Finally got a council house but im living next to a nightmare!! Advice

[Slowmo98]

So i finally got a council house, which was exciting at first, and me and my SO want to save up to get a deposit for our own place. The first instance started at 10am as i had someone come to put my carpets in, suddenly the neighbour (I'm attached too) screams out the window telling me to shut the 'f' up, while screaming some other insults. Obviously the carpet bloke continued and next minute she comes round onto the property screaming and shouting saying she will make my life a living hell, and that iv not even moved in yet and shes out for me.

This scared me so much!! I have anxiety and depression and this rocketed it to the roof. I also have a 22 month old.

The next time i hear is a man screaming at her door bashing on the windows and doors with her screaming the street down!!

Iv moved in and i hate it here already!!
Iv even spoke to other neighbours (Who are lovely) that have warned me to watch my back living next to this woman.

I have reported her to the council (only thing i knew to do) And they sent a letter to her house saying theres been a complaint and to stop before further action is taken. its made it worse!!! Shes been banging on our walls shouting at us. Im so worried for my daughter and my anxiety is worse then ever

I need advice!!! What do i do, am i overreacting? what would you do?

Massive kudos @Slowmo98 you're incredible, stand strong!!

I'm trying my best, all I want is for us all to have just a peaceful life, till we can get our own place, im not standing for it, we've put in alot more complaints and wont stop till they have done something about it!!

If she wants to put complaints in against us she is welcome to because like the council said its revenge complaint with hardly any ground to it and were not loud people in the slightest, I will still update you guys 😊hopefully helps someone who dont know what to do but in a similar position

Everyone's input on this post had been really amazing, appreciated

Report, report, report. Record everything.

If there are threats to kill, call the police every time.

You can be sure that the council know exactly what she is like, and the more evidence you provide, the sooner they can kick her out.

Start your own thread without the email address.

She's not a genuine poster hence the wierd post

I’ve been in exactly this position. In fact I wonder if your nightmare neighbours are the same ones that made our lives hell. Log every incident (time, date, nature of incident and effect on you) and complain to the council regularly. Put everything in writing/emails. If it persists for weeks then get Sanctum Consultants involved. They are a team of former environmental health officers who know the law better than many councils do. They are not expensive. They have a website. I got my neighbours evicted with their help after the council were initially unhelpful. Good luck!

Don’t worry about threats of revenge complaints, the council have heard it all before, but ensure you do not do anything in revenge that could justify a complaint against you, eg if she is making unreasonable noise do not be tempted to make noise back.

Ah ok

You are NOT being unreasonable. I haven't read the thread.

I live in social housing and had to move twice in the recent past because of abuse, harassment, and crime perpetrated by neighbours.

First of all, document everything right from the get go. Video record and audio record absolutely everything, then save it, report it, log it, to your landlord (Council or HA) every single time at the time. I have only ever made progress in such situations by video recording everything.

Also report it to the police - you can use the online reporting system if you don't want to have to ring and speak to disinterested morons who will lie to you and tell you there's no crime to answer.

Also be aware that the police and the housing will try to harass you by suggesting that you're being unreasonable, that you're complaining and no-one else is, blah blah blah. They will try to play you off against your neighbour and they will 'let slip' to your neighbour that you've complained. This is what they do every single time without fail.

The reality is that they have placed you as a vulnerable adult with a tiny child in a dangerous situation. And you bet your life they already know that. So, as soon as you start complaining, in reality the housing start defending themselves against your rightful allegation of that failure.

Eventually, they're going to have to move you again -or- evict the problem tenants. As they rarely / if ever evict problem tenants, you might as well get in the frame of mind that you'll be moving again.

Take legal advice, go see your local Councillor and go see your local MP. Check if there's a Tenants and Residents Association (TRA). Tell your GP - make sure the impact to your physical health is noted. Make a note of every single way this is affecting you and tell them. Tell everyone who will listen - do it by email and in writing. Forget about phone calls, phone calls don't 'exist' and anything they say verbally is utterly meaningless.

Connect with as many like minded people as you can on this issue and get support. Be careful when discussing with neighbours that the housing will say this is you group harassing the problem household, so do it discretely and be careful what you say. For example, do say 'I feel terrified for my personal safety as my neighbour is hanging out of their window screaming threats at me' - do not say - 'my neighbour is effing insane and I think they're on drugs' or you'll be landed with a warning.

Good news is you have your tenancy now. You will keep it, even if it means you have to move. Think strategically.

That poor two years old.

Please ring your local authority Child Protection / Social Services and speak to them directly with all information. They do take action, they take a lot of action in the background that you'll never know about.

Also, if there's any verbal threats or physical intimidation, ring 999 immediately.

I have 'troubled' violent, criminal, abusive neighbours. Take no notice of the bleeding heart brigade - these people need effective strategic action taking against them as they're destroying scores of people's lives and endangering their own children. I'm not interested if they had horrible childhoods themselves, they need hitting with consequences and to change their ways.

The police and housing will do whatever it takes to deny your complaint. Because they don't want to DO anything, ever.

Just keep on keeping on, keep recording and keep calling them out. You've got to play the long game.

Also you will need all these reference numbers and logs in order to apply for a transfer. If / when the police come if they're covering up crime, ask for the names and badge numbers of every officer that attended and then put in a complaint to say you don't believe your report was taken seriously.

Log on to your council housing application website and put in a fresh application for housing - when it asks for your reason for needing re-housing, you put because of harassment and threats where you currently are. Then you've got an application open again.

Their son broke and entered your house?? Jeez. So sorry.

My violent neighbour's son and friends tried to kick in my front door. The housing said it might be best for them not to assist with any police action so as to 'not escalate' any violence towards me. They had me persuaded that they were on it and dealing with everything. They weren't. They lied to me. Neighbour is same as ever.

Well this is what happens when the social housing haters on MN only want social housing to go to those with problems

There are no ramifications for those who do this in social housing.
I moved as it destroyed my mental health living next door to my 'neighbours'.
They are now doing it to their new neighbours.

So last update, Things seemed to had halted with the neighbour so we slowly started giving up, 2 months passed where nothing was reported, we were then approached by our neighbours partner, who began to threaten us when we had our daughter in our arms, saying he was going to beat the s out of us etc.. to cut a long story short this man has been convicted previously for GBH and we have reported our incident to the police, we are now having to move out for our safety, the council have finally stepped in and said they will try to get us moved but it might be the case we have to give the keys back and go back on the waiting list, heartbreaking to know people like this can get away with these things and those who are targeted have to run. Something needs to be done.

Thank you all for the support and help weve appreciated it all, heres to the future and to the hope we will be somewhere better and the chance to start anew, i hope all of those going through this win their fight!!

I'm sorry to hear this. Unfortunately these people seem to get away with it. But I'm glad you've moved out.

In my experience my neighbours were unusual. Where I next moved I was surrounded by more people but it was quieter.

I really hope the next move is the right move and you recover from this.

Unbelievable that you lose your home because the council are incapable of dealing with a nightmare tenant. Sorry you're having to deal with this. I've been in this situation, many years ago, and know how badly it drags you down.

Have the council said that if you have to go back on the list that you will be top priority? You shouldn't be made homeless over this, it is totally unfair. Have you spoken to your MP to see whether he/she can help?

Sadly we won't be top priority, its not even 100% we can go back on the list when giving our keys back were currently in limbo, waiting for the enforcement team to get back in touch with us regarding our options moving forward

Currently waiting on them to get back on touch before we start contacting other people such as MP, ombudsman etc

So some other poor family have to put up with her? So unfair.

My cousin is like this. Toxic and deeply troubled. She's gone from abusive relationship to abusive relationship and has currently settled with a real waste of space excuse of a human and has since lost custody of her 4 young children as she can't (or won't) put them first and has got mixed up in drugs and drink. I dread to think what her neighbours have had to put up with. It's so frustrating to see her live this awful life and she's beyond repair now. She can't even see what she's doing to her own gorgeous children.

People like this don't change. I'm so sorry the council are ineffective op. Her youngest child would be better off in another family and she needs to be evicted. Unfortunately, because she still has custody of her 2 year old, she'll get to stay and anyone who has an issue will need to move. And if they don't take her child, there's a good chance they'll end up troubled like her son too.

All of this.

Document everything - make a spreadsheet where you log every instance of bat-shittery from the neighbour but also every single time you contact the council / your MP etc.

EDIT - Sorry OP, hadn't read to the end of the thread.

I'm sorry to hear that OP. I hope things work out for you.