To want to knock nails back through to neighbour's garden

[FindingTheBalance]

We have obnoxious neighbours that we've had disputes with since they moved in. I made the mistake of asking them to turn music down so my baby could sleep and after two polite requests they said if we ever spoke to them again they'd report us for harrassment. Since then we've had issue after issue with them with them shouting abuse at us, spreading lies about us around our kids school and generally a-hole behaviour like encouraging their dogs to jump up at the fence and bark when we come in the garden.

Anyway, my husband just came in with a gash down his arm. Turns out they keep attaching items to their fence, but use crazily long nails to do so. We were already aware of a new set down one third of the fence so have blocked those off from the kids. But we've now discovered another set of them just behind our children's den that we're dismantling to build a bigger one. It's a blessing our kids haven't been stabbed by them as they climb around there all the time.

Would aibu to just hammer the nails back through? Or cut them flush with the panel? If they were reasonable neighbours I'd talk to them first but that's sadly not the case.

We had this. Our neighbours are nice but thick as mud, and don’t get that if they drill nails in, the ends will come through our side…we had to at one stage…
Hubby used a grinder to get rid of them.

Honestly I would move house, they sound awful. Life’s too short to live next to cunts. And hammer a bunch of nails into your side of the fence in a pattern that spells out “fuck you” on move out day.

The thought has crossed our minds but apart from them the house is lush and we've spent years making it our home. It's also three minutes walk from the kids' school so convenient for now. Besides we've realised there's sadly a lot of cunts and there's every chance we'd spend thousands of pounds moving only to end up next to another set of them. We mostly try and ignore and then deal with whatever they throw at us.

We can't. They threatened us with harrassment if we ever spoke to them again. They've done this to basically all the neighbors who have complained to them over the years. They're very much of the mentality "we'll do what I want, but throw a hissy fit if anyone does anything to upset us".

Get a dremel multi tool - useful for lots of jobs

The worrying thing is he's a carpenter. And has his own building company.

I still think he's of the mentality "I don't care about anyone else apart from myself. Stop picking on me!". Based on what he's said to us and other neighbours in the past.

I went along yesterday recording all the large screws sticking through the fence. A set of them are holding up wooden slates to increase the fence height. The neighbors have then put two tonne of soil against the fence panels to build a planter along the fence. The fence is buckling under the weight of the additional slates and soil, so soil is now leaking through onto our side. I honestly don't think the fence can hold this weight indefinitely.

I guess we just let the whole thing gradually collapse? And then put any remnants back on their driveway?

Like I said, this guy is a carpenter and builder and I just don't get how he can be so bad at this.

If it’s their fence, then I don’t think you can do anything to the screws, other than putting a cap on them (wine cork or similar). Yes, they are protruding from the panel, but not far enough to be past the fence post which is most likely the boundary.

However, this means that the screws are fully on their property, so…

What you could do is threaten to sue for injury incurred on their property 😜

(in reality, if you don’t want to escalate their behaviour, put corks on the ones that are at the back of your flower beds, and put panels on your sides where the screws are causing more of an issue.)

I wouldn't go damaging the screws as you'll invite issues from them for damaging their property but I'd be going to Citizens Advice about whether you could sue them/pursue them for injury caused by negligence

You cant reason with an idiot, you can paint reflective paint on corks so they can seen at night, you don't want anyone or animals getting hurt. I'd ignore them, can you put up your own fence and when theirs inevitably collapses just leave it to them to sort. Goodness knows what his carpentry work is like.

They can threaten all they like, but if it isn't harassment then the police won't do owt.

Hacksaw the ends off. Or do what my husband would do and randomly push in some long screw into their side.

Your neighbours are absolute cretins though.

I might be inclined to get a no win no fee deal and make a personal injury claim

I might also get onto building control about the soil

Failing that

Dear Twat

There are a number of screws that have been inserted into the fence from your side

My husband has been injured by one of them.

Please can you ensure that they are removed within 7 days.

I also note that a large quantity of soil has been placed against the fence which is now buckling.

If you send it First Class there is deemed service after (three?) days or just put it through their letterbox

Also perhaps a shitty review on Trustpilot might be in order

Cut the buggers off....then throw the cut off bits back over!

I agree with the injury claim, even if it's a small sum, because it'll be a good lesson for them. What they have done is stupid and negligent, there must be some legal recourse.

Had your husband been to the doctor / minor injuries clinic? He should, to get an official record.

And bolt cutters, put the remnants on their drive, so you're not accused of stealing.

Finally, asking politely for a bit less volume absolutely is NOT harassment.

Put your own very high fence up

Doesn’t matter if it’s his fence, he has something sharp sticking out onto ur side that can cause significant harm to anyone especially children. Can you imagine someone falling face forward or even backwards and having the screw go inside you!

Doesn’t matter if it’s his fence, he has something sharp sticking out onto ur side that can cause significant harm to anyone especially children. Can you imagine someone falling face forward or even backwards and having the screw go inside you!

Cut the screw back. You’ll need a metal cutter of some sort

Also tell us his company, bad reviews help

Cut them flush with the panel - preferably when you know they are out

actually no, I think the cork screw idea is best. No damage to thier screws, whatever they’ve got on fence won’t fall out, safety your side.
don’t give them more to get defensive and nasty about

I don't want understand why you're taking such a softly-softly approach to this, or why people are advising you to.

You're lucky it was your husband that got scratched and not one of the kids, and it was only a scratch.

At the very least I would be cutting the ends of these screws off. Why the fuck do you care if their crap falls down? They could have had your kid's eye out FFS.

You're worried about them accusing you of harassment? Mate, someone left a trap like this for my children harassment would be the least of their worries.

You both own your houses so you will have household insurance, can you check with your insurers if you're covered for what is a dangerous structure ie nails that you or your family could be hurt by. A letter written by a solicitor might be more effective than trying to deal with it by putting cork on it or cutting off the ends. Good luck with resolving the issue

This can cause serious injury and infection, you'd need a tetanus shot too, I'd get a copy of dh medical report, they need cutting off and I agree with ppl about a brick wall

Take a hammer and bend them down. Before you do, take photos, and take a photo of your H's bleeding arm.

Send your H for a tetanus shot.