Caught neighbours using my garden

[Weird21]

I have a block of flats next to my house and I thought for a while things have been moved in my garden and it seemed a bit weird. I’ve got a lock on the gate and it’s always locked. So over the weekend I’ve installed a small out door camera under my guttering which records the whole back garden.

So I’ve come home tonight after work (I work the late shift) and found two cigarette butts on the path by my seating area. So I checked the camera and the neighbors have climbed my wall and been sitting in my garden from 2pm until 8pm using my seating and table. To say I’m annoyed is an understatement but how to I confront them as they aren’t the friendliest of people at the best of times. So I guess they’ve been doing this since the nice weather began.

Unfortunately it’s not difficult to see i’m out as I have to drive to work and so once my cars not there they obviously know I’m out.

I just don’t know how to approach this as I’m a single woman and just concerned it’ll escalate but I can’t allow this what would you all do? I thought maybe a note through their door asking them to not use it anymore. They haven’t seen the camera but now I wonder how long it’s been going on.

Any garden furniture other useful items should be kept. Indoors or locked in shed, whilst you're out.

Why should OP start lugging garden furniture in & out of her house or shed? What if she doesn't have a shed or room in the house? How about the CF neighbours stop entering her premises when she's not there?

I am really disturbed though by the many posters saying that the police don't come out for burglaries any more - why on earth not? I admit the last time I was burgled in the UK was back in the early 90s, but I had police and SOCO come out to the house and fingerprint everything - has it really gone so far down hill now that they just don't bother their arses any more?

It’s not that they don’t bother their arses, it’s that they haven’t got anyone to send. Where I live if someone drives into your parked car and then drives off you can’t even get a crime number. The reason is simple - ten years of Tory cuts.

I strongly suspect the OP won't be back.

Been there - done that (at the end of the’60s) - vermin climbing over our fence with assistance of builders rubble just outside our (New Town) garden. Stealing wife’s undies to compound the felony! Initially the development corp’ were unwilling to remove the rubble (I was accompanied off their premises when I went to have a word!).
Following the above “discussions” I took the steps I had touched on with their useless chair polishers and put a number of 4” or 5” nails just inside the top of the fence - pointing obliquely downward.
Shortly thereafter some shreds of cloth were to be seen on a couple of the nails - not sure about any blood as it had been raining.
Never had any further intrusions and my visit to the development corp’ also bore fruit as a little while later the rubble disappeared.
[Perhaps my follow-up note explaining the principle of tort as it related to their obligations as a landlord might have helped too.]

Why don't you make them welcome ? you don't need to use the garden when you are at work and they would be providing you with security

One of the most hilarious comments I’ve ever seen on MN - haven’t stopped laughing yet. Security how exactly ? If these are the type of people who will blatantly trespass in someone’s garden and use their facilities while they are out, do you really think they would make effective crime deterrents ? More likely they’d be casing the joint, as well as the backs of the adjoining houses !! Good to know stupidity is alive and well.

Yeah op, leave the back door open. Leave biscuits next to the kettle...

Really want to know how this ends

@StarCourt

Really want to know how this ends

I really hope it just fizzles out for the OP's sake but I'm guessing such entitled self absorbed garden invaders won't go quietly :-(

we bought signs on amazon and put them on the front gate informing the public we have cctv, this usually deters people from trespassing

Don’t just make them welcome in your garden - give them a set of keys so they can use the bathroom and make themselves a cuppa.

@nocturnalcatfreetogoodhome

Don't install ANYTHING.

Monitor the cameras, the second they arrive call 999.

You're a single woman, you live alone, you've accessed your cameras and there are two people you don't know looking to break into your property.

Please can someone attend as a matter of urgency, you are at work.

Then contact the housing association and state their tenants attempted to break into your home. The police are involved and you will be looking to press charges.

This!

Wby do people keep going on about the police? It has been said so many times. Trespass is not a crime!. Maybe you could get an injunction, but I imagine it would be costly and slow

Vandal proof paint, razor wire, and chain all the chairs and table up, so they cant sit on them !

and dont use 999 its a blatant misuse of emergency services, your call could put some one at risk, and yes they are out of order, but does not justify the police driving on sirens, risking their lives other road uses, and not going to a genuine emergency. Thos suggesting this should be ashamed !

There's a thing called anti climb paint, maybe that could help too. Friday plan sounds great, maybe don't discourage them with the holy bush, so you can involve the police

@Teenyton

There's a thing called anti climb paint, maybe that could help too. Friday plan sounds great, maybe don't discourage them with the holy bush, so you can involve the police

Does the holy bush help pray the intruders away? 😀

@Rhannion ooops sorry 🤣 but let's hope it does that too!

How long do triffids take to grow? 🤔

I'm afraid spikes on the fence are illegal, so is electrocuting the fence,mores the pity. I feel very sorry for you,you've worked hard to have your own house and garden. You deserve privacy and peace of mind. The police should be informed, l think this is trespass. You may have to go to court to stop these people. What next ? They could break into your house. How awful.

Presumably the OP could provide a red carpet to welcome her new "security" team as well? It could go on the drawbridge over the moat.

Mirror picking up a potentially highly sensitive issue and excreting it onto their arse-wipe rag is further proof, as if any were needed, that journalists are 99% talentless vultures with a whistling cavern where their soul should be.

This has been trending for days now but OP has vanished! Given that it made the media I have a feeling she’s not coming back.

What about winding a chain back and forth through the arms of chairs so they can't actually sit in them?
Padlock it closed, so the chain hovers about 10cm over the seat. 😁

I agree with a lot of previous posters - sadly from experience. Breaking and entering and burglary are not a high priority as, thanks to successive Tory governments, the police are massively undermanned.
However, as someone else upthread suggested, you might get further with the housing association who lease the flats. Trespass is not a criminal offence, it’s a tort and if you make the housing association aware that their tenants are committing trespass - and maybe provide CCTV footage to identify them - then I think the onus may be on them to do something about it. Hopefully someone with a bit of legal experience may be able to comment as to the validity of this. One thing I can tell you is that although it may be tempting, it’s not a good idea to install anything on the fencing that may injure someone climbing over it, or you could end up being sued, even though they are in the wrong.

Spiked fence toppers are not illegal so long as you have clear warning signs that can be read at all angles.

I hope they've just got the hint