Harassment

[BellaMilo1]

My neighbours have spent a 5 years harassment on how I live my life : I have 4 dogs / 4 cats / chickens and feed the local wildlife , I also work from home as project manager for a IT company . After 5 years they reported my home as rat infested house and allowing rats into their home . The local environmental health team arrived and reported “ I don’t have rats “ and no idea how my neighbours got rats ( they have 4 other gardens backing on to them ). I now suffer from anxiety and struggling to work ( they have also assumed that because I’m home I’m in bed all day ) ( they have sent all this in letters to me prior to the final attack ) I’m so afraid what they will do next and yet to this day I can prove I have done nothing wrong . My mental health can’t take much more ( I’m afraid to leave my house / not sat in my back garden for 5 years ) just in case they find something to complain in . Final note : ( my neighbours are over 80 and I was told my the environmental health - they are over 80 so have priority whether their submission is correct ) I am really struggling - where do I go next ?

Your neighbour probably believes your chickens and food put out for the wildlife are attracting the rats . You have proof from environmental health that you are not the source of the problem. I would post a copy of the letter from environmental health, or ask environmental health to send them a copy of there findings.
Should they complain further I would have a solicitor send them a letter telling them to stop harassing you .

I feed the birds like most folk .be honest wish I had never started this chat . I feed birds ( I put out bird feed you get from Amazon ) I live in normal house normal garden . I rescue chickens got 10 follow defra rules to the hilt but why should I prove you I don’t have rats ( the uk legislation says innocent until guilty ) and not one of these chats has said - may be there is an issue with your neighbour / they are over 80 and needs help / or I put this chat up for help . I can’t take anymore even though I have nothing to prove .

OP I don't dispute that there's an issue with your neighbour but I was answering from the point of view of your question 'what can I do'
It sounds like the environmental health have now said there are no rats?
So any more reports you should be able to just say they have reported me for this before and this was the outcome.

Sadly if you have chickens you probably do have rats - they attract them. The bird seed as well, any that falls on the floor is going to be a good meal for them. I think maybe you have to accept that your neighbour might have seen a rat and it’s a fair assumption that it’s your animals that are causing the problem. My parents live in a rural area and feed birds and their dogs are not enough to deter rats

Thanks . Environmental health check drains - your house your everywhere no site of rats . I am just one of 5 neighbouring gardens to these people but because I have chickens and feed the birds it’s my fault .. they have confirmed it is not me but for 5 years …. ( what about the other 4 homes that are neighbours to these people ) ? I now have official documentation that say I don’t have rats have no rat poo / rat runs or rats in the past 6 month

So that's a good thing then.

So why can't you show the old codgers the results of the investigation that prove you have nothing to do with any rats being in the area?

Guessing you don’t don’t have mental
health issues and another human to support you but thank you if I did I would agree with your statement

Can’t you send them the evidence that you are not the cause of the rats? Pop the report through the letterbox with a polite letter explaining that you hope it puts their minds at rest and hope you can have a cordial relationship in the future.

One of my kids has chickens and they are noisy. She checks with her neighbours regularly and gives them lots of eggs but if they said they were being bothered by the noise she would understand it. The hens ARE noisy

I am struggling to understand some of this, like others here, but dog pee has absolutely zero impact on rats - that is an old wives tale and untrue. It is entirely possible that rats are being attracted by the birds and the food you are throwing down for the wild life, but your cats and dogs are driving them from your property and into the neighbouring property. I am not saying that is happening, but it is very plausible, and so your neighbours may have some grounds for believing what they do.

That said, reporting you to the council doesn't seem to be sufficient cause for the level of poor mental health that you are suggesting here. Perhaps instead of focussing on what you think about them, you might find it better to get some professional support for the mental ill health. That would enable you to process the context and find strategies that help you.

I am sure that you don't want to hear this, but based just on what you have said here - which is all I can do - it does not sound like they are anywhere near the threshold for a few incidents amounting to harassment.

Nice bit of ageism here.

Please don't feed foxes.
Other than that you do have a large number of animals for a private house- is this the real problem?
Could there be mediation, rather than complaints?

Also, feeding wildlife and having chickens are going to attract rats. The fact you didn't have an active infestation when the EHO visited is great but it doesn't mean that your animal feeding and pets dont cause rats.
Is your garden at all overgrown?

Your neighbours sound like pains in the neck but it could be that they have some valid concerns.

Where do you dogs flush out rats?