Neighbours kids swearing at doorbell?

[GirlMumGabby]

So for the past year I've had a problem with my immediate neighbours two daughters playing football outside my house. The ball hits the car, fence, house.... making my dog bark, toddler cry and just generally annoying. I complained at first to the housing association and they sent a gentle reminder letter out to everyone to say children should be mindful etc. During the summer it seemed to stop when another neighbour went absolutely mad at them. He swore, shouted and I assume made a serious complaint to the housing association. Since then they have quietened down and stuck to playing in other parts of the estate. Apart from the last couple of weeks. They are back outside my house. I have said nothing to them. I've pulled my blinds down and shut my dog in the other side of the house. The car has been hit by the football but I can't see any damage so I'm to ignoring it. I just looked at my doorbell camera and there on my doorstep is one of the girls sticking her middle finger up.... directly at the camera. I don't know why I'm letting it bother me. Would it bother you? Am I being stupid? These children have just started high school, so I assume they are like 11 or 12. They play with a couple of boys off the estate. I'm hoping maybe as they get older they won't want to hang around here anymore. Its started to get me down.

In the summer we did approach them and asked if they could play a little further down the road as they were keeping our daughter awake. They were very apologetic. But straight after one was mimicking my voice and laughing. My other neighbour has asked a few times if they will keep off her drive as it makes her dog bark. They apologise but continue to do it. If they spot us looking out the window it makes it worse. We just shut the blinds on the front of the house now. That worked for some time. I assume they get shouted at or told off and move up and down the street. I will not shout or tell someone else's child off. I don't think it's my place.

I also see these girls in the pouring rain! At times I feel sorry for them. I wonder why their parents are not out there calling them back inside. They get absolutely drenched and wear no coats. They are never allowed to have friends in their house either.
They have started high school this year and I've noticed they are now allowed to leave the estate after school. We have had some peace over the last few days. But I expect over the weekend they will be out there for 6+ hours again.

The ball is the most annoying thing. Even inside our house I can hear it bouncing against the road. I guess one day they will get bored of it. Hopefully you won't have to wait years. You are probably like me now and glad when it rains!

You see that wouldn't upset me, the sound of a child playing in their garden and not deliberately trying to upset anyone or being anti social is fine by me. Causing shit out in the streets though, and looking for trouble with the neighbours is entirely different and not acceptable.

Maybe we live on the same street! I seem to be the only neighbour concerned by the feral street gang around here booting balls at cars and retrieving balls from people's gardens by hopping fences. If they see my car home they miraculously move on now as they know I will tell them off.

I grew up on a similar estate in the 90s but all parents would tell kids off if they were being a nuisance. The problem we have is that people don't want to get involved now, so the kids are free to do as they please on my street. As others have said, I do feel sorry for a lot of them as they are literally left on the street all day and clearly don't want to be/aren't allowed in their houses. One hot summer I had to give them water because their parents had told them not to come in.

I do tend to let things slide like the occasional roll of a ball under my car, but the deliberate kicking over the fence EVERY day means I now retrieve the balls and tell them their parents will need to come ask for them. They're clearly too scared to tell their parents, or know they won't care, so they never materialize. I've contacted the parents through local Facebook groups before and they've feigned apologies but I'm sure they don't really care.

We went to view a house once and there was a house opposite with a trampoline in the garden and a basketball hoop actually in the street next to the house. I instantly went "nope".
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I don't feel like I can approach the parents of these girls. They constantly shout and swear at each other. My worry is that I'll just make an enemy of them. Plus if they did get a letter or complaint against them, they would assume it was because of me. Last time a letter was sent out about it (to all the residents), I found my car windscreen had a massive crack across it. A coincidence maybe... but it was sat on my driveway. Its left me worried.

Thanks again for the replies. I wondered if it was just me. I feel like I'm turning into a miserable old cow.
They have been out all weekend. A couple of times they have been called in. We actually moved one of the cars off our driveway and parked it down the road to avoid it being hit repeatedly. Yesterday they destroyed a no dog fouling sign, dropped loads of sweet rappers, cycled all over peoples driveways between cars and hit multiple cars with the ball. I hope they grow out of it.

Go and speak to their parents

Nicely

No it's not

I do wonder how posters like this would react if they had neighbours kids making a racket outside their house, hitting their car with a football, and swearing at them 😑

Really? A repetitive thudding noise for literally hours is definitely anti social!

The thing with the football.... they get to a point where they kick it as hard and as far as they can. Theres bungalows opposite me. It bounces off the roof tiles. Of course it is hilarious to them.

Update for anyone who may be interested - Turns out I was not the only neighbour getting fed up. The HA randomly called me two weeks ago to see if I had experienced any antisocial behaviour recently. I described everything that had happened. (There's been graffiti, littering and more football). HA then emailed me to say they have sent a warning letter to the parents and to report back in three weeks to let them know if things have got better. Apparently there have been other complaints. I have no idea what the letter actually said. The email stated 'warning letter' so I assume it has some importance. Anyway the first week was great. Every day they got on their bikes and off they went to the park. I thought maybe it's all sorted. However today, since 2pm the football has been back out. Fortunately my car has been missed so far. But not others and the latest thing is to try hit the light in the lamppost with the ball. This is all whilst their parents sit inside their house. I wonder what will happen if I tell the HA. What's after a warning letter??

Definitely tell the HA. If no one does, they won't know that things have got worse again. With any luck, they might eventually get moved.

Yep report right away, they need to know the HA were serious.

HA rang me again yesterday to say they are going to do a walk round this week. They plan to knock on a few doors and have a chat with different neighbours. Then they will talk to the parents in person. I hope it's enough to put a stop to it. I'm really pleased my concerns have been taken seriously. I wasn't really expecting anything to happen after the letter.

Shouting and swearing , putting your finger up at a neighbour’s doorbell , hitting cars with a football is NOT normal behaviour.

There’s play and there’s being a pain in the arse to the other people you share a community with FFS.

Definitely get back to the HA and be very explicit about the constant disturbance. It’s so stressful having shit neighbours, I moved due to mine, full disclosure to the buyer who didn’t care less.

Quoting me over 20 days later? Get a grip 😂

agree, and they sound horrible neighbours, makes me appreciate only having sheep next door,

Take screen shots, give to neighbours. Tell them you expect it to stop otherwise all further footage of anti social behaviour will be sent to HA