any legal eagles out there ?

[peanut]

I had an altercation with my neighbours tonight .

They were drunk and started shouting over the wall at me and then the wife came into my garden on the shared path to have a go at me. She was rude and insulting .
The reason ? because I had decided to mow the lawn at 7.45 pm

I had intended to do it at 6pm but when I went to start the mower i heard them talking in the garden and figured they were eating so I thought I'd give them an hour or so before mowing.

It only takes about 4-5 minutes to mow not like it would have been long.

Anyway they were so aggressive and rude it has caused me a bit of a dilemma

The residents of the private lane we live in are due to have our AGM in 2 weeks time but unfortunately my neighbour is currently the chair person and its his house the meeting will be held in.

There is no way he is going to allow me into the meeting and I wouldn't want to give him the opportunity for another chance to rant and rave by turning up.

So i have decided to write a letter to all the other residents explaining my abscence from the meeting so they do not think I just don't care anymore about the association and our lane.

Is this letter in any way libelous or have I said anything which could be construed as such ? I wouldn't want to add to my woes by being taken to Court by this twit who is also incidentally a local district councillor and chairman of the local history group etc .

sorry to rant on. heres the letter.

23rd May 2009

Dear Resident

It is with regret that I feel I have been left with no alternative other than to offer my apologies for absence from the forthcoming xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Residents Association AGM on the 6th June 09.

Due to the animosity shown me by Paul and Christine xxxxxxxx on the evening of 23rd may 09 and that the meeting is to due to be held at Chapel Cottage, after careful consideration I do not feel it would be fair to other residents for my presence at the meeting to be the potential cause of any renewed animosity or friction.

Should however the AGM be held at an alternative venue, either on June 6th or at any time in the future, to which I would be welcome, I should like to attend.

Kind regards



Nick xxxxxxxxx
Stable Cottage

 

[Noodley]

Sorry peanut, but I cannot get my head round this at all.

If you have a problem then sort it out with them.

I have had some humdinger arguments with some real pricks I have lived next to, most of whom wanted to rule my life and what I did. One of them threatened to shoot me and my dog with his shotgun. I could live with the threat of him shooting me.....but he made a big mistake with the threat to shoot my dog. He was 'the big fish' in our very small community. He sold his farm a year after...

Stand up to the pricks.

 

[Abitrary]

What do they do at the local history group? Do they reenact local battles and suchlike?

 

[montage]

What you should say to this man is "Do one"

Then promptly bring your forhead sharply down onto the bridge of his nose.

 

[Maz]

There is no way he is going to allow me into the meeting...

Why? You've done nothing wrong as I see it.

 

[peanut]

Why? You've done nothing wrong as I see it.

They hate me maz they were absolutely incensed about me mowing at 7.30pm on a Saturday evening. There is no way they would let me into their home for the AGM and I wouldn't want to give them the opportunity to have another go at me in case I lost my rag.

Problem is I am the only one that rents down the lane. The other 7 residents all own their properties. My Landlord is a right shoot and would probably give me notice if there were any complaints.All my neighbours are right snobs and all stick together. I am ostrisized because I am a non owner.

I have lived here for 10 years and the only way I'll leave is in a body bag.

 

[Dave5N]

FFS go and have a chat. You're getting all worked up about nothing. It's just people.

 

[Noodley]

You want me to come down and sort it out?

 

[Noodley]

FFS go and have a chat. You're getting all worked up about nothing. It's just people.

What Dave said...hopefully.

 

[peanut]

whatever I do i'm screwed. There is no way you could talk to the guy or reason with him he's totally irrational . There would be nothing gained and just further amunition for them to fabricate against me with the other neighbours.

I don't want to do anything to risk losing my home. If I did well I wouldn't want to carry on do you understand me . I'm afraid of what I might do if they back me any further into a corner .I'm too old to start again and I'm too depressed to want to.
This friction has been going on for nearly 8 years now. i was so upset tonight with the unfairness and frustration of it that I couldn't eat and felt sick for hours

 

[Noodley]

whatever I do i'm screwed. There is no way you could talk to the guy or reason with him he's totally irrational . There would be nothing gained and just further amunition for them to fabricate against me with the other neighbours.

I don't want to do anything to risk losing my home. If I did well I wouldn't want to carry on do you understand me . I'm afraid of what I might do if they back me any further into a corner .I'm too old to start again and I'm too depressed to want to.
This friction has been going on for nearly 8 years now

Sounds really bad. I know my replies may have sounded flippant but the best way to stand up to bullies is to play them at their own game. Everyone else may just be playing along....

When my neighbours left I found out some of my other neighbours really liked them..maybe I just wound them up? I would still gladly grind his face into the pavement.

 

[Hover Fly]

The last thing your landlord will want to do is evict you for something like this. Getting a possession order is a long expensive process and he would have to convince a court that he has grounds, the only thing I can see from above might be "nuisance behaviour" and he would have to convince the court that mowing a lawn on a Saturday evening was bad enough.
IANAL, but I do rent my old house out.

 

[tdr1nka]

You have my sympathies Peanut.
Not a lot of fun, try to let it pass.
HF is right tho, they'd be hard pushed to get you out over something like this.

In my twisted world I be likely to apologise profusely and then mow the lawn again at 8:00am on the Sunday.

 

[Cubist]

Peanut. My sympathies, but these sorts of spats have a habit of getting nasty between neighbours.

Firstly, to get things clear, you have broken no law by mowing your lawn, no matter what time of the day. Even if they were to complain to any authorities (the police will simply refer them to the local authority "Noise Nuisance" office within Environmental Services) then the neighbours will have to prove that they were subject to a continuous and ongoing level of noise over and above what could be reasonably expected to be heard from a domestic dwelling. The sound of a mower for 4 or 5 minutes early one evening wouldn't even attract a visit.

Far more important is the need to rebuild some sort of relationship with the neighbours. This is the tricky bit, and will need considerable patience on your part. By the sound of it, if you have all been shouting and swearing at each other over the fence then there will a considerable amount of ground to recover here.

It sounds from your side of the story, that the neighbours have been petty and unreasonable. Trust me, I've met your neighbours in the flesh a thousand times, but you must also realise that they will be telling their side to their friends and it will be from a very different perspective. They will want to make out that you were "mowing the lawn in an extremely aggravating way, in a deliberate attempt to destroy peace and harmony in the lane. They happened to ask you in a perfectly reasonable fashion to mow it the next day as they were trying to watch Britain's Got Talent, and you immediately became aggressive, started bawling and shouting, and when the good lady came out you swore at her."

Take a deep breath, and go and knock on the door. Smile, apologise for any misunderstandings the other day, and stress to them that you do not want to fall out with anybody, let alone your neighbours. If there is anyone you could take along for moral support, then do so. Do NOT quote chapter and verse how you had every right to mow whatever the time, and do not allow yourself to be drawn into any "you did, you didn't " arguments. If that happens withdraw. I would start along the lines of "Sorry, but we need to be able to get on with each other, so we need to talk about it over a coffee."

Don't rake over old ground if you can help it, but talk to them about living next to each other in the future. I rather suspect that if they chair the RA, then they're likely to be wanting to flex their muscles in a "retired and looking after the whole community" sort of way, in which case you're going to have to listen a lot to how much good they're doing. That'll be difficult.

If you don't have the patience or skills to do that, then get professional help. The below link is from the Somerset website, and if they are anything like the services we access here in West Yorks, then they may well be able to help resolve it or at least broker a meeting between you that will be properly recorded. http://www.mediationsomerset.co.uk/index.htm

Don't set out to antagonise them any further, no matter how tempting it sounds. I have had to deal with the aftermath of these sorts of disputes and some have been genuinely horrific.

PM me if you need a chat.

 

[summerdays]

If it was me (not knowing the full situation), I would apoligise with a one line something along the lines of "I'm sorry the lawn mower disturbed you yesterday evening, what sort of times would you suggest would be better". Not a major apology but leaving it that they also have to come up with how it could of not annoyed them. I suspect from what you say that they were going to be annoyed anyway - but at least it might force them to think about when you can mow you lawn and bring it up at the residents meeting too - if there is a specific ruling about noise?. Then they have to justify their behaviour to the rest, and you hopefully look you are making an effort (and that they are the stupid ones). Good luck anyway.

Edit just seen cubist post whilst I was typing this one ... that's the sort of thing I was trying to say.