Not horses but need advice

[rascal]

Our very kind next door neighbours are, for the third time in 3 days, burning rubbish in the back garden. Our house stinks of smoke. I have contacted the local council, but they will not see that until tomorrow. Short of getting the hose on it, is there anything else we can do? This can not be healthy for us or our pets. Any ideas, preferably legal ones.

 

[DabDab]

Do you have a shared back garden?

 

[rascal]

Do you have a shared back garden?

No, there is a 6 ft wooden fence between them and us, but the bin they are burning the rubbish in, is quite close to the fence, and the breeze is sending the smoke this way.

 

[DabDab]

No, there is a 6 ft wooden fence between them and us, but the bin they are burning the rubbish in, is quite close to the fence, and the breeze is sending the smoke this way.

Hmm, not a great deal you can do, other than appeal to the council, but they will probably just come round and speak to your neighbours, which is likely to just make neighbourly relations worse. If the neighbours may be reasonable then try chatting to them about it....they may not realise that it is bothering you.

 

[rascal]

Sadly these people do not know the meaning of reasonable, these are the people who let their dogs bark all day, and let their staffordshire bull terriers chew the fence and leave it for us to patch it up. They are well known to the local council.

 

[Equi]

Call 999. Its a fire.

 

[rascal]

Call 999. Its a fire.

Yes it is a fire, but it is in a metal dustbin, that would probably mean they would not respond. We even had to remove the battery from the smoke detector.
This is the same woman who threatened my youngest daughter because she wanted US to replace the fence HER dogs had chewed, even though they are responsible for that side, and we refused. Altogether not a nice lot.

 

[jrp204]

Call 999. Its a fire.

Please don't do that, it costs a lot of money to get a crew out and they might be needed for a real emergency.

 

[rascal]

The only time i would call 999 would be if the fence had caught fire, and when the woman was threatening my youngest. I hope the council will deal with them soon, to be fair they were pretty good with the loud music they used to play.

 

[pansymouse]

It sounds like part of a pattern of persistent anti social behaviour - I would contact the council and the police to understand how they need you to record individual events to build the body of evidence required to take action. As they are already on the authorities radar you are likely to get a supportive response.

 

[rascal]

Trust me, they should be on the neighbours from hell programme on tv.

 

[Pinkvboots]

It sounds like part of a pattern of persistent anti social behaviour - I would contact the council and the police to understand how they need you to record individual events to build the body of evidence required to take action. As they are already on the authorities radar you are likely to get a supportive response.

this you need to video and make a case against them.

 

[Damnation]

It sounds like part of a pattern of persistent anti social behaviour - I would contact the council and the police to understand how they need you to record individual events to build the body of evidence required to take action. As they are already on the authorities radar you are likely to get a supportive response.

this you need to video and make a case against them.

Definately these.

Start keeping a log of incidents - date, time etc.

Things like when the threats happened and why, start keeping a log of when the dogs bark, at what time it started and for how long then go and seek advice from the council armed with a copy of the log you have kept.

If you can get pictures, or video of the dogs barking to back it up as extra evidence then do so.

Now I do not know what the laws are regarding taking pictures or video of their property so seek advice from the police or council on that front.

In order to be taken seriously you need to make sure you act within the law and are squeaky clean!

 

[rascal]

We did record dates and times with both the barking and the music. We also filmed their dogs chewing the fence as they were blaming our dogs. We were told not film them, as it is invading their privacy.

 

[crabbymare]

We did record dates and times with both the barking and the music. We also filmed their dogs chewing the fence as they were blaming our dogs. We were told not film them, as it is invading their privacy.

agree with filming being an invasion of privacy but you could get a cctv camera that will record covering your garden but that has the bonfire at the edge of its picture. that way you have proof of the smoke coming off it (not panning round their garden or zooming in and following them). and you can quote days and times and if they say that they did not you can say that it is on your security camera. If you can get one with sound as well it may be a bonus in t his case

 

[rascal]

We did film the actual bonfire and the smoke, just made sure there was no one around.

 

[DabDab]

Yes I agree, you need to build a case, and maybe speak to a lawyer and sue them yourself....be careful though, any recorded dispute has to be disclosed when/if you sell the house.
I feel your pain, I have recently just got rid of a neighbour from hell who was rude, abusive and ripped off my garden gate (I've still not worked out why).

 

[JillA]

Once it starts it's really difficult not to get wound up by what they are doing, even if it is something you would ordinarily not be bothered by. As others have said, keep a log - it will give you some way of doing something rather than just suffering in silence, and might well be useful if it escalates any more.
Have you got a legal advice line with your house or car insurance? Might be an idea to speak to them to see what your rights are and who is responsible for enforcing them

 

[rascal]

No we do not have access a legal advice. The property is owned by a housing association and we have sent complaint after complaint to them, they stop whatever it is for a while then carry on.

 

[JillA]

No we do not have access a legal advice. The property is owned by a housing association and we have sent complaint after complaint to them, they stop whatever it is for a while then carry on.

Check your lease - on the basis that your neighbours have the same terms in theirs it may be that they are in breach of the terms of their lease and so could be evicted if so

 

[Luci07]

Just that my Staffordshire bull terriers have never chewed either my fencing or that of my neighbours, but then they are treated, trained and walked. Your neighbours dogs must be exceedingly bored to do this.

I do feel for you, this is a very hard path to navigate and I suspect the only course of reasonable action is to keep pestering the HA with your evidence till someone cracks there.

 

[rascal]

This house, and most of the others in the area is bought, there is just the odd one or two that are housing association. We are hoping the council do something, as they did about the music.

 

[Fruitcake]

As far as I know, there's not a lot you can do about the fire unless you're in a smoke free area. Our neighbour has been burning trees and garden rubbish over the past week, triggering my poor horse's asthma. It drives me mad. I wanted to go 'round and ask him nicely if he'd mind maybe burning it all at once rather than almost daily and letting me know when so I could get said horse in but OH talked me out of it as neighbour is generally lovely and we do get on well. The constant fires worry me though due to the horse's breathing issues.

With regard to the other issues, I agree with what's been said about contacting council and going down anti-social route.

 

[Snowy Celandine]

OP I feel sorry for you or anyone with horrible neighbours, having been in the situation myself and moving house because of it All my other neighbours have been lovely but it's awful when you find yourself with a revolting one.

 

[rascal]

Just that my Staffordshire bull terriers have never chewed either my fencing or that of my neighbours, but then they are treated, trained and walked. Your neighbours dogs must be exceedingly bored to do this.

I do feel for you, this is a very hard path to navigate and I suspect the only course of reasonable action is to keep pestering the HA with your evidence till someone cracks there.

You hit the nail on the head, the dogs are often shut in the garden all day. I nearly died of shock this morning when i saw they had a couple of toys. Usually all they have to play with is whatever they steal from the house. Maybe they have realised that the dogs are bored, and that is why they are barking all the time and chewing fences. Our dogs have lots of toys, and go for walks, and yes all dogs bark sometimes but ours respond when they are told to be quiet. She says she trains her dogs very day, but they do not even respond to their names.

We think the council must have had another word, dogs have not barked much today, not chewed the fence, and better still no bonfire!