Neighbours from hell

[Fullofhotcrossbuns]

I am looking for advice or options to help me against these awful people, here is a list so I do not drip feed.

House hold rubbish just thrown out into the street the latest addition are nappies.

House hold rubbish and nappies in the back garden which is now coming over to our garden we are concerned about rats.

Banging on the walls until 10:30-11pm most nights.

Drug use

Drug dealing

We went away and DH stayed home on few weekends ago they destroyed the front garden, on the Saturday they were kicking a ball against the house aiming for the windows whilst hanging around on our door step, Sunday morning they tried to break into the house but the dog started barking DH had kept it quiet to see how far they will go.

The people who visit them block our car in and refuse to move, stare at us when we are leaving the house, swear at us or make hand gestures.

Regularly have to listen to DA to the woman and kids when reported to the Police they asked what is the problem what do we expect them to do?

Benefit fraud.

Leave 4 and 6 year old outside screaming in the street during nice weather.

If driving in the area they will abuse us and the male does a “come fight me” gesture with his hands and arms.

It is all very draining and no one is willing to help us

10 fucking months to get a roof fixed

I'm only surprised they got as far as requesting prices, @70kid, and even more so that they said it was too expensive

But then I write as one who ran a community facility where the council okay'ed £20,000 for a normal internal door (yes you did read that right) and the door when fitted was faulty - also where the contractors would build in a deliberate fault into jobs done in order to get another billed-for callback

But then the contractors, who've been in place for decades, are owned by someone linked to the council department, so constant complaints make absolutely no difference at all and the complete lack of accountability makes sure they stay in place

@decadance that's terrible I am so sorry.
I don't think people realise what it can do to you. The constant screaming, noise, slamming of doors (amongst a million other things) has really affected my mental health.

@decadance, what a horrible situation, you really have my sympathy, as does the OP.

@Nidan2Sandan, credit for doing that job. I was a LA housing officer years ago, it only takes one family to ruin an otherwise decent neighbourhood. We reckoned we spent 95% of our time dealingvwith issues caused by 5% of tenants. Someone earlier in the thread referred to some people as ferals. They’re not wrong.

This sounds absolutely horrendous.

It's really important to keep detailed evidence of this stuff, including date, time and what happened. Also anything you did about it, eg called police about hearing DV.

The difficulty is partly that all these various behaviours are dealt with by different teams. Noise nuisance and the rubbish both come under environmental health, but usually different teams within EH, the ASB is an HA matter, DA/DV is a police matter but children's services can often get involved because witnessing DV is traumatic for children, drug dealing and criminal damage are police matters, but unless they're shifting lorryloads of gak, the police aren't likely to be bothered.

A lot of councils used to have joint meetings with the police to address this sort of stuff, but councils are so strapped for cash these days that these have often been discontinued, and staff cuts mean that officers are so stretched that they struggle to deal with any but the very worst cases, and I'm afraid I have come across many worse cases than yours.

I would go down the route of putting in a formal complaint to the council, using their complaints process. Then, if you don't get an appropriate response, you can take it to the Ombudsman. You will need to get all your evidence in order, with dates of every report you have made. Ditto the HA, if your neighbours are also HA tenants. And please contact your councillor(s). When they start asking why no action has been taken, the council will have to respond.

The lack of response from your MP is disappointing, and I would make an appointment to see them at their surgery.

It sounds like hell, and I really feel for you.

[quote Seymour5]@decadance, what a horrible situation, you really have my sympathy, as does the OP.

@Nidan2Sandan, credit for doing that job. I was a LA housing officer years ago, it only takes one family to ruin an otherwise decent neighbourhood. We reckoned we spent 95% of our time dealingvwith issues caused by 5% of tenants. Someone earlier in the thread referred to some people as ferals. They’re not wrong.[/quote]
You're totally right, it is such a small number of residents who are the repeat offenders.....or frequent flyers as we call them.

Most of those we struggle to deal with as we're either relying on the Police or mental health services. Both of those agencies are really overstretched.

If we have a perp who demonstrates mental health issues, we have to prove we have tried to engage MH services and have abides by the equalities act, even if the perp refuses to engage with those services or gives them the run around. Its exhausting!

Same if the perp has kids, we cant just try to get Judges to evict. We have to prove we have done everything to help the perp maintain their tenancy and not leave children homeless. This often means attending child in need meetings, if social services are involved, and just lots of talking and not a lot able to be done.

I sympathise with our complainants as it is very frustrating and a long process with legislation putting road blocks in the way.

From 7:30 this morning has been constant screaming, shouting, door slamming and the stench of what ever it is they are smoking we went out at 8:45 to get away from it just back and no change .

What a life

OP, I really feel for you honestly I just couldn’t live like this and it’s not sustainable for you to live like it long term either. I’d go to your local paper and let everyone know what you are suffering and the fact that no one is helping you.

Failing that I’d be looking at houses to buy/ rent up to an hour in either direction, see if you can find somewhere cheaper and move. What utter arseholes.

I can hear your frustration here OP, you sound totally beaten down by the whole thing. 💐
I really hope you can move sooner rather than later, it sounds like the only solution.