My horrible neighbours are back, feel desperate

[lifeonmars100]

This isn't really an AIBU more a "how the hell am I going to cope"

in the Summer of 2022 the horrible house next door to me was sold at auction and I was initially so relieved thinking that someone had bought it and was going to do it up. It had gone to rack and ruin over the past 6 years or so wiht a bad landlord, a horrible tenant who was rude to everyone who asked him to tackle the broken fences, the brambles and massive buddleia that took over the tiny back yard and encroached into the communal entry making it very difficult to get bins in and out. Oh was I happy when the house was sold. New landlord arrived and spent 4 days whitewashing it and then the same weekend the new tenants arrived. They are Roma and they live a very alternative life style which is the best way to express how they are. They have filled the back yard with scrap, they broke the communal gate which I paid to replace, they then broke that, they broke into my back yard and took my bin, went through my gardening box, they shout and yell til about 2am. They used my address to claim benefits, take out a phone contract and open a bank account, I found this out when I started getting all the debt collection letters, they used my address to register a female child in school and then took her out of school and the attendance officer came to my home looking for her. I guess they managed to do all the fraud stuff by using the correct ID for their address and then saying they had moved. Anyway that is just a snapshot of the hell, there is the flytipping, the constant noise, ask them politely to keep it down and they swear at me, they chuck bin bags out on the street. I cannot use my back yard due to the constant noise, I used to have a pretty little garden out there but have given up now. This winter they must have had a blocked drainage pipe which they then tampered with and all their bath water was running out into my yard! Reported all the issues to the council who did an inspection and said there were "significant issues" and they were taking action. That was nearly 20 months ago! Suddenly at the start of December 2024 they vanished, all the curtains went, all the furniture went and I thought they had done a runner and was so relieved. My mental health began to improve, I felt relaxed at home, I enjoyed Christmas and even began to think about doing up my back yard for the Summer. Tonight I saw lights on, hear shouting and see that they or other friends/family are back. Feel hopeless and depressed, can't afford to move and anyway who would buy my house other than another slum landlord? guess I am just venting as i am so upset . I have made numerous reports to the council and to the police (forgot to say they were doing what looked like drug dealing for a while, people knocking on the door and small packages and cash being exchanged) it is a row of terraces that open onto the street so things are very visible. Feel hopeless, they made my life wretched and now they are back. It is a two up two down and they sometimes have as many as 10 adults in there, last year I caught them just about to take my mothers day flowers off the step, they called me a "mother fucking cunt" when I have asked them not to shout all the time.When it is really bad I have to wear earplugs in the kitchen In despair about having to endure it all over again.

Call the police the times they ate shouting explained the threats. They have made and now your frightened those threats become physical, the police will pay them a visit , call them every time , get a police log number call the council or even go to the offices every day , also environmental officer , it's a hard slog but it will get results xx don't take we look into it , you want day when they will visit get it in writing put it in writing to abd if affordable a door camera xx

Paying cash, it might be worth reporting the landlord to the taxman as I'd bet that cash isn't all being declared. Might force him to rent out properly to tenants that don't deal with cash only and don't want the taxman asking questions about their cash handling too.

My brother is in Turkey with his Turkish girlfriend visiting her Family at the moment..and the Nazar Amulet is everywhere!

Nazar Amulet:

I've had horrendous neighbours in the past so you have my deepest sympathies.
My advice is to make a nuisance of yourself: council, MP, landlord. Keep a diary of events and email them / write to them weekly or daily until people are so fed up hearing from you that they do something about it.

Get your neighbours to the same, even if it's vague and anonymous: 'I am a concerned neighbour who lives several doors down from number XX...."

Antisocial behaviour: call the police. Let's be honest the police may not do anything but calling them out is something to add to your case. Call them everytime you witness something antisocial or are subject to abuse.

Stress how much it's affecting you're mental health. If it's making you feel suicidal then make sure the council and MPs are aware of that, sadly it may be the thing that prompts them into action.

You should have seen London... it was really awful with drunkenness, filth and littering, defecating and urinating openly {women too} and trash all over Park Lane. Aggressive begging &c.

It sounds truly horrendous @lifeonmars100

Apologies if you have done/are doing all this already but........

Keep a meticulous record of everything that is driving you nuts - dates, times, what they've done and how it affects you. Every episode of noise, every thrown nappy, every trespass into your garden etc.
Moan, complain at the council....... repeatedly not just once. Present your evidence, write letters, bang on council doors etc until someone listens.
And do the same with your MP.
Id also go to your GP and tell them the affect all this is having on your health - ask them to write you a letter that you could then submit to the council and MP with your evidence.

Ive had awful neighbours in the past but they were idyllic compared to yours. Its appalling that anyones existence should be so miserable just because of the selfish behaviour of neighbours.

The " evil eye" is one of my favourite symbols and oddly when I was planning my new little garden I bought a mobile of one to hang on my lovely new fence. Must dig it out. Thanks for all the suggestions and also the support, I live alone and all this began at late this evening so not the best time to be contacting friends for help. I am going to contact Selective Licensing for what feels like the twentieth time tomorrow, i do keep all the emails in a separate folder on my laptop, and I have copies of the letters I have sent to the landlord and a chart of all the incidents and which organisation I reported it to and what action (if any ) was taken.

It seems he's already been reported, you have to wonder why hmrc dont investigate?!
I'm so sorry OP😟

Contact your MP.
Contact your local councillors , just Google ‘ find my councillor your road, town, postcode’
Have you spoken to the housing department at the council? Mention overcrowding and the possibility that the house is being used as an unlicensed HMO.
Report drug dealing online anonymously .
Waste water draining into your garden contact local water company, you don’t know what waste it is etc..
Make as many people as possible look into their house/lives/business and they might just go elsewhere.
Any evidence of fraud / using your address/ possible identity theft maybe? report to Action Fraud I think it’s called.

edit: Just remembered at my previous house Council had a noise app. I had to press when noise occurred and press send. It recorded the decibels, duration and actual noise and became evidence for Council to give official warning. Maybe worth asking if yours has the same?

Adding to my previous comment - also log every time they drive you nuts on here - the online, non urgent web service. You can put a flag on their address and then list what they are doing. Eventually.......... that should result in the police getting involved. You can do this anonymously which is helpful because obviously, ideally you dont want your neighours to know its you thats complaining about them in case it results in even worse targeted behaviour towards you.Contact us | Police.uk

Roma are not people from Romania. Well, some of them might be, but they are a specific ethnic group living across various countries.
Apparently Romanians get quite annoyed at the confusion.
I live in an area with a fairly large Roma population, previously my NDNs. I empathise with OPs situation.

The licencing scheme should be acting upon this, the idea of this is to ensure landlords are not renting out crappy properties and tenants are not causing problems, be persistent, keep hounding them.

Call the police every time. Record as much as you can and tell the police that you can hear domestic abuse.

ASB isnt taken seriously but domestic violence is due to incidents in recent years. The screaming and shouting is reason enough to believe that this is happening and if kids are in the house then SS will in be informed.

The police will have to deal with it if only just to shut you up. Better still if you can get friends or other neighbours to call too so you are not the only one calling. The squeakiest wheel gets the most grease.

Showing your ignorance there I'm afraid . . .

A massive family like this moved to my village around 2 years ago. It's been hell ever since.

Bikes regularly go missing, my shed had been broken into twice! All on cctv too but no arrests made even though we know who it is.
3 bed house with about 12 of them living in it, it's hell, utter hell for the neighbours. In the summer they party all night with lots of guests and I can hear it from 4 streets over. They're constantly knocking on our door asking for scrap metal and the women seem to be dumped in the local town to beg (I've seen them)
They piss where they want, the kids have taken over the local park and batter local kids all the time.

The worst they have done is they stole something out of some box thing so the half of the village didn't have internet for a week. No idea what it was but the village group chat was a brilliant read

Hopefully they will move on soon.

You shouldn’t have to sell and lose your house and loads of money because of them.
Don’t let them ruin your enjoyment of your home. Get cameras and a ring doorbell. Lock your gates. Take photos and videos of them and how they speak to you. Name and shame them on Facebook and YouTube.
play them at their own game.

I'm currently lying awake because of my neighbours so I totally get it. Honestly keep on at the police, the council & the MP
We have & it seems like we are finally getting there after a rough 18 months/2 years.we had to upgrade our cameras and that has helped us so much with getting something done x

Would he buy yours?

I’m afraid you are showing your ignorance if you don’t know this.Perhaps you don’t know any Romanian people or have Romanian friends and are just virtue signalling.

I don’t have much practical advice OP but didn’t want to read and run. I’m really sorry you’re dealing with this. It set me on edge just reading it. Everyone should be able to feel safe and secure in their own home. Please keep up hope and continue putting pressure on the landlord and local council. Reach out to your friends and family so you’re not suffering alone.

I think the fact that nothing ever gets done about it says more about our 'authorities' than anything else. Why is even half of that legal, and why are people allowed to overpopulate houses now?
Our lives are being gradually downgraded, as the scum drifts to the top like floating turds. Everything appears to be set up to protect them, no matter who they are.

We need to prioritise mental wellbeing far more forcefully in this country. A round of shitty CBT won't heal that kind of trauma, and it is responsible for the decay of so many neighbourhoods across the country.

It's ok if we can afford to upgrade and get the heck out of there, but many have made investments on their homes and should be able to sue for the misery and upset it brings into their lives. It also seems to spread, so entire communities go down quickly. This eventually lowers the value of properties around it.
Someone should have to take responsibility for that.

I have witnessed something similar, although via a relative. An area that shot to hell within 2 quick years, having once been quiet and uneventful. Now it's a no go area of the town.

I predict ghetto's eventually, where many parts of the UK are avoided due to growing crime and human decay. Regardless how we got into this mess, we need to be coming up with solutions to protect the innocent.

I have also been a renter in a nice place and watched a similar scenario unfold but with the homeowners - an entire family bought in two streets and turned the place to hell within weeks. Whether the aggressor rents of buys, we are all stuck with the fall out.

MP's and councils are useless.

I mean surely it is a criminal act to steal someone's identity?
Why is this person/s not in trouble with the law?
Or are they beyond it?

Yes, of course you are allowed to complain. Who is going to call you racist? Would you complain about an 'english' person/family causing a nuisance?

@lifeonmars100 , I feel for you. It's awful when you can't do anything with such people (shit neighbours, not Roma); I was subject to a similar family, altho they were white and english. As a result of their attitude to cleanliness, we ended up with mice in our house, wrecked fence, music/visitors all night, social services looking for them during the day.

So yes, shit neighbours are a problem. Not sure what is achieved by having to announce their ethnicity though