Am I being impulsive with this decision?

[Mojitowithelfreako]

Basically I've had a few run in's with my next door neighbour over the years. He is terrifying, shouts, calls me abusive names, swears at me in front of my children. Its all over noise, any amount of noise. It's not frequent enough for the police to intervene. The council know he is a problem but he manages to leave enough time between incidents to not get evicted.
I feel very on edge using my garden. I can't sit out there. If my children are out there I feel I have to get them in as quickly as possible.
I should point out that I am not an anxious person. I have abuse thrown at me regularly in my job and I am used to being sworn at. This is different as I'm in my house and it's my safe space. I don't have any trauma related to being shouted by men.
I'm thinking about renting my house out and renting somewhere else. I can't face another summer of feeling on edge and explaining to my children why they can't kids from school over to play in the garden.
But then I would subject the tenants to him. Would there be people out there who would just tell him to do one and not worry?
I can't sell as he has made it impossible due to his antisocial behaviour. My house was on the market for a year before but after a few failed attempts I couldn't afford to keep paying for surveys and solicitors. I spent all my savings on trying to escape.
I feel so trapped but I can't live like this anymore.

Lawyers letter.

Make it very clear through a lawyer what laws he is breaking. State all of the facts and what your intended course of action will be.

Have the letter served by a bailiff.
Cc the police, the council and your local councillor.
Play HARD on being a single mother who fears for the safety of your family.
Get CCTV in your garden and let your children play. Make him aware that you will have CCTV in operation on your property and even the slightest, tiniest but of aggression will be acted upon in line with the letter.
Threaten him with civil legal action with costs.

Most importantly follow through every SINGLE time. Recordings and letters SENT AND LOGGED.

You do not have to put up with this bully.

https://faranitaylor.com/services/housing-property-law/civil-injunctions-and-neighbour-disputes/#:~:text=Civil%20Injunctions%20and%20Neighbour%20Dispute,Injunction%20Order%20against%20the%20perpetrator.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/domestic-cctv-using-cctv-systems-on-your-property/domestic-cctv-using-cctv-systems-on-your-property

This is horrific and I’m so sorry that you have to put up with this abuse and I can totally understand where you’re coming from about not wanting to confront his behaviour. It’s very easy for PP’s to advise getting out in the garden but until you’ve encountered people like this, you have no idea of how terrifying it is.

I would look to move or as you say rent the property out. It won’t get any better and it’s exhausting living on edge, having to gain evidence and deal with ineffectual authorities.

@Shardonneigghhh no I don't get UC

What a total nightmare I really feel for you

How big is your house? Could you take in a lodger for six months and aim for it to be a bloke on reduced rent with the agreement they help deal with this neighbour? It could be the adult son of a friend or a relative for example so they know the score but you feel safer whilst you tackle it and they get cheaper accommodation for a bit?

or move out whilst renting it cheap to two or three blokes you know again with the plan they tackle this guy and report him constantly to get him out. They could have bbqs in the garden and when he gets pissy they report him for being antisocial.

i appreciate it wouldn’t have the same weight as when he does it to a single woman with kids though so might not work.

This bloke tried to fight seven police officers. I don't think a male lodger would make much difference.

This all sounds really frightening and I'm sorry it's happening to you.

It reminds me of a podcast I listened to recently of someone in a similar situation. I'd recommend listening as they had good advice.

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crime-analyst/id1545830333?i=1000643150120

Assuming you have a mortgage, you'd need to switch it to a buy to let mortgage, and that may work out very expensive for you (to the point you're making a loss), especially if you were fixed before interest rates went up.

The bank also needs to be convinced you'd make a certain % yield from it, and they'd also be looking at your outgoings which presumably will increase a lot if you're renting somewhere else because rents are so much higher than mortgage payments.

You may also incur a lot of costs for needing to change things in the house to be suitable for renters, depending on what you do/don't already have in place.

Sorry, why aren’t the police involved?!

I absolutely love taking the time to think of really constructive suggestions on a thread, only to discover the OP is not interested in options, rather just looking for validation.

Best of luck @Mojitowithelfreako . I hope it goes well for you.

@ChiefEverythingOfficer I am open to suggestions but like I said, it's very different when you're living here. No offence to MN but a lot of you don't know how you would react if you lived alone, next door to someone like this. I have reported everything. I have been to the council and the police.
Guess what? It makes it a lot harder to sell if you do those things.
There's also the unspoken code of not doing those things if you live in a council estate. Plus he's connected.
Basically getting a big bloke round won't cut it. He's not scared of violence. He's not scared of the authorities. He wants to fight people, be that me or the council.
He knows that he is in a good position.
It's only when you're where I am, you realise that you don't actually matter to the police.

He's "connected". If you know this for sure, and out who is on the next rung above him and ask them nicely. You'll probably sneer at this suggestion as well, but I have known it to work. If he's connected to an OCG, they usually don't want the increased attention that an absolute walloper like this guy would bring.

It might not work, but then nothing else has so far, either.