Neighbours making life hellish.

Hello

I rarely post but read threads daily. Please be gentle. I’ve wrote and rewrote this post many times. Undecided as to whether it’s significant enough. I will try to be concise and not waffle on. We find ourselves in a most intolerable and highly unpleasant situation. I would like opinions on how others would manage/deal with it.

We bought a second home to be used 50/50 with our main residence. From day one the neighbours from 2 houses (either side) have been hostile & intimidating. When we first moved in we asked them in for a drink. One accepted but brought their own, one declined citing they didn’t drink (they do)

Initially we refused to believe how they were, choosing to give them the benefit of doubt. They were becoming increasingly passive aggressive and clearly were making it known we weren’t wanted. My OH heard one of them telling their visitors ‘they must be staying as I’ve seen workmen going in’. These neighbours are not from the local area, they too have other homes in their home towns.

Here’s a list of some of the things they do:-

* When ever they pass our windows they stare in (several times a day)
* They stand outside our windows and stare in for a short time. Sometimes they are smiling in a goudy fashion or scowling.
* Follow and observe us when we leave and return to our home.
* Door slamming in the early hours.
* Telling us we can’t put fencing up ‘as it won’t look nice’.
* Approaching workers who arrive to give us quotes for various jobs. Asking them what they are there for. Telling them they can’t do x y z. Telling them they can’t park in the area.
* Ringing and emailing our contractors telling them we are in dispute about boundaries (not true)
* On a couple occasions, after we took a step back from them, they would ask, anything up? This would be in a sing song goudy voice. One time i was brave and calmly explained how their behaviour made us feel (anxious, increased anxiety) and a polite request for it to stop. This was met with a barrage of insults about my MH and total denial about their behaviour.
* They managed to find out our other address and previous address (via on line we think) and sent Signed for letters. This has really tipped the scales as our main residence was our sanctuary.
* We are getting regular phone calls from contractors when we are at our main address informing us that the neighbours are contacting them.
* There are daily incidents.

In absolute desperation we contacted the police (ineffective apart from them suggesting cctv, which made it worse so we took it down again but we are considering putting back), local council (ineffective), sent a Solicitors letter (ineffective).

It’s got so bad we are choosing to not spend time there other than when works are being carried out. We intend to sell (we know we will have to declare all this) when we have finished renovating.

I’d like to say when we first moved in we did not do any changes or be a nuisance in any way. If we had works carried out it was only between 9-4pm. We always informed them before hand (if they answered the door). We kept noise disruption to a minimum, never doing anything noisy at wknds. We consciously tried to be considerate neighbours.

A couple of side notes. One of the other houses (another household, not neighbours mentioned above) has recently been on the market. Plenty of viewings & interest. It sold under market value. We have it on very good authority that one of the reasons cited for not putting in offers was they were put of ‘by the neighbour at number *’. This is the neighbour causing us the most problems. This same neighbour has now involved the buyers of the sale house (not completed and not moved in) and provided details of our contractors. So they are not harassing us and our contractors claiming boundary disputes.

We are so upset about it all. We are not sleeping properly, anxiety is through the roof. We are older people and have never had any neighbour trouble before. What would you do under these circumstances? TIA