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Original poster

My washing line annoying neighbour

407 replies

Afrodizzyak · 12/04/2022 16:21

We have a new neighbour who has complained to me about my laundry hanging on the line ruining her view. It's just run of the mill laundry, no crutchless knickers or bondage gear, so not offensive. At first I ignored her, but she later told me she had photographed it and would complain to council.
I'm not the only neighbour she has complained to, another about his whistling, which is piercing her ears, having sensitive hearing and she asked another neighbour to keep his windows and doors closed whilst cooking as it made her nauseous.
It's not just humans she intolerant of, if a bird is singing, she will start growling to scare it away.
Before she moved here, we all just dodged along fine.
Is there any law against hanging washing? I'm not tumble drying our family's wash when not necessary.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
8
Ikeptgoing · 14/04/2022 05:11

Sorry my paragraph spaces disappeared! Apologies that is hard to read now

pbvincent · 14/04/2022 06:35

Hi There,
it sounds very possible that this person may have mental health issues.
If she does contact the council, hopefully they won't be immediately dismissive of her issue with your washing line , and this may lead to social services being asked to get involved. This could be beneficial in a number of ways, you identifying potentially difficult neighbour in case her behaviour deteriorates further, social services offering her some help and advice, and your laundered items no longer being the talk of the neighbourhood !!!
Seriously though, with all the issues you mention, she sounds like she is struggling.
One Love
One World
Pb

Ikeptgoing · 14/04/2022 07:57

Oh for goodness sake Hmm
@pbvincent - It is not 'dismissive' for adult services to reject inappropriate and referrals. Read back a few posts as it is explained there.

Sassi64 · 14/04/2022 08:13

I would hang my washing out even more.. I would also get a parrot...😃

LookItsMeAgain · 14/04/2022 08:30

@mumsiedarlingrevolta

I suggest wind chimes.

I think they will completely take her mind off of the washing line...

Except they don't just annoy the neighbour who might be annoying the OP. They annoy the neighbourhood. All of them. Decide wisely. You don't want to become the neighbour that everyone else is annoyed with because you put up wind chimes to annoy just one of your neighbours???
PUGMEISTER21 · 14/04/2022 08:31

Bat shit crazy lady. Tell her there are plenty of houses she can move to. She is clearly not happy living it that area so why stay.

Fulmine · 14/04/2022 08:35

@Afrodizzyak

An update, as was chatting to my lovely whistling neighbour and his wife on my way home today. He told me he was looking for a Roger Whittaker (famous whistler) cd on eBay. He also informed me that neighbours living at back of us(perfectly respectable family) received a letter poked through their letter box unsigned. Author asked if they could oil their back door as it sounds like a cat screaming and interrupting her sleep. If she doesn't get enough rest it could stop her ovulating. The letter was decorated with drawings of cat's faces, one with a speech bubble saying hello. You can imagine our reactions.
I'd have thought that if anything that was an incentive to making the door even more noisy. Preventing this lady from passing on her genes could only be a benefit to the rest of humanity.
Putgis · 14/04/2022 08:54

She obviously has no life, if your washing is all she has to worry about, well that and those darn birds!

Tbh it would make me want to hang out washing every day! Just to annoy her! 🤣

ToffeeMamma · 14/04/2022 09:11

Oh god this takes me back to our weirdest neighbour who reported our radiator making a noise to our landlord. She was adamant it was so noisey that it must be broken and was disturbing her peace. Our landlord sent a workmen out assuming it must be something major and workmen struggled to locate the problem until he eventually heard the hissing then slight clunking noise she meant. It was the normal sound of a very quiet radiator. Then he told us that he'd struggled to hear it even sat next to radiator so he couldn't understand how she'd heard it from next door through the solid brick wall. He even said that with a glass against the wall he wouldn't hear. He was amazed. She then complained when we replaced the fence around the back of our property with a tidier one that had no holes, she said because it was wood it drew her attention and restricted her view. Same height as last one but she claimed it was too noticeable now because it looked fresher. (Normal 6 ft fence, properties were higher so hardly view restricting and all she would have seen behind was a few garages and a council estate) she then later alleged that when we turned the outdoor tap on it buzzed like a swarm of wasps. (It never actually worked properly and we never turned it on, it did buzz but we didn't use it so didn't bother us, turns out she was using it when we were out and wanted it fixed). She later had exact same fence fitted adjoing ours despite not liking it. She also complained that us having chickens at the bottom of our garden was offensive to her because she was a vegan and that despite there only being 3 of them in a huge garden they were priosners and not free range. (Couldn't get more free range if you tried). The one that eventually labeled her bat shit crazy was when I got out of hospital I used a nebuliser for a short time and she decided that it sounded like a cement mixer and I needed to not use it and should just go outside and get real fresh air because filling my lungs with those chemicals was what had caused my asthma. She also complained about our use of "Shouty BSL" this is my husband's supposingly 'overly exhaggerated' use of sign language while in the garden, it offended her eyes because she couldn't make out what we were saying and my husband's flapping hands seemed offensive. It didn't matter if he was deaf she expected him to come inside to have a conversation.

SucculentChalice · 14/04/2022 09:16

Whatever the cause, her behaviour is bordering on harassment and is beginning to impinge upon the quiet enjoyment by several families of their properties. She does sound as though she might have a personality disorder of some kind although whether its treatable or not is another issue. There seems little point in wasting adult services time with this at present and she would likely not engage anyway, never mind respond.

What you could do is report it to her landlord and also if it gets worse (e.g. more strange notes) to the local community policing officer, who could come and have a chat with her and explain that her behaviour is unacceptable and a nuisance. Keep a diary and all evidence...

Lostinmiddleage · 14/04/2022 09:26

If it’s ruining her view then she’s clearly looking into your garden so to tell her stop being nosy! She sounds completely neurotic!

Ikeptgoing · 14/04/2022 09:46

@SucculentChalice

Whatever the cause, her behaviour is bordering on harassment and is beginning to impinge upon the quiet enjoyment by several families of their properties. She does sound as though she might have a personality disorder of some kind although whether its treatable or not is another issue. There seems little point in wasting adult services time with this at present and she would likely not engage anyway, never mind respond.

What you could do is report it to her landlord and also if it gets worse (e.g. more strange notes) to the local community policing officer, who could come and have a chat with her and explain that her behaviour is unacceptable and a nuisance. Keep a diary and all evidence...

Good advice ^^

OP if you don't have her landlords details you can send a letter addressed to them to next door with inside a "hi, can you please provide your contact details or call us as we have a matter to discuss" so that landlord contacts you. Then you and neighbours can pre warn LL that new neighbour is sending unusual requests to 4 different neighbours. Just as you explained here. LL may then speak to her so she stops it, or might end up suggesting she could benefit from seeking some help for her noise aversion/ irritability. As this will seitectly affect LL so any antisocial or nuisance behaviour from their tenant, is their business.

Either way, for LL they will want to be in know if their tenant may be at the start of harassing neighbours, making erroneous complaints to local borough council about washing lines, and community police officers becoming involved, so that they can also try to nip this in the bud of possible.

Ll might not be interested as some wouldn't, but it sounds like this was previously a home LL lived in before renting it out, so they may be a small concern and may be more effective than anyone else to say 'stop bothering the neighbours'.

Ikeptgoing · 14/04/2022 10:14

To be fair though at this stage community police wouldn't get involved unless neighbour was making a real nuisance of herself harassing neighbours

So a few letters to various neighbours asking bizarre things such as 'don't put washing out on your line it ruins my view', 'close your windows when cooking as the smell makes me nauseous', 'oil your squeaky door, it irritates me', 'stop whistling as I don't like it' etc... won't trigger a response.

But if she comes 'banging' on your door repeatedly (or anyone else's) to complain about innocuous (bizarre) things and you'd asked her not to, and if she sends multiple letters and you'd asked her not to, then that forms part of a pattern as it is unreasonable and starts to become harassing.

Helpful if she is showing same pattern to others, then maybe community police officer might have something to chat to her about.

My feeling is if she continues being Ms Complainey Complainerson, get in touch initially with landlord to advise she is starting to cause nuisance to neighbours.

Obviously if she threatens you or behaves in aggressive way, that's different as that may be reportable offence or indicate more serious issues.

At the moment she seems an intolerant neighbour, who is a bit strange or entitled in what she feels she can dictate to other people. I wouldn't be suspecting actual diagnosable MH or LD problems from this info. The criteria to diagnose is set far higher (than info suggests about how this lady functions in general, unless she seeks support herself via GP)

007Stocko · 14/04/2022 10:16

Sorry, I haven't read all 14 pages of replies but one thing you do need to consider is how you respond to her and how that might escalate. She's clearly got issues but if things turned into a full on neighbour dispute it is something that has to be declared by you should you then decide to sell the house.

Best way to deal with it is to ignore her, the council sure will if she tried to complain about your washing.

In the nice weather why not invite a load of the neighbours around (but not her) for a BBQ in the back garden :-)

Zakana · 14/04/2022 12:03

@AllotmentTime

Sydney Opera House, perhaps? The Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Herds of wildebeest sweeping majestically...

Don’t be silly. I expect to be able to see the sea.

Grin

It’s there, between the land and the sky!
BabyDriversMummy · 14/04/2022 12:04

Sounds like she’s ready to move house.

AnchorWHAT · 14/04/2022 12:33

@OfstedOffred

Tbf 7 feet is a bit higher up than is standard which probably makes it stand out. Is the whole line 7ft high? Is there a reason it needs to be 7ft high? Most people I know use a rotary max 6ft or so.

If the fence is 6ft or so can you simply drop the prop so it's at 6ft?

You would hate living in Plymouth then, most of the washing lines are on huge poles with a pulley system hoisting them high with a second line lower down, great for hanging duvet covers and sheets straight down with no folding.
NannyOggsWhiskyStash · 14/04/2022 13:21

She could be on the autistic spectrum, certainly sounds like it. Quite annoying in any case

Watchkeys · 14/04/2022 13:34

@NannyOggsWhiskyStash

She could be on the autistic spectrum, certainly sounds like it. Quite annoying in any case
Being an interfering busybody of a neighbour isn't on the diagnostic criteria.
Mylifesadrama · 14/04/2022 14:12

I would get a tea towel with a big picture of a middle finger and stick that on your line with nothing else for a day or so!

NannyOggsWhiskyStash · 14/04/2022 14:27

But sensitivity to sound definitely is on the spectrum

Watchkeys · 14/04/2022 15:23

@NannyOggsWhiskyStash

But sensitivity to sound definitely is on the spectrum
You can't diagnose everybody with a trait that's on the spectrum as being on the spectrum.

In fact, you can't diagnose anybody, you're not qualified.

Alightjacket · 14/04/2022 15:27

@NannyOggsWhiskyStash

She could be on the autistic spectrum, certainly sounds like it. Quite annoying in any case
Oh for god sake! This kind of thing gets said on every thread where someone is behaving like an arse. Some people are just arses. It's so insulting to have ASD thrown around like this so often. We aren't all dickheads you know! It's not an 'act like a dickhead' disorder. No other disability/condition/disorder gets mentioned so much when someone is behaving badly!!
reallyworriedjobhunter · 14/04/2022 15:50

I would be grey rocking this one. Being polite but not responding. I totally agree with the point below about not escalating the situation. I wonder if she has previous form for harassing neighbours?