Neighbour seems to think he has the right to jump our fence

[Twatforaneighbour]

We moved in about 3 years ago and put up a fence on top of an existing low height wall (which we own) across the front of our front garden which has a footpath the other side. We got planning to do this.

One of our neighbours had an issue with this, because his adult son (early 20s) liked to walk across our front garden and hop over our wall to save him from walking around. He put in a complaint when we went for planning saying that if the fence went up, we would need to make it safe as his son would be climbing over! The council made no comment on this.

This has made it inconvenient for him as it adds 5 mins walking time to walk down the road and up the public footpath. Since the fence went up, we clarified with the neighbour (the dad) that this was our property and our fence/wall, to make 100% sure there was no misunderstanding with who owns what, which he agreed.

We have now got video from our ring doorbell of "someone" walking across our garden and jumping the fence. It is unlikely to be anyone else as we are at the end if a small road.

What would you do? Trespassing is not a criminal offence. So far we cannot for sure identify the person as it was at night and not a great image.

They obviously see no issue with doing it so speaking to them wont help, Considered anti climb spikes but have seen you can be liable if trespasser gets injured on your property.
WIBU to get spikes if I put a warning with it?
Any suggestions? If he keeps doing it, it will end in damage to the fence and probably us paying for it

What about something fast growing and prickly like pyracantha? They have beautiful berries too.

If you're a fan of Home Smart Tech, there's a YouTube who has set up a home security system that when it detects movement (where / when there shouldn't be any) triggers a loudspeaker to shout
"There's a wanker in the dining room, there's a wanker in the dining room!"

What a cheeky f’r!!

Tell him straight he is not allowed to trespass on your private property. Then slap anti vandal paint over the fence with warning notices. Failing that build a bigger fence.

Anybody who tramps across your private garden is an entitled idiot - what next? - is he going to walk through your front door and out the back door to save walking around your house.

Sorry, just read all your 'can't do because....'.

Yes - water filled ditch with reeds etc!

@TrashyPanda

Whack in loads of bamboo canes. Tie string between them and hang with lots of bells.

Smear wall with treacle

Hang washing line between house and fence. At approximately neck height. Don’t have it too tight though. Just enough to give him a fright.

Have a compost heap. A smelly, squishy compost heap.

He’s an absolute buffoon. What is the mentality of someone who does that?

I love this so much

Big spikey bushes and plenty of manure.

Nettles.

I can’t believe someone thinks you should just let him!

I mean if he hurts himself and you get stuck legally. It makes perfect sense for you to ‘let’ him. I mean the poor dear. How dare you make him exercise FOR 5 EXTRA MINS!!!!! YOU BEAST!

Haha

YABU, build him some steps poor wee love.

Send a cease and desist letter telling them that no member of the household is allowed to trespass on your property.

Make it electric. So long as you have warning signs visible. They cannot sue you. We lived on a farm and used electric fence to keep the pigs in, our local police officer, pointed out that we needed warning signs, incase Intruders, got caught up on the fence. Which is cheeky, if they are trespassing and get zapped, then that's there fault not ours. But we complied, then maybe tell them that it's electric, saying you have caught someone jumping your fence and you are worried it's a burglar. That might make him stop, or confess it's him.

Yeah I don't care if it takes an extra 5 minutes - its your garden. Raise the height and grow a thorny hedge beside it? The lack of respect bothers me though. ☹

I’m with the trellis and a very pretty very thorny pyracantha

Berlin wall-style sounds appealing to me. How dare he!

Sounds like the perfect solution to me 👏

Berlin wall style needs more space than the garden offers and lots of crumbly concrete.
I am all for the manure bit - environmentally friendly, too.

@Tinkywinkydinkydoo

There’s a guy on tiktok in America who has a similar problem with people cutting across his lawn, he installed automatic sprinklers so every time someone walked on it they’d get drenched Maybe a security light and alarm or something if someone triggers it by walking across it?

Fabulous. Also try a row of roses at the base, old fashioned types that are really prickly or a nice row of pyracantha. They will grow higher than the fence eventually.

I lived in a small village for a while, years ago, because of work. I had a similar problem. Had people traipsing across my garden day and night. Put a padlock on my gate, they smashed it. Complained to council and to police, to no avail. Escalated to people banging on my windows at night because I'd had the audacity to complain. Police told me I could file a complaint for damage of the padlock but nothing else.
No help, sorry, but know your frustration, while other people see it as nothing

Is it too early to put up some Christmas decorations that will block the fence in some way, preferable something that would be nosy if desturbed?

Roses. Nice old fashioned climbing roses with lots of thorns.
Totally agree with the compost trench as well.

As for signs / they would only need to be on the outside of the fence because nobody should be on the inside to need to read them - surely they won’t be all that eyesorish for you?

I’d say borrow a nice loud dog and have it in the garden for a few days, but I wouldn’t want the dog or you to get in trouble.

What an arse

Why not be a good neighbour and build a gate for him

This whole saving 5 minutes business and anyone who think this in any way mitigates this - I don't have a microwave. I could buy one but I don't want to use up the counter space. So I have to spend 5 mins heating up beans on the hob rather than 30 secs in a microwave. My neighbour has a microwave so surely it is their neighbourly duty to allow me free access to their kitchen so that I can use their microwave to save me 4.5 mins. That's reasonable right? They are responsible for my non-access to a microwave, right?

@Overdale, good one! Gave me a proper laugh!🤣🤣🤣

This sounds like autism. That’s not to say its forgivable, more that you’re not dealing with ‘neurotypicals’ and so need to consider their perspective and having done that come at it from an angle that ensure’s you defeat their perspective. I have 3 kids on the spectrum and 1 that has learnt too much from the others. So I’m not trying to say their behaviour is acceptable - it isn’t, but unless you wish to go down the route of police (and they wont be keen to get involved) then you need to try and understand their perspective and change their behaviour based on that knowledge. I wholeheartedly agree with whoever suggested v. Spikey bushes. You’re not dealing with neuro-typicals! So you’re going to have to think a) outside the box and b) deal with inconveniences such as growing spikey bushes or putting up signs with anti-vandal paint. Etc. You may not feel this is right, and I kinda get this, but they have just as much right to a life as you do - however to persuade them not to walk across your garden you’ll need to go to greater lengths than if you were dealing with a typical person.

To those who feel I’ve been anti non-neurotypicals trust me I’m not, but having 3 of them (and I probably have a brother who isn’t and defo my husband and at least 2 of his brothers) I’m learning that they have a massive amount to contribute to society, but when they’re in a pattern that they don’t believe they should change they’re bloody stubborn and hard work. So whilst I feel for the OP, simply getting a lot of sympathy on here isn’t going to change their behaviour. She needs to look at how to change their behaviour and understand that the son is not likely to be neurotypical. Armed with that info she needs to see that simply telling father/son that they’re being unreasonable wont actually change their behaviour. Good luck op and if you’d like further advice PM me. But be assured I’m bowled over by my incredible ASD kids and what they can give. The father is at fault - but, who knows, he could be ASD too. Good luck.x