Neighbours balls in garden

[Allergictoironing]

Luckily for me not my problem, I have lovely neighbours, but a friend of mine is having problems with hers. The neighbours have 2 boys (now late teens but this has gone on for years) who avidly play with balls in their garden. These always somehow seem to end up going over the 6 foot fence into my friend's garden, the highest count to date was 18 in one day, there's been 4 so far today.

She has tended to throw them back, but at present she's shielding and very nervous about touching their balls as she's not sure how well they are socially distancing. Over the years she's asked them to come & collect their balls but they refuse, and she said when she looked on line it said that SHE is responsible for returning their balls or they would be able to prosecute her.

Any wise legal type MNers know whether she can just leave the balls where they lie, bearing in mind they have permission to collect them if they want (but refuse to do so)?

she is sheilding, she does not need or want anyone in her house or garden. she needs to contact the ndn and tell them that she is unable to retrive the footballs due to sheilding and this is causing her great upset, could they please take care not to continue kicking them over the fence because they will no longer be returned. they are not kids, they are grown up enough to take care of other peoples property.

She's not their servant.

They need to keep balls in their garden. Their parents should've stopped it years agom

www.problemneighbours.co.uk/letter-template-neighbours-children-ball-games.html

she could mention to them that she does not want the teens coming into her garden and she will not be returning them at the moment but will keep them in the garden until it is safe to return them.

"she's shielding and very nervous about touching their balls as she's not sure how well they are socially distancing"

yep, make sure she calls them footballs

I can't tell if you didn't realise how your OP sounded or if you did it for a laugh?

Please tell your friend not to tell her ndn she no longer wants to touch her sons balls

Oh gods no, I didn't realise! As she's in her 70's, the other interpretation won't be at the forefront of her mind. Currently it is basketballs, and there's been many different sizes over the years so I just went for the generic term.

No point in her asking the NDNs nicely, she's tried that many times in the past and they've flatly refused to a) take care or b) collect their own property. They have also told her that if she doesn't return their property then that classes as theft.

She is in no way intentionally depriving them of their property, she has told them they are very welcome to come round and collect them any time they want (within reason of course). Her biggest concern is whether she may be prosecuted for not returning their property that they themselves threw or kicked into her garden.

Presumably they are kicking the balls with their shoe enclose feet so she is not getting corona virus by picking them up.

Just throw them back. She is making life harder than it needs to be at the moment.

Just ignore them. Even if they call the police and they send an officer round, she can just say that she didn’t notice them. Hopefully by not returning the balls, they will get the message to be more careful.

To be clear, I cannot imagine the police getting involved at all.

I'm sorry, we are THOSE neighbours. Thankfully both couples either side of us are lovely. Since Covid, we've taken to using a fishing net. We've tapped it to the long pole for propping the washing line up, and can fish our own balls out now.

Perhaps get a fishing net so you don't have to touch the balls? Or, Covid is supposed to die off on surfaces after 3 days. So just leave the balls for 3 days then you can pick them up, and wash your hands straight after. Minimal risk. Sorry again, on behalf of all ball loving kids.

No idea of the laws involved re returning them, but as she has clearly been more than reasonable I don't see how any complaint could stand. In fact if they're sending up to 18 balls a day into her garden after she's asked them not to (and while she's shielding during a pandemic!), I reckon she could probably make a claim of "nuisance" against them, as it's interfering with her enjoyment of her property. This page on Shelter's website gives more info, it's mainly about noise but I think this could qualify too! Especially if any of the balls have caused damage or been at risk of doing (to house, plants, garden...). Obviously she may not want the hassle of actually doing it, but the threat might be enough to make them raise their fence or something. england.shelter.org.uk/legal/housing_conditions/noise/courses_of_action/tort_of_nuisance_noise

She does have to return them in a timely fashion

And that timely fashion right now is after she is shielding

So she can happily let them pile up until she isn't shielding - even if it's months away

@PotteringAlong if they're basketballs they'll be bouncing them with their probably unwashed teenage hands, so definitely could pass on the virus. I'm sure the police would be extremely unimpressed with a complaint of "my neighbour won't throw my ball back", I'd tell your friend to just ignore them.