I have a problem with a neighbor when I moved into my house he was parked on my drive for a few days and had his bins in my front garden which adjoins his garden, due to the rules of the estate I am not allowed to put up a fence. He used to use my path and gate as a short cut out of the estate. I firstly asked him to stop putting his bins on my land and using the drive and he stopped. but he kept using my path and gate going through at all hours. I decided to leave this for a few weeks to see if he would stop, but he didn’t and I asked him to stop. He seemed shocked and said that the previous owner and him had been mates and that he always let him use it. So I spoke with my solicitor and he said you need to stop him using it or he could establish a right of way over the path.
So I confronted him and he produced a form saying he had a legal right but this seemed to be fake so i checked with the solicitor and he assured us that there was not right of way over our land, so we put a lock on the gate. After this the gate was kicked in a few times and I had 5 flat tires on my cars over a period of a year. so i decided to install CCTV to monitor the drive. After I installed this the cars no longer got flat tyres.
However to my surprise he keeps walking on my paths encourages his kids to play on my land and play around my cars which is all filmed all the time. He also puts one of his bins against the front wall of my house not his own and he has some very loud playstation speakers that he has positioned against the connecting wall of our semi house.that makes a very loud sound that vibrates and rumbles that give me a headache.
We don’t talk to the neighbour anymore and my wife won’t let me retaliate as she says it will just make him worse.
Finally we can’t sell as there are problems with our leasehold, so we are thinking of renting the house to get away from him, but we are worried that he will just cause the same problems for the tenants or befriend them so that he can get to come onto our land again.
I know this is complexed but does anyone have any idea of what I could do to try and get out of this situation as it is really stressing me out?
Is he a homeowner or a tenant?
If he is a tenant report it to the local authority.
If he is a homeowner he is trespassing you can report it to the police. Some of these behaviours may be categorised as harassment. They usually give a warning and that settles it or it gets worse ( for my neighbour it has made him more clandestine about the abuse) but it did stop him bashing bins on the wall. Now I just ignore him
I’m afraid it sounds like you are living next to an ASPD. The more you pay attention the worse it gets
Document Everything
CCTV Evidence: Ensure that your CCTV footage clearly captures the neighbour trespassing, encouraging his children to play on your property, and any other incidents (e.g., placing bins against your wall, noise disturbances).
Log Incidents: Keep a written record of dates, times, and details of his actions. This will strengthen your case if legal action becomes necessary.
Engage Legal Help
Trespassing: Your solicitor has confirmed there is no legal right of way over your land. Trespassing is a civil offence, so you can send a formal cease and desist letter through your solicitor, warning your neighbour to stop using your property and causing disturbances.
Noise Nuisance: Loud vibrations and noise from his PlayStation speakers may constitute a nuisance. Consult your solicitor about taking action for harassment or nuisance.
Involve Local Authorities
Noise Complaints: Report the loud noise and vibrations to your local council. Most councils have complaint teams who can investigate and take action.
Bins: Inform the council about his bins being left on your property. They may intervene or provide guidance.
Trespassing: While trespassing is a civil matter, continued behaviour like damage to your gate or property could escalate into criminal behaviour (e.g., vandalism). Report such incidents to the police if they recur.
I am so sorry he is making your life a nightmare. A home should be a sanctuary of peace, not a place you worry in. The previous owners probably left because of him so if you leave too, he’ll just keep going and think he is entitled to getting rid off his neighbours.
I would disengage personally and always have a third party involved (i.e always communicate with him via formal letters provided by your bodies of authority so you keep track records). The more you personally engage with him, the more you give him what he wants, plus, talks don’t hold up in court or with the police.
Don’t give that guys the pleasure of seeing you annoyed.
Thanks for the reply I will try these things - I forget to mention we had a door camera and he did not know and we filmed him coming up to our door at 1 and 2 in the morning and just staring at our house and he gives us glares everytime he sees us which is alot as he is always patrolling his land, which makes my wife feel anxious leaving the house. he also when we first moved in must have bad mouthed us to the neighbours opposite as they never speak to us like they hate us and we have never done anything to them or even spoken to them so there would be no reasons for them to feel this way.