Very shaken neighbour incident

[Shakennotstirred1]

We don't speak to our neighbours. They are very difficult people & after a string of incidents previously we are no contact.
However today DH was out our front garden (terrace house attached to our neighbours) & hung up a santa with fishing wire.
About an hour later we heard a crash against the window & DH ran out. The neighbour climed a little ladder & had cut the wire & the decoration crashed against the window.
DH roared what are you playing at. The neighbour was roaring the fishing line (which was invisible) was over his garden (it wasn't, was completely in our garden) & then proceeded to call my DH a fat c**r & called him out onto the footpath for a fight.
DH lost the rag back at him but thankfully didn't rise to the bait.
I'm very shaken & after a tough year was excited to put up the decorations with my girls.
Don't know what the next move should be, part of me wants to get even but I just don't want any more agro with them...

Some people only seem to exist to make other people’s lives difficult! It may not be much comfort but at least you can be certain that your unhinged neighbour is a very unhappy little man, or big man? 🤭That sort of paranoia and towering rage isn’t the sign of a contented person is it? Your best revenge is to stay happy and smile witheringly at the miserable git every time you see his horrible face 😆

I'd like to know just how big the plastic Santa was.

It does seem bizarre that he would do this after an incident free two years. You would have to be pretty unhinged to say something was on your property when it wasn’t. Seems it would be a lot of wasted anger and stress for nothing. I’m guessing the wire or a bit of Santa was in fact on his side, even if just an inch or so, and he clearly saw red! Does it absolutely show on the cctv that it was definitely 100% on your side?

@Livelovebehappy it's invisible fishing wire & it definitely wasn't on his side! He has decorations up too! glad to say Santa was fine.

As you currently cannot afford to sell, you could considered renting out your current property and using that money to pay for yourselves to rent somewhere else more peaceful?

THANK YOU! I was wondering if anyone was willing to throw the BS flag on this. I wonder how many of these posters would have the funds to go buy another house right away with the housing market slowing, interest rates rising and the assorted costs of moving. These posters must all be very high earners if they can just move one day to the next.

It's silly advice IMHO.

@Shakennotstirred1 i sympathise we have idiot neighbours, we have had abuse nuisance issues criminal damage over 6 years. Intermittently police were just not interested -despite me working for the force and the neighbour making nuisance reports to try and get my job lost . But it doesn't mean your force will be you should report it

@Nanaof1 totally agree. We have this thrown at us all the time plus the fact we like our home

It would be exactly if you were renting. Just saying.

Except it wouldn’t though, because if they were renting she could contact the police and get them involved because she’d never need to declare it in a sale.
if they were renting they could move a lot easier without huge costs.

It would be a much different scenario.

Classy

We had neighbours years ago who were awful. Everyone in our road got on but they fell out with everyone. They were so awful! Golf balls in gardens, loud music, threats etc then one day the neighbour's the other side were sweeping their patio and this caused a lot of upset to the angry neighbours so they threatened to kill them. They called the police and the nasty neighbours spent the night in a cell! Things improved then!! Call the police!! It worked for our old neighbours! I kept out of their way for years but I was truly awful so I understand how you feel x

I know you said it hasnt happened for a while but id Keep a diary of dates, times and what happened. So you have proof that it's not an isolated event if this kind of thing continues especially the verbal diarrhoea and trying to get your hubby to throw the first punch!

I had a similar problem with a neighbour, (also homeowners). Crazy stuff like banging on our walls when I was home alone with our baby, playing his music full blast when his wife and son were out (never when my husband was home) and throwing dead rats and mice and cat sick over the fence! We put up a security camera and stuff stopped coming over the fence. I also called the councils anti-social behaviour team and they went around with a Police community support officer and he started to leave me alone then. Luckily they moved.

Firstly, stuff moving. Why should you up root your family just because they can't be civil.

Log it with police so if it happens again there is a clear recorded history of their behaviour.

If he tries to goad you into a fight then just call the police in front of him.

He's just grabbing at attention and trying to coax you into incriminating yourselves.

Other than giving you a laugh, revenge won't help really. It just tars you with their brush.

Poor you. I couldn't live next door to people like that, I'd have to move. I know you shouldn't have to though.

I have a neighbour like this, but it's my home I've lived in for 18 years and put my heart & soul into restoring with lots of expensive period reclaims, paths I personally laid myself in the garden, trees I've planted etc & he's only been in his 3 and is the more likely to move (hopefully,). He's also said he will "force" me to move, which was like a red rag to a bull - no, he won't! I am loathe to call the police because he's a dodgy coke dealing toe rag with other dubious business interests, shell companies etc and likely to.pay a local gangster to pay me a visit in return.

We moved from difficult neighbours. They were fine until we built an extension over our garage and had a sunroom built onto our kitchen. Some neighbours said they were jealous which is possible as they did not have rom for a side extension. They even refused to repair the fence 2hen it blew down. Even when we proved it was their responsibility. Not nice people at the end of the day. Much happier in our new home with lovely neibours.

Moving because a neighbour did something they haven't done in a while? Not practical

Police only have quiet words nothing will come of it unless its repeated behaviour even then its hard to prove.

Stand your ground with them. If it's arguments every day for few weeks so be it don't give in.

We had problem neighbours (ultimately we ended up moving) and I really feel for you with this because it's awful! If you are seriously planning to move within the next few years I would be a little more cautious in terms of what you do report because you have to disclose neighbour disputes to prospective buyers.. BUT that said if you have no plans to move and/ or you and your family feel genuinely threatened then you should report it and document everything they do. I'm so sorry they took the joy out of what you were trying to do! X

Would absolutely report them, there's no reasoning with that kind of person and you shouldn't have to live in fear of what they might do next, especially with children to think about. Make sure you keep all CCTV evidence as well as others have said. We have an elderly woman living across the road from us and my partner was forced to report her for coming over and yelling at my partner when we first moved in because I had taken my newborn to my parents and while my partner was out of the house a midwife had turned up and knocked on our door, she had seen this and was furious with my partner saying we were bad parents because we were inside the house ignoring the midwife 🤣 She hadn't taken the time to get to know us, she didn't know this was our first baby after years of trying and that we were doing our absolute best for our baby. She simply labelled us as unfit parents because we're a younger generation? Horrible neighbours are just awful, feel like you're being watched constantly...(Sorry for the rant) Hope you get it sorted x

It's not a legal requirement to have a fence at all... You are free to put your own on your side of the line...