbours, parking and cats

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Sorry for epic post. We've had civil but not friendly relations with our next door neighbours since they moved in 7 years ago. There is a two-part issue.

1.We have one car and half of our front garden is a driveway and the other half has plants and small trees on it. Next door has a smaller plot and have mostly a driveway with a hedge and raised planted border. This driveway could easily fit 2 cars if they were normal-sized and you could fit two massive ones if you paid attention (another nearby neighbour with a slightly smaller plot manages two vans). NDNs have two massive cars and a van. They park one car on the drive and the other car plus van on the road. I don't have a problem with this. However, they like to park as close to their house as possible and tended to block us in on our driveway. We would then have to ask them to move their car so we could get out. It was problematic late at night or in emergencies. So we started parking our car on the road in front of our house so that we wouldn't get blocked in. This means they either have to block their own car in or park slightly further away from their house.

1. NDNs have several cats. One of them comes into our house constantly, shits everywhere, climbs on top of kitchen worktops and eats off plates etc. It just isn't housetrained. We had a cat years ago, so are aware it is possible to largely train a cat out of this behaviour. We have mentioned it, but get brushed off with amusing comments about how cats are our overlords and they go where they like etc. So we ensure that doors are kept shut, no large windows are open on the ground floor, and we spray water at cat when it manages to get in and boot it out. We have adapted our lifestyle to manage with the cat.

On Monday, NDN came to the front door as they have had a genius plan for dealing with the parking issue. I should dig up my front garden and tarmac it so we can park our car on the driveway making enough space for NDN to park one of their vehicles in front of my drive without blocking me in. This was presented as the obvious and only rational thing to do. I said I would discuss with DH but that I was very happy with my front garden as it was. While we were talking, the Cat of Doom shot between our legs, into the kitchen, jumped on worktops and attacked an open tin of tuna I was using when the doorbell rang. Cat cut itself on the tin, neighbour came in to help catch it and took it away. This morning, NDN have put a note through our door asking us to pay £800 vet bill for cat's injuries. DH says pay it (somehow) for a quiet life, but I think we need to take a stand now. AIBU?

You are far too nice.

I’ll be presenting them with the receipt for the replacement tuna tin and as for the driveway solution, over my dead body.

They’re batshit. Do. Not. Pay.

Can your husband send me £800, I fancy a new wardrobe and he seems to like giving money away.

Don't pay.

Entitled batshittery! Of course you don't pay!

Don’t pay it. In fact send them a bill for all the clean items and stolen food. Don’t change your drive and I’d say start using it again and call 101 every single damn time they block you in. Even if you are not going anywhere they don’t need to know that and it’s not legal to block access to the road.

This is a wind up surely. If it’s somehow real then tell the neighbours to get stuffed on both the vets bill and front garden issue. Get a water spray bottle and spray the cat anytime it comes near your house.

This can’t be real!!? are these real people with the actual gall to present you with a bill for their cats own intrusion to your home?? They’re bonkers.

Do not pay! That's crazy talk.

You need to take a firmer line with the neighbours, but you probably can't do anything about the cat other than shutting it out every time it gets in.

They are the ultimate CFs. YANBU at all. Say no.

Your husband says pay it?
Fuck that.

If you have £800 spend it on surgery for backbone insertion.

W t a f.... Are they serious!?!? If that were my cat, I'd be calling you up to apologise and check no blood was left on your carpets/furnishings, and obviously paying for a cleaner if needed. Your neighbours are unreal. And as for the parking... If their house/drove doesn't suit their needs, they need to move, not expect others to modify their gardens FFS!

Oh hell no. You can't be this nice!! They are CF of the highest order. Tell them to get lost and cat proof your house!!

This morning, NDN have put a note through our door asking us to pay £800 vet bill for cat's injuries. DH says pay it (somehow) for a quiet life, but I think we need to take a stand now. AIBU?

No fucking way!! To any of it. They are crazy.

No way. Absolutely Do NOT pay the vet bill. If they're not going to take steps to control their cat, it is their problem when it gets injured.

Nor would I change my front garden to suit them.

I can't believe NDN would have the cheek to send round the bill!
And £800??
What injuries did the cat sustain from sticking it's nose In a tin of tuna?
As for the driveway issues of they mention it again just say " No we don't want to do that" and carry on as you are.

So they put a note through the door instead of knocking...yep they know they are being cheeky fuckers! Do not pay the vet bill under any circumstances. It’s not your problem! I would ignore the note completely. If they speak to you in person then say it’s their cat and they should claim on pet insurance - which I bet they don’t have! If they keep on return a bill for all the items the cat has ruined of yours which by strange coincidence also adds up to £800

As for the drive I would not change my property to make life easier for the neighbours who have created their own problem by having too many vehicles.

@WarmSausageTea

They’re batshit. Do. Not. Pay.

^^This !! a thousand times

They're off their rockers.

1. Tell then you're not going to tarmac your garden to accommodate all their vehicles.
2. Tell them to pay their own damn vet bill, you're entitled to have open tins in you're own home, the problem is their damn cat.

Ha! Do NOT pay. What jokers! Also the obvious solution is for them to get rid of one of their vehicles or move house. Present them with that alternative. Buy a house with parking that meets their needs. Simple.

1. driveway - nope

2. vet bill - nope

I'm a cat owner and wouldn't be asking anyone to pay for the consequences of my cat being a nuisance. I let my cat out of the house, I'm responsible for any damage it does to itself... (aside from malicious attacks or deliberate poisoning).

And as PP said, £800?! I think your neighbour is trying it on... The worst cut my cat ever sustained (nasty, had to have it revised and repaired in surgery) cost me less than £300.

Why on earth WOULD you pay?

Nope nope nope nope.

Do not let them walk all over you, they're batshit. Imagine making your neighbours pay for a new driveway area for you AND charging them for an injury your animal got when it wasn't supposed to be in their house? Cheeky twats.

I'd tell them to sort there own drive to accommodate the vehicles they own, and train their cat your not responsible for their pet if you had directly injured the cat with the tin yourself then you could possibly have some sort of attachment but the fact they themselves say there's no controlling or training it they should themselves cover the costs, it mistakenly ran in and injured itself it is not your problem.
I say that as a cat owner who's cat when he was 5/6 months old went into next door and sat on the dining table whilst the NDN's Jack Russells went absolutely bonkers, I expected him to be injured he was absolutely fine thank god but I would of never blamed them, it was entirely our fault for it being stricter with his boundaries, he's never done it since so I think we're on the right track with his training.