Semi detached house - neighbours children in our garden!

[CrazyAboutFurBabies]

I wasn’t sure where to post this to be completely honest but I couldn’t find a category that was appropriate!

We have been living in our home for 2 years now, it’s Freehold. We have a large garden out front that is also next doors (by this I mean there is no fence/trees etc in between to distinguish who’s is who’s) only our title plan shows that our half is ours and their half is theirs. (Theirs is a council house)

The children next door (she has 5 kids who range from 8 to 16, 4 are comprehensive age boys who are very boisterous with terrible attitudes) use our garden to play football on and use it to walk across to get to places when they could just use their own?!

Am I being unreasonable to be pissed off at this? Hubby says ‘aw they are not doing any harm’ (our living room window is on the front of our house so we can constantly see and hear them back and forth)

I want to bloody run to b&q and put a fence up without causing any trouble! (For context we are doing a renovation so can’t afford this right now it was our next years plan to start on the garden) But it is OUR front garden after all! But would you say anything in the meantime or am I being a grumpy cow??

I said I wouldn't be bothered which is true. You would be bothered. Fine. Isn't this why she's asking? To see what other people would think?

I dunno. If it is basically a lawn out in front of the two houses the kids might think of it as 'the grass in front of the house' rather than 'our garden/neighbours garden' if there's nothing two define the two.

I grew up on an estate which has what sounds like a similar front garden arrangement - we all managed to keep to our own gardens, so it does sound like your neighbours just don’t care.

Answer is to get a fence / hedge / large planters when you can afford to.

I think maybe 1% of the population wouldn’t be bothered by kids trespassing on their property. Humans are naturally territorial.

Unfortunately she has had these kids taken from her more than once and constantly has new ones showing up at the door she won’t care what we have to say.. IYSWIM

We cut some trees back in the back garden when we first moved in that were over hanging into ours and she came out to the garden and basically dictated to us what ones she wanted to keep and what one we ‘can’ cut even though none were hers…

I am annoyed to say we have probably let little things slide the more I think about it not to cause any awful neighbourly feelings as there is nothing worse than not getting on with your neighbours, but I’m not doing it anymore.

Maybe, when we first moved in, there was a man who came and just mowed all of the front grass every couple of weeks as that agreement was apparently in place with the elderly gentleman who lived here before us

I think a conversation is needed to be had but I know she won’t be very receptive

LOL! You got me 🙄

Proudly a council tenant, lived in social housing for the best part of twenty years.
Band five NHS nurse, community garden volunteer, have two children (one about to complete his university degree), husband in retail management.
Never been in a position to buy a home and love the security of my council house tenancy. Neighbours are brilliant (most of them council tenants too! Shock horror!!) and the community we live in is fabulous.
Pay every penny of our own rent, don’t claim a penny in benefits. Consider myself an excellent contributor to society.

I’m sure that you won’t believe a word of this as it contradicts your flawed and judgemental opinion that every council house is like Benefits Street, but I don’t really give a fuck 😊 hope this helps xx

Because the OP could complain to the council about the neighbours behaviour if she saw fit. It’s nothing to do with being snobbish - tenure is relevant in neighbour issues

My friend lives on a street like this in a lovely (and spacious) 1930s house (ex Council which she bought years ago, from another owner). Sadly in the street, there are still council tenants who think nothing of fly tipping old bits of furniture into piles in front of their houses, which is an huge eyesore in an otherwise lovely street.

Another friend bought a flat on a development where the Council insisted that the developers build a certain number of units as social housing (this is quite common in London) and you can really tell who are the Council tenants from the Homeowners. She is furious that she wasn't informed of this as her unit was quite expensive (as London flats are) and she had to work hard and save for a long time to afford to buy a place.

What do people think about Councils doing this? How would you feel if you bought a house or flat and the neighbours next door were getting the same from the Council for nothing? Is it fair? (I'll probably get flamed for posting this).

They’re hardly likely to pursue an ASBO for kids running across her lawn, though. I don’t think that’s why she posted that info at all, I think she’s trying to paint the neighbours in the worst light possible. There’s really no need, clearly it’s not unreasonable to prefer people not to use your garden. Came across as mean and unnecessary.

Social housing isn't free FFS 🙄🙄

I'm not sure why you felt their house being a council house was a relevant detail?

Just put a fence up if it bothers you. A simple fence costs hardly anything

Some People are thick as mince and believe everything the daily mail writes, dont they? 😂

Because they’re not just children running across her garden, they’re horrible, rotten, feral, stinking council house children…so much worse 😂

You know what they should do is... When someone buys a lovely house, they should evict any council tenants nearby homes so that the lovely person with the lovely house can have a lovely area, and the poor people can just go live in a pile of their own rubbish where they belong on rubbish street. Right?

Isn't the rent paid by housing benefit (ie the taxpayer?).

Are you hard of thinking? I live in social housing and I pay using my WAGES like many many others in both social and private rentals 🙄

It costs money to get rid of stuff. It's not a reflection on someone's character.

We just paid several hundred pounds for a skip. I feel privileged we can do that without flinching. It doesn't make us better than someone who can't

Not all council tenants claim benefits, not all private tenants or homeowners work. Why would you assume all council rent is paid through benefits? Hmm?

No, not always , many council tenants don't get housing benefit.

I can't believe how ignorant people are.

No darling, that’s not how it works.
the tenant pays their own rent directly to the housing association. If the person is in employment (like me and many other council tenants), they pay it from their wages, which they earn by going to their job every day. If the person doesn’t have a job, they usually receive universal credit. They will use their benefits to pay their rent, which may be to the housing association or a private landlord. Hope this helps 😊

Well Done to any Council that ensures that all new Developments have a certain number of Social Housing / Affordable Homes.

…stops the poor living under the Railway Arches, sending thier kids out to Pickpocket, and putting them up chimneys.

@CrazyAboutFurBabies get yourself some ornamental nettles!! that will soon stop them!

Wow. How did I not know this was going to get shitty.

Me commenting about the fact is it a council house was not me being a snob, it’s a very important factor when there are boundary/home issues that’s why I stated it’s a council house. I was bought up in a council house on a council estate from birth until I was 20 and worked hard to save up and buy my own house not that I should have to explain myself.

Me commenting about their behaviour again i thought was important to the thread because it’s not like they respect our front area at all they are loud, language is terrible, the bang the football against our front house and they don’t even make eye contact with us or speak to us, they are not pleasant children. If they actually had a bit of a respect for our garden it wouldn’t be that much of an issue (still an issue) but may not have pissed me off as much..

I really despair sometimes with MN.

It’s not an important factor though? Your garden/their garden, no they shouldn’t run across your lawn, you’re not unreasonable to ask them to stop, end of.
If you really grew up in a council house how do you feel about all the shitty, judgemental, snobby comments talking about benefits etc?