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Neighbours from hell - Barry (20th May 2004 - 13:39:29) Need some advice: We live in [removed] and next to the only House in the Close that is not owned and is being let. [removed] have let out the house to the most undesirable characters i have ever met. We had to call the police a few days ago because they and a whole lot of their rowdy friends were smoking cannabis in the garden.The police informed us that they are well known and have criminal records. The letting agent aren't interested and wouldn't give us the Landlords name and address so we could write to them or contact them to try and raise our issues with these tenants. We got our solicitor to get the landlords names but we still don't have an address for them.We wrote them a letter forwarding it to [removed] in Haslemere but i am convinced the agency never forwarded it on. I am just a little bit confused as [removed] informed us there was a very good referencing system in place there,so how did we end up with neighbours from hell? They play loud music,take drugs,and by the look of things supply drugs as well,dump rubbish on the path immediately behind the house etc. The close is very family orientated and this is going on!!We have a 16 month old baby that gets woken up by their music and their behaviour is not a good example to other children in the area. Does anyone have any advice as i am now getting desperate? Regards Barry

Re: Neighbours from hell - Chris (23rd May 2004 - 08:33:06) Having seen a TV program on the subject , it seems that the best way to to guarantee a response is to provide actual evidence of bad/criminal behaviour and just be persistent. Unfortunately the only way to do this is to capture and supply video and/or photographic evidence which is not easy. My sister-in-law had a similar experience where she lives and she persisted in contacting the landlord whose name and whereabouts she discovered from another neighbour. Her "neighbours from hell" were asked to leave, and did so, once the lease had expired. Someone has to take responsibility and initially this surely has to be the people who were instrumental in leasing the property, i.e the agent. I can't see any harm in advertising who the agents are and even writing to the local papers about them. The adverse publicity may inspire them to be more careful to whom they let in the future.

Re: Neighbours from hell - Alex Cameron (30th May 2004 - 18:02:35) I've said this a few times now on here, but i was one of those neighbours from hell a few years back. I'm not proud of it, but for the sake of illustrating the issue, our neighbours got together to build a petiition for my father demanding we leave at one point. Smoking weed (believe it or not) may be a blessing in disguise - at the worst you'll probably have a whole load of stoned happy people moping around desperately wanting chocolate as opposed to drunken idiots wanting a fight. How old are they? Have they been aggressive or rude to anyone where you are? I might even know them actually - i'd be happy to arbitrate if you need me to. My advice from being on the other side is: 1) Decide on a policy/process of how to deal with the problem. Put together a set of escalating steps that you (i.e. your local community) will go through. You will need evidence to substantiate that you have been through all possible attempts to resolve the problem, and you also need to have the moral high ground. 2) Look out for the ringleader(s), and learn a bit about them. Empathise with them, think about what stage they are at in their lives and why they are behaving in that way. 3) I know how intimidating it can be, but try to TALK TO THEM first. Pick a time when they are least likely to be uppity - i.e. the late morning or lunchtime, and go round for a cup of tea. In all likelihood they will react very differently when you actually take the issue to them and put it in their faces. Opening the lines of communication is paramount to avoiding an inevitable conflict - like all people, personalising the issue can neutralise their 'objectification' of those making the complaints. Don't be aggressive, let them know you understand they want to have a good time, and that you know they want to do the right thing and are good people at heart. Explain to them reasonably and respectfully that you don't want to be over-the-top (and btw don't try to be hip and trendy or *too* understanding either - it looks very silly), but you need to come to a compromise for everyone's sake. You give something, they give something in return. Avoiding being perceived as judgemental, overly-anal or just plain obtuse will hopefully help you to gain the rapport you need with them to make then want to co-operate. Try to get them to see your side of things once you have been clearly seen have attempted to have seen theirs first. If you manage to come to an agreement (e.,g. times when its ok to play music a bit louder, keeping smoke from floating into your garden etc), politely suggest that you both sign an agreement in writing of some kind. Either that or let them know you'll write a letter to them to confirm what you both talked about. ***Bear in mind that the anti-social behaviour might be being caused by their friends, and not the people who are renting the house.*** 3). The problems will happen again, despite any agreement you make, so bear it mind and work through the issues with them one by one, day by day. Refer back to your escalation steps, but keep the channels open with the same attitude as before. Slowly things should come round. If not, its time for desperate measures. 4) If they resist all that, you don't really have any options but brute force. Get 4-5 (or more) of your neighbours to club together and keep 'witness diaries' about anti-social events (make sure you include how you feel - known as a 'victim statement'). These will assumedly corroborate each other and lend more weight to your case. If at all possible, use a video camera to film any problems, with a narrative from you describing the exact time/date and the problem being filmed. Write them a letter explaining you have been forced to take those steps and if the behaviour doesn't stop you will supply the material to the authorities. 5) If that still doesn't do it, then its time to call the police. Hope that helps! P.S. A big retrospective 'sorry' to all the neighbours i terrorised!

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