That my neighbour’s paranoia is not my problem.

[Libertylawn]

I have lived in my house for 20 years and it’s got a loft conversion which was done originally as a granny flat, so little kitchen and bathroom, 2 bedrooms. We are semi rural but near a couple of major employers and a business park and so I started letting out the annex to contractors. They are all fully vetted and usually just down for a couple of weeks or so. The rooms overlook farmland and my garden and also my neighbour’s garden.

My neighbour when she found out about the lodgers went bananas and has tried to report me to anyone that will listen, because she firmly believes it isn’t safe and as a consequence she and her children won’t go in the garden AT ALL, in case my lodgers are watching her. Why the hell they would want to watch her or her kids is beyond me.

The neighbour has kids the same age as mine, and we have mutual friends. She has cried - tears crying - saying how worried she is and that I’m ruining her dream house. The houses are detached, there’s no shared drive etc so this is all on the basis of the chances of nutters watching her put her washing on the line. I’ve ignored her so far but this morning I got a card through the door from her begging that I stop letting out the annex to anyone “except maybe relatives.” I’ve tried talking to her but am getting nowhere. She’s crackers isn’t she?

She should have my neighbours, drug dealing, scrap dealing, rubbish dumping, constantly noisy Roma people who have broken into my back yard, trashed the communal entry, have at least 8 adults crammed into an unofficial HMO and that is just a snapshot of what I have to put up with. Had to have the police out to them the other week.

You need to read too - OP also has children (teens) of similar age to neighbour's children.

I haven't mentioned anything about children

Tell her she can rent the annex at full price and then you won’t need to have paying guests again.

I live on the edge of open countryside, which many would class as semi-rural. The neighbours opposite have built an annexe in the garden which they rent out via something similar to airbnb. They sometimes have 3 or more sets of "transient strangers" staying there in a week. We're very close to a national trail, and another long-distance footpath runs through town, so we get lots of backpackers staying locally.

Because of the layout of the road and the steepness of the hill, the annexe overlooks the garden behind theirs and the 3 gardens in the adjoining road. Three of the 4 have young children. The neighbours themselves have a 3-4 year old daughter.

I very much doubt that anyone has complained, partly because I know the neighbours and they'd probably have told me, and partly because it's a small, gossipy town where you can barely fart without half the town knowing about it.

I think it's ridiculous of the neighbour to object to OP letting out space in her home. She probably knows a lot more about her guests, who are working in the area and stay for a couple of weeks, than my neighbours do about the hikers, who are pretty much blow-ins. They don't even meet them sometimes, they have a keysafe so their guests can let themselves in.

YANBU, OP, and your neighbour is being weird.

😂

I think it's also about the fact you are making some extra money from renting the space. She's envious.

Get a new small letterbox. Label it “Complaints” … never check the contents.

Get a sticker for post slot “no junk mail / no complaints”

If I were you, I’d tell her letting out to pervs was my only condition.
And my current renter? He just got out of the pen for possessing child porn and distributing it, but you’re “pretty sure” he’s learned his lesson.
And your next renter coming up is a peeper - but no worries, you’ve got curtains.
Have a blessed day!

That's useful info; she's clearly just your common or garden Daily Mail reading busybody who's scared of everything. Ignore.

She sounds a bit unhinged.

Sounds lovely.

I wonder if she's clocked that there's a decent chance it'd end up being a temporary let even if you weren't there? Just with what you've said about the big local employer in your area and lots of people visiting temporarily for work. No reason for her to know you need the rental income to stay there, but if you were to sell then it sounds like a good investment for someone wanting to keep doing what you do.

Just ignore her, she sounds like a right drama queen. Someone like that should live in the countryside in an isolated property so they're not a nuisance to others.

I think that the police have got enough to do without intervening in low level neighbour disputes

Your neighbours are completely mad. Or just Reform voters.

And you are entirely within your rights to rent out rooms in your house (if anything given the favourable tax treatment, you’d be silly not to).

If anything, consider buying a telescope and leaving it very visibly in the lodgers window. But for sure don’t give their looney tunes behaviour a second thought.

You could suggest that she rents your annex, pays you the going rate and then leaves it empty. 😉

Vetting? Do B&B owners vet their guests? Ludicrous. Sadly your neighbour has mental health issues and you can only totally ignore her, never enter into a dialogue with her, and hope she calms down as her children age up.

She’s bonkers and clearly has some serious issues but that’s not your problem - well it shouldn’t be but she’s doing her best to make it your problem! The bit about saying “where are you REALLY from?” confirms what kind of person she is as well. Either ignore her or ask what exactly she thinks is going to happen and see what kind of crazy shit she comes up with.

Agreed. I would add to start a diary and note any interactions, correspondence. This way if there is a big, public incident you can take it forward in some way. I’m usually not one for reporting people and to try and have some understanding but (excuse my French), this woman is bat shit crazy. I would just stay maintain calm during all interactions and try and give her an email and refer her to written communications where possible. Just keep records as a precaution.

I would suggest renting out during the winter months only, it’s better than nothing and might be enough to appease the neighbour.

The housing crisis is exactly why they will start cracking down on airbnbs because local people struggle to rent because of them. HMOs and lodging I reckon will be part of that and I’ve already seen more regulation of HMOs where I live.

I just think it makes sense to show some compassion and maybe reach a compromise as new regulation may make things really difficult for people wanting to rent out rooms in the future if it is likely their neighbours will go out of their way to stop them.

Tell her to worry about something else and not flatter herself that anyone is interested in her or her kids… She’s being a knob. Youve done nothing wrong. I think she’s the problem not your lodgers. Has she nothing else to worry about?

Why do you reckon lodgers will be part of this crackdown, when they're so completely different to the things you mention and unlike Air B and Bs they help with housing supply?

Get the Amazon film that can go on windows so that the contractors can not see out, and tell your neighbour this.

No! Why shouldn’t they look out of the window? It’s a lovely view of farmland! Are you crackers?