Balls in garden

[SparklingPinot]

Another balls in garden thread It’s a long-ish one, apologies.

DH & I have lived in our house, happily, for 10 x years. For the past 5 of those years we have had to deal with almost constant balls being kicked over into our garden from the house behind, and as their DC get older these are being kicked into our garden with increasing force (on an average summers day a min 10 x balls will come over which I’ll go out and throw back over…another 10 or so will come over, so on and so forth).

If we do not throw them over they will come into our garden and take them, which we have caught them doing and asked them not to, but suspect they still do on occasion.

It has got a bit ridiculous at times and we have suggested they consider a net to stop the issue but they have said they got a quote and it’s far too expensive.

DH has always been extremely chilled, says it’s kids playing & takes a lot to bother him. Until now…

Fast forward to now & we have a toddler, & we have just completed an extension, & are finalising our garden. Funnily enough, whilst the works were being done, no balls have been coming into our garden, but as the builders and heavy machinery in our back garden has left, so begins the balls once again.
We will shortly have a useable garden (which we haven’t had for some time due to works) and as the weather gets nicer I am genuinely concerned for the safety of my DC in the garden with the strength at which the balls are being kicked in once again (it’s not a huge garden - think standard semi, and we’ve extended so the gardens even smaller).

We’ve asked recently, in the context of what we were doing, for them to contribute towards the fence between our properties (not in a great state because of the balls) which they said no to.

I am now wondering where to go from here as new fence is shortly going in at our expense, but as the weather gets better the balls are only going to get worse. I’m mindful I don’t want to start any neighbour disputes but I’m wondering if anyone knows what our legal rights are (I know we always have to return the ball 🙄) & can advise really where to go from here…

I should add that on weekends balls are being kicked over (and against the fence) often until 21h/22h , meaning that I’m forced to have my toddler childs bedroom in our front, tiny, box room, rather than the much larger back bedroom (this wasn’t an issue as a baby but as DC has started to grow & get more stuff I could do with putting them in the larger bedroom but
am 100% certain that the shrieks and repeated bangs of balls being kicked against walls & fences would keep them awake).

AIBU to think that neighbour should do something to prevent the onslaught of balls & allow us to enjoy our garden with our new(ish) DC in relative peace and quiet?!

I would do as others have said and take them indoors and give them to charity - they'll soon stop

Your toddler one day may end up in danger if they come into your garden if you're not outside, if they come through a gate, they may leave it open and could put your child in danger.
If you have a gate
They're using then put a lock on it

Doubtful, very doubtful.

Throw the ball back a day or two later. If they knock at the door, tell them you will throw it back later and they dont need to come and ask.
If you're in the garden when it comes over, then throw it back the first time only.
They should NOT to come into your garden.
Get your husband on board with this. If he tells them to come and get it themselves, it will be a problem forever.

When they knock on your door ask them to send round mum or dad for the ball. Each time mum or dad has to come round they will realise how very irritating it is. And the balls will stop.

Some miserable fucks on here seriously. Were you never a child?

Footballs seem to start at £18 each these days so it shouldn’t take too long before the barrage stops, if they can’t get the footballs back.

10x a day is excessive. Kids aren't automatically owed indulgence; it's time they learned consideration for others, and that choices have consequences.

No one has suggested buying an obscene amount of cheap balls, say 200, and throwing them into their garden back as a declaration of war. Or something else. Shoes. Random junk from the tip.

A tiny screwdriver shoved in the valve end deflates very acceptably and damages the valve so the wretched ball can't be reinflated. And doesn't show...(as long as you remove the screwdriver!).

Well I have had a thought how about the neighbours cement in 2 by 2 posts at regular intervals with chicken wire it’s cheap to do or that green plastic netting.
To be honest I’d probably do it myself on my side if I had your problem,( I have a greenhouse and huge windows on my conservatory) . I’m so glad none of my lads were into footie.
I would also add I’d get a nice climbing plant if I had to do it myself like Russian vine. I really like the idea of kicking them into someone else’s garden. 🫢

This is where having a ball mad dog with a strong jaw bite comes in handy.....

Not my fault if my dog gets to the ball before I come down from my office......

This. At the moment neither kids nor parents care because they’re not suffering. Many people these days have to be inconvenienced by something to do something about it. They don’t care about inconveniencing others.

I had the same problem. It was only when the ball kept landing and being found by my dog which popped balls for the fun of it, and given back punctured that they stopped coming over.
Oh I always apologised sweetly, and ruefully told them that the dog had got to it before I had.
As for the noise, first thing is to contact the council who will make you waste your time filling in a diary but you can also fit a CCTV camera overlooking your garden to record it, and then record the sound. If the fence is yours record and photograph any damage and broken panels and request they pay to replace the panel, get a solicitor to write requesting payment and the threat of small claims court.
Why on earth would you pay for a nice new fence for them to start damaging?
Your options are, be a doormat, scared of confrontation and let them carry on being horrible
Put your house up for sale and move.
Put up a chain link fence instead of a solid fence .
Do for possible the first time in your life, fight back against a bully. Stick a knife into every ball which comes over, return it looking regretful and saying "Tsk, it landed on the garden rake again.............. sowwy "😬

Oh yer really miserable for not wanting their property damaged or even worse their toddler injured.

Oh yer really miserable for not wanting their property damaged or even worse their toddler injured.

You can’t win this one I’m afraid.
Whatever you do or say the balls will still come over.
I had it all last year, up to 9 a day. Constantly finding balls in the garden, broken and dead plants etc. scared to let the little dog out in case she was hit. It’s a nightmare. But nothing you say or do will stop them, and the parents won’t act and then you have neighbour issues.
You can’t legally keep the balls or dispose of them as they are not your property.
I throw the first one back without comment, but if there are more, they don’t go back the same day. It does tend to slow things down a bit….
It’s horrible, and you feel under siege..the only thing is they will grow out of it or move in a few years

Used to throw them back, now let our dog chew them!

Get a dog. Mine punctures footballs. I reckon that would sharpen up their skills somewhat!

Can you not just go round there and say you’ve got a young child and they need to tell their kids not to kick the ball over because you’re worried they’ll get hurt?

how about a massive hedge? Sounds like I’m joking but I have boys into football who play in the garden and we have massive hedges all the way around and once they’re gone they’re gone!

I could understand this if your garden backed onto the Manchester United Training ground where they practice taking penalties, but kids kicking a ball around injuring or damaging property? Give me a break.

All the people on here advocating carrying out a criminal offence in retaliation for children daring to to send their playthings into neighbours' gardens.

What a bunch of miserable Meldrews you are. Honestly, what a bunch of miserable old gits.

Anything that lands in my garden unsolicited and uninvited is trash, and is treated as such.

People who don't want their items trashed can exert themselves to keep stuff out of my garden.

Or return it liberally covered in dog poo…
mwah ha ha!

(Ok it’s late and work was ultra crappy, but it worked in keeping my pot plants in our garden, rather than next door kids taking them.)

It’s perfectly ok to not want to deal with someone else’s ignorant children 10 times a day. They should look after their stuff if they want to keep it, not hoof it into neighbouring gardens.

criminal offence though 😂

I have active footballing kids. I stopped the older ones playing football in our postage stamp sized garden once they started secondary school as their kicks were too strong for such a small space. Prior to this I told the children (having spoken to the most inconvenienced neighbours) that they couldn’t go and ask for the balls back, they would have to wait for them to be returned. All our neighbours returned balls at different times so it was actually quite exciting for the kids to wake up to 4 returned balls in the garden in the morning or to see a succession of them flying back over the fence to us after lunch!

I see nothing wrong with holding onto the balls until it’s convenient for you to throw them back or, indeed, throwing them back in the wrong garden. My kids have always known it’s up to the neighbours if they return it and generally everyone has been fair. I wouldn’t deliberately pop a ball, as a pp says, they cost a lot of money now and I’d far rather kids were active with a ball than sitting still for hours staring at a screen but consideration for others costs nothing and can be easily taught.