Bad neighbours

We have a bad neighbour who lives below, we live in a small block of flats so trying to avoid him is not always easy. We had several run ins with him before so now simply do not speak to him. He knocked on our door with a leaflet in his hand with our address on saying he found it downstairs. Rather then just putting it through the door he had to knock to get us to make conversation, I said thanks and shut the door. He is such a pain in the.... We share a communal garden and the people in block opposite have a lovely dog. They look after dog and always clean. At the meeting last night I went to the guys Dad was complaining about the dog even though his dad does not even live in our block. The dog has done nothing. The horrid neighbour seems to think its his garden and if he cant get his own way he sulks and causes trouble, he even stopped emergency gas men pulling away before by standing in front of their van. The council do nothing because he has mental health issues. He has been moved previously from three other places due to trouble. One day he is friends with someone and the next he is shouting swearing and giving them abuse in the street. Even I had previous rows with him and called police on him. He of course then twists things around and says oh people are picking on him. People just want to get on with their lives and be left alone and he interferes in everything. He then gets his dad involved because we think his dad is scared of him. His parent live around the corner but notice they dont want him living with them. People generally dont complain as they dont want to get involved even after he has upset them. He even tried to tell our other neighbour who she could let in and our of the block as well. There is no privacy really. I understand about security but he wants to know everything. he is just a resident like the rest of us, no one special. Well thats my story, has anyone else got a story to tell...

That sounds dreadful Lady writer if he or you are council or HA tenant the landlord should being taking action as regards this- you can also ask the Police for help. He may have mental health issues but that does not exclude you the right to leave peacefully in your home. The law is The Covenant of Quite Enjoyment - you have a right to live in your home without this.

We had eleven years for the worst ASB ever ( everything except murder and goodness knows they tried) Our HA failed to take action even though the offenders were living as tolerated trespassers ( not paid rent for years) I sued the land lord for their lack of action in a case that went to the supreme court ( they tried to stop me having a right to a court case but-failed) They lost every step of the way and the case changed ASB laws in this country.
Your land lord or his has a ASB Policy and requirements in law- make sure they follow them.

Hi Kory

I give up with police now as since our last incident with husband being attacked on the street and the case has been dropped. Its on my other post all about it. The police have come before to do with neighbour, but sometimes he calls them himself saying that people on the street are picking on him, but when we look out there is no one there. He was previously moved three times by council due to trouble. they dont know what to do with him now I guess. He has cerebral palsy but also has mental outbursts with it and starts on people. He likes attention and trouble. We just keep away from him now. Ignore him. He has even upset a councellor at a meeting before as well, he banged table and chucked stuff on floor simply because she didnt agree with him. If she cant do nothing no one else has any chance to. Our previous housing officer hated him and she even got a court order against him phoning her up to.

So dreadful- but the social landlord has a responsibility and if they are aware of the situ as you suggest- they have to do something about- try the CEO of the council- you can also get help from victim support on who is best to help you. You have a right to live peacefully in your home and if the land lord fails to take action then they can be prosecuted.

Kory wrote:

So dreadful- but the social landlord has a responsibility and if they are aware of the situ as you suggest- they have to do something about- try the CEO of the council- you can also get help from victim support on who is best to help you. You have a right to live peacefully in your home and if the land lord fails to take action then they can be prosecuted.

We been to council complaints before many times and anti social behaviour, they dont do nothing. So we just ignore him now. the anti social lady even came round our flat once as well. she said there not much can be done, everything in this life is useless....nothing is done and nothing works. At least he knows we dont wanna know now. they would suggest us moving before him moving because of his disability.

Of course there is something they can do- they don't want to because he is difficult. In my case the land lord let the nightmare tenants live as tolerated trespassers for years rather than bother to evict them- whilst they wrecked other residents lives and destroyed the property. They were difficult so they tried to wash their hand of it- whilst focusing on a bullying campaign on the other tenants who 'became' the landlords problem as we were complaining about the problem tenants. Yes they tried to find reasons to evict the other tenants not the drug dealer. But they did not get away with it - because I took action- a nightmare but I won and the tenant had to be evicted of course.

You need to take action against your land lord then I'd say or give up and live with it. Unfortunately many social landlord bury their heads in the sand but they have a responsibility that needs to be enforced through law. I'd try victim support for advice - it may all be broken but its up to you to mend it- it's a tough slog I know been there but you can change things -in particular if you stick together as tenants. I do really sympathise -Sending love.

I empathise with you entirely.

In Nov 2015 the neighbour directly below me (council tenant) sent me (leaseholder) an email making libelous and spurious allegations about me and my character, calling me a nasty person and complaining i was deliberately making noises when she was in. She also detailed my sexuality within the correspondence (i am a gay male). I forwarded the correspondence to the council to say that she was harassing me and that her allegations were entirely false. A week later she printed out the email, attached a profile picture of me (that she found on the internet), along with my name (!) and address (!!) and delivered this to all the people in my block!!!. In addition to this, she started screaming and shouting at me in the street whenever she saw me. I immediately called the police and reported her for harassment. They visited her to give her a harassment warning and she made an allegation of assault against the policewoman from the Chaucer Safer Neighbourhood team (!!). The council naturally had to investigate her complaint and appointed Crime Concern UK as independent witnesses who confirmed that there was nothing other than normal domestic noise from my property and that her allegations were unfounded. The case was closed.

Since then she has continually verbally attacked me in the street whenever she has seen me and calls me disgusting. The council have given her two written warnings to say that she is in breach of the terms of the tenancy. However, they could not take any further action at that point, despite the warnings, as they identified mental health issues (she started saying that i was breaking into her flat and stealing things and filming her- to be honest i feel this is a card she is playing, but the police and council do suspect she is suffering from paranoid delusions). She refused to have any help from the council so they were stuck in the long process of engaging mental health services.

Basically the council cant do anything until she has a psychological assessment and if she is refusing to do this their hands are tied until she becomes a danger to herself or others. Therefore, after experiencing continued harassment and verbal abuse, I decided that i had to take matters into my own hands and pursue with the police to get things moving along. They can carry out an assessment if she is arrested or if one is ordered by the courts. I tried to press charges for Malicious Communication but the case was discontinued by the CPS - they cited a charge of False Communication and that she didn't know what she was writing was false. I believe the police made a mistake with the charge and I have appealed against this decision (I am waiting to hear back). If i can get the case heard in court, I think the whole process will be sped up and she will either be sectioned or given the conditions associated with a conviction - which will ultimately provide grounds for an eviction)

As the case was dropped, my neighbour has perceived immunity to continue her harassment and has called the police to my property two (now 3 in total) occasions falsely reporting my for anti-social behaviour. Finally, in the absence of a court order, the police have now realised they can raise a MERLIN report, which identifies vulnerable people in the community, and a SLAM (South London and Maudsley) team recently visited to attempt to carry out a voluntary assessment. She was home but didn't answer the door so they left. My neighbour then called the Stalker hotline to say that the police were harassing her (!!). Long story short, and good thing is, the SLAM team have now petitioned a warrant for a forced assessment, but this can take 4-8 weeks (unless she tries to harm me or herself in the meantime!). I am now waiting for this to happen and trying to avoid her or film any further attacks should i need to pursue a criminal case of Harassment.

At the end of the day, i have been living with her attacks for nearly 10 months now. The council should have coordinated these agencies to protect me from their tenant who is breach and allowed me the quiet enjoyment of my property. If it wasn't for me taking control, i dread to think how long it would take to stop this nightmare!

If the psychological assessment deem her as in sound mind, then i think i still need an anti-social behaviour order to be breached before they have grounds to take possession of the property and evict her. If she is deemed mad, she will be sectioned and then, i'm hoping, the council will then have to move her into some kind of assisted housing (perhaps this is what you should be asking for your neighbour??).

It's such a long and frustrating process and I feel like I am the one fighting, what should be, their battle. I am learning as I go but I have learnt, primarily, that YOU need to be the one pressing for action. For instance, I have visited my local councilor to complain about my situation and ensured that they are the ones holding the council to account for their actions - and their failings. I would recommend that you do the same as that is what they are there for.

Good luck with your bad neighbour. Here's hoping for a resolution for us both!

Sounds like yours is much worse then mine, since the last incident he has backed right off now and does his thing and we do ours. He recently upset the people opposite and they now have a court order against him they told me. We live in a small block of four people, so you can imagine how hard it is at times to avoid him, his door we have to pass to get to the main entrance door so he knows all the time who is going in and out, even sometimes leaves his front door open all day so he can watch everyone. We are on the first floor and have a neighbour living below elderly lady who is ok, and he lives next door to her, she tollerates him, and next door to us is a couple with mental health issues also, but they keep to themselves mainly accept when they drop stuff on stairs they dont clean it up. the problem is when someone has mental health issues everything seems to be on their side all the time. He says he wants to be treated equally but when there is a problem he will then bring up mental health as a way out of it. Yet kicks up a stink if not treated equally. What does he want... but the lady you are stuck with sounds much worse then my one really. It sounds like you got it all the time, he has backed off from us now as think he got the message after the last time, he has since tried to speak to me again but I am not having any of it. His parents live less then a minute away in a house around the corner and think his Mother is his carer, so he has everything he needs. His parents are just as bad and wont address his problems or his mental health issues and tend to join in with him when issues come up. They try to make it look like its everyone else picking on their son. Other residents dont want to get involved as they live in the other blocks so not really affected. I think some people around here are even scared of him as well so they either try to avoid or go along with him. We are not and he knows this, but he tries it on with those who he thinks are... I think as long as he keep away its fine... could do without the nosing of him though every time go in and out building. You can hear him breathing behind his door looking through the spyhole as well.

happy_cat wrote:

I empathise with you entirely.
In Nov 2015 the neighbour directly below me (council tenant) sent me (leaseholder) an email making libelous and spurious allegations about me and my character, calling me a nasty person and complaining i was deliberately making noises when she was in. She also detailed my sexuality within the correspondence (i am a gay male). I forwarded the correspondence to the council to say that she was harassing me and that her allegations were entirely false. A week later she printed out the email, attached a profile picture of me (that she found on the internet), along with my name (!) and address (!!) and delivered this to all the people in my block!!!. In addition to this, she started screaming and shouting at me in the street whenever she saw me. I immediately called the police and reported her for harassment. They visited her to give her a harassment warning and she made an allegation of assault against the policewoman from the Chaucer Safer Neighbourhood team (!!). The council naturally had to investigate her complaint and appointed Crime Concern UK as independent witnesses who confirmed that there was nothing other than normal domestic noise from my property and that her allegations were unfounded. The case was closed.

Since then she has continually verbally attacked me in the street whenever she has seen me and calls me disgusting. The council have given her two written warnings to say that she is in breach of the terms of the tenancy. However, they could not take any further action at that point, despite the warnings, as they identified mental health issues (she started saying that i was breaking into her flat and stealing things and filming her- to be honest i feel this is a card she is playing, but the police and council do suspect she is suffering from paranoid delusions). She refused to have any help from the council so they were stuck in the long process of engaging mental health services.

Basically the council cant do anything until she has a psychological assessment and if she is refusing to do this their hands are tied until she becomes a danger to herself or others. Therefore, after experiencing continued harassment and verbal abuse, I decided that i had to take matters into my own hands and pursue with the police to get things moving along. They can carry out an assessment if she is arrested or if one is ordered by the courts. I tried to press charges for Malicious Communication but the case was discontinued by the CPS - they cited a charge of False Communication and that she didn't know what she was writing was false. I believe the police made a mistake with the charge and I have appealed against this decision (I am waiting to hear back). If i can get the case heard in court, I think the whole process will be sped up and she will either be sectioned or given the conditions associated with a conviction - which will ultimately provide grounds for an eviction)

As the case was dropped, my neighbour has perceived immunity to continue her harassment and has called the police to my property two (now 3 in total) occasions falsely reporting my for anti-social behaviour. Finally, in the absence of a court order, the police have now realised they can raise a MERLIN report, which identifies vulnerable people in the community, and a SLAM (South London and Maudsley) team recently visited to attempt to carry out a voluntary assessment. She was home but didn't answer the door so they left. My neighbour then called the Stalker hotline to say that the police were harassing her (!!). Long story short, and good thing is, the SLAM team have now petitioned a warrant for a forced assessment, but this can take 4-8 weeks (unless she tries to harm me or herself in the meantime!). I am now waiting for this to happen and trying to avoid her or film any further attacks should i need to pursue a criminal case of Harassment.

At the end of the day, i have been living with her attacks for nearly 10 months now. The council should have coordinated these agencies to protect me from their tenant who is breach and allowed me the quiet enjoyment of my property. If it wasn't for me taking control, i dread to think how long it would take to stop this nightmare!

If the psychological assessment deem her as in sound mind, then i think i still need an anti-social behaviour order to be breached before they have grounds to take possession of the property and evict her. If she is deemed mad, she will be sectioned and then, i'm hoping, the council will then have to move her into some kind of assisted housing (perhaps this is what you should be asking for your neighbour??).

It's such a long and frustrating process and I feel like I am the one fighting, what should be, their battle. I am learning as I go but I have learnt, primarily, that YOU need to be the one pressing for action. For instance, I have visited my local councilor to complain about my situation and ensured that they are the ones holding the council to account for their actions - and their failings. I would recommend that you do the same as that is what they are there for.

Good luck with your bad neighbour. Here's hoping for a resolution for us both!

happy_cat wrote:

I empathise with you entirely.
In Nov 2015 the neighbour directly below me (council tenant) sent me (leaseholder) an email making libelous and spurious allegations about me and my character, calling me a nasty person and complaining i was deliberately making noises when she was in. She also detailed my sexuality within the correspondence (i am a gay male). I forwarded the correspondence to the council to say that she was harassing me and that her allegations were entirely false. A week later she printed out the email, attached a profile picture of me (that she found on the internet), along with my name (!) and address (!!) and delivered this to all the people in my block!!!. In addition to this, she started screaming and shouting at me in the street whenever she saw me. I immediately called the police and reported her for harassment. They visited her to give her a harassment warning and she made an allegation of assault against the policewoman from the Chaucer Safer Neighbourhood team (!!). The council naturally had to investigate her complaint and appointed Crime Concern UK as independent witnesses who confirmed that there was nothing other than normal domestic noise from my property and that her allegations were unfounded. The case was closed.

Since then she has continually verbally attacked me in the street whenever she has seen me and calls me disgusting. The council have given her two written warnings to say that she is in breach of the terms of the tenancy. However, they could not take any further action at that point, despite the warnings, as they identified mental health issues (she started saying that i was breaking into her flat and stealing things and filming her- to be honest i feel this is a card she is playing, but the police and council do suspect she is suffering from paranoid delusions). She refused to have any help from the council so they were stuck in the long process of engaging mental health services.

Basically the council cant do anything until she has a psychological assessment and if she is refusing to do this their hands are tied until she becomes a danger to herself or others. Therefore, after experiencing continued harassment and verbal abuse, I decided that i had to take matters into my own hands and pursue with the police to get things moving along. They can carry out an assessment if she is arrested or if one is ordered by the courts. I tried to press charges for Malicious Communication but the case was discontinued by the CPS - they cited a charge of False Communication and that she didn't know what she was writing was false. I believe the police made a mistake with the charge and I have appealed against this decision (I am waiting to hear back). If i can get the case heard in court, I think the whole process will be sped up and she will either be sectioned or given the conditions associated with a conviction - which will ultimately provide grounds for an eviction)

As the case was dropped, my neighbour has perceived immunity to continue her harassment and has called the police to my property two (now 3 in total) occasions falsely reporting my for anti-social behaviour. Finally, in the absence of a court order, the police have now realised they can raise a MERLIN report, which identifies vulnerable people in the community, and a SLAM (South London and Maudsley) team recently visited to attempt to carry out a voluntary assessment. She was home but didn't answer the door so they left. My neighbour then called the Stalker hotline to say that the police were harassing her (!!). Long story short, and good thing is, the SLAM team have now petitioned a warrant for a forced assessment, but this can take 4-8 weeks (unless she tries to harm me or herself in the meantime!). I am now waiting for this to happen and trying to avoid her or film any further attacks should i need to pursue a criminal case of Harassment.

At the end of the day, i have been living with her attacks for nearly 10 months now. The council should have coordinated these agencies to protect me from their tenant who is breach and allowed me the quiet enjoyment of my property. If it wasn't for me taking control, i dread to think how long it would take to stop this nightmare!

If the psychological assessment deem her as in sound mind, then i think i still need an anti-social behaviour order to be breached before they have grounds to take possession of the property and evict her. If she is deemed mad, she will be sectioned and then, i'm hoping, the council will then have to move her into some kind of assisted housing (perhaps this is what you should be asking for your neighbour??).

It's such a long and frustrating process and I feel like I am the one fighting, what should be, their battle. I am learning as I go but I have learnt, primarily, that YOU need to be the one pressing for action. For instance, I have visited my local councilor to complain about my situation and ensured that they are the ones holding the council to account for their actions - and their failings. I would recommend that you do the same as that is what they are there for.

Good luck with your bad neighbour. Here's hoping for a resolution for us both!

Good grief that sound horrendous, you could easily beat this, but you would have to lie/play the game, as she seems to be doing.

No one should have to put up with that sh** mate.

I do agree with you it is a long frustrating process which can take months years. They will probably suggest that you move before she does. As if they have to move her they will have all the expense due to her "mental problems" you know where I am going with this one. I have suffered from depression which comes under mental health but because I can cope in the world I would lose against the guy below as he is registered mental health. He told us ages ago he cant read or write either, whether true or not I dont know or whether he is "milking it" I cant understand in this day and age anyone who cant read or write as they get special help to do this and even when I was at school years ago they had special tutors to help them as I did work experience at a school once with children with special needs and this was back in the 1980's...he seemed ok being able to read a leaflet with out name and address on. Also he drives as well and you have to be able to read road signs to drive and pass test. dual carriage way, right or left turn, roadworks ahead for 15 miles etc, he does tell lies as well. He told people once he was held up at gun point, and the man that used to live in next block tried to climb into his room. Some one chucked custard at him in the street and the following week it was beer over his head, "apparently" then he said a lady kicked him in the leg. It was story after story. There was swear words written on the wall next to his door some years ago but now wonder if he wrote them himself for attention. We even had these fire bomb things thrown into our block aimed at him, probably someone he upset and the fire brigade come and put them out. He acused the gas man of breaking the ladder on the landing when gas man never even used it. He yearns for attention all the time.

Ladywriter1968 wrote:

Sounds like yours is much worse then mine, since the last incident he has backed right off now and does his thing and we do ours. He recently upset the people opposite and they now have a court order against him they told me. We live in a small block of four people, so you can imagine how hard it is at times to avoid him, his door we have to pass to get to the main entrance door so he knows all the time who is going in and out, even sometimes leaves his front door open all day so he can watch everyone. We are on the first floor and have a neighbour living below elderly lady who is ok, and he lives next door to her, she tollerates him, and next door to us is a couple with mental health issues also, but they keep to themselves mainly accept when they drop stuff on stairs they dont clean it up. the problem is when someone has mental health issues everything seems to be on their side all the time. He says he wants to be treated equally but when there is a problem he will then bring up mental health as a way out of it. Yet kicks up a stink if not treated equally. What does he want... but the lady you are stuck with sounds much worse then my one really. It sounds like you got it all the time, he has backed off from us now as think he got the message after the last time, he has since tried to speak to me again but I am not having any of it. His parents live less then a minute away in a house around the corner and think his Mother is his carer, so he has everything he needs. His parents are just as bad and wont address his problems or his mental health issues and tend to join in with him when issues come up. They try to make it look like its everyone else picking on their son. Other residents dont want to get involved as they live in the other blocks so not really affected. I think some people around here are even scared of him as well so they either try to avoid or go along with him. We are not and he knows this, but he tries it on with those who he thinks are... I think as long as he keep away its fine... could do without the nosing of him though every time go in and out building. You can hear him breathing behind his door looking through the spyhole as well.

happy_cat wrote:

I empathise with you entirely.
In Nov 2015 the neighbour directly below me (council tenant) sent me (leaseholder) an email making libelous and spurious allegations about me and my character, calling me a nasty person and complaining i was deliberately making noises when she was in. She also detailed my sexuality within the correspondence (i am a gay male). I forwarded the correspondence to the council to say that she was harassing me and that her allegations were entirely false. A week later she printed out the email, attached a profile picture of me (that she found on the internet), along with my name (!) and address (!!) and delivered this to all the people in my block!!!. In addition to this, she started screaming and shouting at me in the street whenever she saw me. I immediately called the police and reported her for harassment. They visited her to give her a harassment warning and she made an allegation of assault against the policewoman from the Chaucer Safer Neighbourhood team (!!). The council naturally had to investigate her complaint and appointed Crime Concern UK as independent witnesses who confirmed that there was nothing other than normal domestic noise from my property and that her allegations were unfounded. The case was closed.

Since then she has continually verbally attacked me in the street whenever she has seen me and calls me disgusting. The council have given her two written warnings to say that she is in breach of the terms of the tenancy. However, they could not take any further action at that point, despite the warnings, as they identified mental health issues (she started saying that i was breaking into her flat and stealing things and filming her- to be honest i feel this is a card she is playing, but the police and council do suspect she is suffering from paranoid delusions). She refused to have any help from the council so they were stuck in the long process of engaging mental health services.

Basically the council cant do anything until she has a psychological assessment and if she is refusing to do this their hands are tied until she becomes a danger to herself or others. Therefore, after experiencing continued harassment and verbal abuse, I decided that i had to take matters into my own hands and pursue with the police to get things moving along. They can carry out an assessment if she is arrested or if one is ordered by the courts. I tried to press charges for Malicious Communication but the case was discontinued by the CPS - they cited a charge of False Communication and that she didn't know what she was writing was false. I believe the police made a mistake with the charge and I have appealed against this decision (I am waiting to hear back). If i can get the case heard in court, I think the whole process will be sped up and she will either be sectioned or given the conditions associated with a conviction - which will ultimately provide grounds for an eviction)

As the case was dropped, my neighbour has perceived immunity to continue her harassment and has called the police to my property two (now 3 in total) occasions falsely reporting my for anti-social behaviour. Finally, in the absence of a court order, the police have now realised they can raise a MERLIN report, which identifies vulnerable people in the community, and a SLAM (South London and Maudsley) team recently visited to attempt to carry out a voluntary assessment. She was home but didn't answer the door so they left. My neighbour then called the Stalker hotline to say that the police were harassing her (!!). Long story short, and good thing is, the SLAM team have now petitioned a warrant for a forced assessment, but this can take 4-8 weeks (unless she tries to harm me or herself in the meantime!). I am now waiting for this to happen and trying to avoid her or film any further attacks should i need to pursue a criminal case of Harassment.

At the end of the day, i have been living with her attacks for nearly 10 months now. The council should have coordinated these agencies to protect me from their tenant who is breach and allowed me the quiet enjoyment of my property. If it wasn't for me taking control, i dread to think how long it would take to stop this nightmare!

If the psychological assessment deem her as in sound mind, then i think i still need an anti-social behaviour order to be breached before they have grounds to take possession of the property and evict her. If she is deemed mad, she will be sectioned and then, i'm hoping, the council will then have to move her into some kind of assisted housing (perhaps this is what you should be asking for your neighbour??).

It's such a long and frustrating process and I feel like I am the one fighting, what should be, their battle. I am learning as I go but I have learnt, primarily, that YOU need to be the one pressing for action. For instance, I have visited my local councilor to complain about my situation and ensured that they are the ones holding the council to account for their actions - and their failings. I would recommend that you do the same as that is what they are there for.

Good luck with your bad neighbour. Here's hoping for a resolution for us both!