I have lived in a row of terraced houses in Brighton for the last 8 years. All was okay until the people who rented their house 4 doors away returned two years ago. Apparently they bought their property 30 years ago, but don't speak to any of the neighbours. The man next door to them moved in15 years ago and tried to say 'hello' but they blanked him. Only the woman and adult son seem to work part-time. The father sits in the garden all day long. A neighbour said the father is an alcoholic but I don't know if he is or not, and that sometimes the woman gets annoyed with both of them and threatens to sell so they start helping her out a bit, and stop arguing for a while.
I really don't care who they are or what they do in their own home, my problem is that they are in the garden all day and often evening often arguing/drunk. I have zero privacy because of the way the gardens are on a hill. I may get some sort of higher fence put in but to be honest am not sure I want to go to the expense if I end up moving. They have created a new seating area at the top of their garden this summer so they overlook all of our gardens and houses. My problem is their frequent arguing, especially the son and mother. The son's 'normal' speaking voice is very loud, and he swears a lot, when he gets angry he likes to talk about 'smashing people's heads in'. The mother seems to tolerate his incessant talking, and I mean incessant. Sometimes she plays music on her radio, drinks and smokes, so often clears her throat and coughs, and if she is drunk she shouts a lot. From what I have overheard (not wanting to hear obviously) the father and son don't get on so this is why one of them is often found in the garden. The son smoked skunk a lot last year but has quit this year fortunately.
I am a really passionate gardener, I love it. I don't sit in the sun, but I do like to potter around my own garden or sit in the shade to have the occasional cuppa. In fact it was my reason for moving here. I now feel either too intimated or angry to do this happily though, and get very close to the point of shouting at them myself. I tried gardening this morning and the mother got her son and husband to chop up wood just after I'd started (they don't usually do anything, but they had a major argument that we could hear inside our house with shut doors and windows yesterday) so I guess she's taking advantage of that to get some work out of them. It's frustrating, I have a visitor staying and the first thing she commented on was that she could hear the neighbours arguing.
I've had bad situations with neighbours before and have reported to the council and police, but ideally don't want to go down that road again. So I guess my only solution is to move which I can't easily afford, and anyway I don't think I should have to, or put up with this complete lack of consideration for neighbours to enjoy their gardens also. I asked one neighbour and he says he just tries to be forgiving but he finds it really stressful, so puts in ear plugs to sleep when they are in the garden at night. The person the other side is hardly ever around, so I guess that house is empty.
Any ideas? I don't think she or her family are the kind of people who you can speak with... I tried saying hello to her in the garden last year when we caught each others eye and she stared at me and turned away. I get on well with my immediate neighbours and speak with them all.