Neighbours making life hellish.

Sorry, clicked 'send' too early.
What I was going to say was....get your Solicitor to write them a letter. That usually does the trick.

I also have problems with neighbours being pests. I dont know what gives them the idea that they have the right to interfere in other household's affairs.
My house has been in the family for 3 generations and well more than half a century. As soon as the last owner died the interest (nosey parkering) went into top gear. Constant questions about what was happening to the house. Every visitor is scrutinised and later I would be questioned about who it was and why they came. One neighbour said I was waving at her and came out all aggressive looking for a fight. Unless it is to ask questions no-one actually holds a normal conversation. Ironically there are a lot of nurses and doctors in the street. I think they are weird!
They are crazy about parking places. They try to block me in all the time. They would not even move their cars out of the spaces to allow re-tarring of the road. More weirdness.
They have broken the PIR lights by hosing them.
I have been very quiet for a few years. Never reacting or acknowledging that anyone is even there. I am slowly coming to the boil now.

What a bizarre area you moved to

I agree that you need a solicitor.

The OP has already said that a solicitor's letter was ineffective.

It may be time for further legal advice as to what, if any routes are open to you and for your solicitor to send a more strongly worded letter setting out potential consequences for these neighbours if they keep up their hostile activity.

You should certainly keep a written record of all incidents, whether of direct contact with the neighbours or contact with tradesmen who have been approached by the neighbours in connection with their work for you.

Sadly, I fear this could rumble on for a very long time unless you're prepared to invest time, emotional energy and hard cash in starting a formal legal action against these people.

You do have to wonder why some people live such narrow, miserable lives that they find satisfaction in making others' lives hellish.

I would just move and be done with it. Life is too short to be putting up with this nonsense. If not, then you need hard evidence. Keep dates and details of everything that happens and take photos or video with your phone. When you have the evidence your solicitor will advise whether you have enough to win a court case in the civil court. You need to decide what it is you actually want before you go to court, solicitor may advise there too. But ultimately these people still live there and that won't change, so moving is in my opinion the best option. No matter what happens in court you will never be happy living next door to them.

Thank you for your replies.

Yes we are keeping a log of incidents.

I agree we will need to send a further solicitors letter although the first one was quite strong. They didn’t deny any of the allegations, they just asked for times/dates which we do have.

On speaking with the solicitors office this week, they have strongly advised all incidents to be reported to the police. This we are doing and now they are coming to see us again. I no longer have much faith in that process now though.

It’s so frustrating that they can make life so difficult and we are effectively powerless.

I totally agree with you Chestnut, but I see a long road ahead. Their tactic is to reduce house values/offers then buy up the houses. We have a strong suspicion that the buyer of the recent house is the daughter of one of the problem neighbours ... remember I mentioned the estate agents said viewers (3 I think) had actually identified one of the neighbours as a reason for not putting an offer in.

After one of the viewings we had, we returned home to find our car dented. No proof and we didn’t want to believe it had occurred with intent. Now we know we were being warned off.

Sorry to read you’re also having problems Westerlywind. You have my sympathy!

Get out of their before it turns from bad neighbours to a real dispute that you have to enter when selling. Life is too short. It could also be that a second home occupier is bitterly resented by locals who cannot afford houses because of second home owners. There is a particular county where second home owners are not wanted.

I agree with Chestnut, it sounds absolutely awful, I wouldn’t care who wanted to buy whose house or anything, you’ve clearly got horrible neighbors, just sell up. You don’t even need to be there if it’s a second home, cut your losses, and you may have losses, but surely peace of mind is more important.

Did the previous owners of the house have any problems with these neighbours? If they did, and they did not answer the pre contract enquiries honestly, then I think you will find you have financial redress. You need to contact your solicitor.

Thank you for your responses.

Framilode they are very vague about it all. Our suspicion is they had been driven out too. Comes down to evidence and they didn’t report anything to the council or police.

As mentioned up thread we intend to sell as soon as practicable. Still frustrating and very very unfair. There is no protection or help in these situations unless you’re prepared to run up huge costs ... costing more money. Better to cut losses ...

Surely this is harrassment? Can’t the police do more? I have a neighbor who thinks he owns the street and he gets on my nerves even more so since retiring. I would hate this situation can’t imagine how you must be feeling.

You can’t reason with unreasonable people and they’ve clearly demonstrated that they are unreasonable. Selling (even at a loss) up is the only way to bring peace of mind.

Did the previous owners of this place list anything about the neighbours ? If not, they could be in trouble too for not mentioning the neighbourhood during selling to you. This is a requirement.

I'm not sure if I am correct in thinking that, although you may have had problems with a neighbour, if you haven't reported anything, it is only your word against theirs.
So proof may be hard to come by.
Unless you have mentioned it to another neighbour, but that is only hearsay.
We have a difficult neighbour, opposite. He has never bothered us, only his immediate neighbours.

I’d stop renovating. No point putting more money into the property. Get a ‘For Sale’ board up next week. And as it’s your second home, I’d leave a key with the estate agent and only return to pack up once sold.

Life’s too short for such stress.

Good luck escaping!

Where is it by the way (so none of us are tempted by the estate agent blurb haha!)

I agree with Urmstongran, just get a For Sale board up, and get out of there!

I'd be very surprised if there wasn't a much longer history involving the previous owners. However, they were wise to not report or send any written correspondence as they could sell up without declaring a dispute.

Warn any potential contractors or visitors that you have neighbours with 'mental health problems'. Advise them to just say 'Good morning!' and rush past, as if busy. Plan to sell asap!

And, shutters or voiles at the windows. Security cameras should be put back up. Refuse to speak to them too!

This makes my problem with anOCD neighbour look positively easy. Definitely keep a diary of events. Consult local Citizens Advice? Avoid any contact. Reinstate security cameras. Selling up although an expensive business would be a good idea but I wouldn’t have a For Sale board. As has been said, life is too short to put up with this nonsense.
(My neighbour has an obsession with wheelie bins and wherever I put mine, within seconds he’s out moving them to a place of his choice. I hate the fact that he’s ‘watching’.)

Reading the horrible things that people will do makes me more determined to try and stay in my home. Really should down size but dread leaving the peace and quiet I have for something like this poster is experiencing.

Tell them to Fuck off and just get on with it
Why are you letting these people ruin your life? That’s what they want. They’ve got nothing better to do. They are winning! Just ignore all this nonsense and do what you like!
Oh and have a huge party and make loads of noise, give them something to be kissed off about!

What about involving a reporter, to not only see and record what is going on, but also to hopefully get others to come forward to support you in a harassment case ... which this clearly is. The neighbours must have serious mental health problems so dont even try to apply logic to them. It’s an awful situation for you.