Neighbour Wars

[spen666]

Cough https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/neighbour-wars.233534/post-5230421

A link to a you tube video with no explanation is of no use to me as you tube is blocked at work.

 

[burndust]

I've just been catching up with the local gossip and it's hotting up...

Just for background, we live in a cul-de-sac of 19 houses (on a private road) which, when we first moved in, were mainly occupied by elderly, rather staid (but generally nice) folks. Having a couple of queens move in certainly got the curtains twitching - and inviting them all round for a housewarming was a novelty. Over the years, as the wrinklies have departed this vale of tears, they've been replaced by a much younger and more diverse group (we're close to Addenbrookes and a number of the research parks) and we have (at last count) 17 nationalities represented in the 19 houses.

There's always been a bit of grumbling over the years (like when we had a blessedly short stay neighbour who collected large, noisy American cars) but life is generally harmonious, even if there are certain neighbours one tends not to socialise with that much. But at the end of last year No. 1 was sold (following the death of one of the longest-serving residents) and that's when it all started.

No. 1 (which is a semi-detached bungalow) was bought by a young(er) couple with a small child and a dog - and it was in need of modernisation, having not been touched for many years. The house was to be refurbished, and side and rear extensions added. Planning permission was required for some of the work but no objections were raised - and the builder doing the work was the new owner's father. He's a local chap with a good reputation - he actually built our house.

We all knew there'd be some disruption as the work was undertaken, and likely some damage to verges etc. as lorries delivered and workmen parked in what is a relatively confined road space. One of our neighbours agreed to let people park in front of his garage (as he rarely drives) to help ease any congestion and the builder promised to put things right if there was any damage (as he had done previously when building our house).

And then the work started. I work from home and can honestly say, in my opinion, that the noise and disruption was minimal - and the various tradesman were really pleasant. Weather did delay the work a little but that's outside the control of the builder. We only ever saw Mrs New Owner, as Mr New Owner was working.

But shortly after work started two neighbours began kicking off. One is the rather odd woman from No.2 (which is attached to No. 1) and the other is the neighbour who lives across the road from No. 1.

Mr Across the Road (a rather obnoxious, opinionated South African who has caused problems before) decided that the builders had cause damage to the verge and road outside his house. The verge is heavily rutted - but much of that was there before the building work started, as a result of visitors to his house parking there or people passing on what is effectively a single track road. The road surface has never been wonderful and, although there has clearly been some deterioration, I'd suggest it's mainly weather and general traffic related.

Mr Across the Road decided that the best plan of action was to confront the builder and get into a heated shouting match. Another neighbour intervened and made it clear she'd call the police if he didn't calm down and go away. Over the couple of months that the work took, there were repeated incidents of confronting the builder and then he decided to take it a step further... and involve solicitors.

Mr Across the Road is now suing the builder - claiming he has to re-turf the verge and resurface the road. The only problem is, despite his claims to do so, Mr Across the Road doesn't own the verge (one of our neighbours - who used to be Clerk to the Parish Council - actually has the Land Registry map with all the detailed boundaries on it)... and he can't prove the damage was caused by the building works. His case is further undermined by the fact that less than a year before the building work started, we'd all been canvassed about getting the road done (it's not adopted so we have to pay for any works).

And then a couple of weeks ago, the family moved in to No. 1 and Mr Across the Road decided to start having a go at them. Bad move - it turns Mr New Owner is an Occifer of the Lah.

Mrs No. 2 is frankly a bit batty, and seems to be somewhat under the influence of Mr Across the Road. She actually sold the couple at No. 1 part of her garden to allow them to build the rear extension. They got all the proper agreements in place and signed off... and she was very happy about it at the time.

Now she's decided (having spent much time huddled with Mr Across the Road) that, despite having taken independent legal advice (which was paid for by the couple at No. 1) they've diddled her and that they should knock down the rear extension. She too has consulted solicitors.

The builder has rectified all the bits he promised to sort out - with the exception of the verge and road outside Mr Across the Road's. He even sorted out a drain we were having a problem with (he noticed it wasn't draining properly and offered to take a look).

According to our neighbour Richard (the font of all knowledge on things local) Mr Across the Road been told by his own solicitor that he doesn't have a leg to stand on but he thinks he knows better and has decided do away with the solicitor and to pursue the case as a litigant in person. Apparently he told Richard at great length that the solicitor didn't know what he was talking about.

Mrs No. 2 went as far as sending solicitors letters but - unlike Mr Across the Road - she seems to have heeded the advice of her solicitors, and she's not proceeding with any action... limiting herself instead glaring at the new neighbours whenever she sees them and complaining about their dog.

This could all be a rather costly lesson for Mr Across the Road - and rather fun to watch... Beats EastEnders any day!

all sounds pretty tame, you want to try living on a council estate, neighbour wars are actual wars

 

[Leaway2]

I think that might be when/if Mr Across the Road makes it to court...

Ooooh lets hope so. This is great.

 

[spen666]

[QUOTE 5231574, member: 9609"]no bother since we got shot of the wagons, a few eyebrows were raised at trailer swaps at 3am - LOL. but that was along time ago.

Seriously though we have some great neighbours.[/QUOTE]


I have also have grate neighbours... the b*st*rds grate on me with everything they do

 

[Pale Rider]

I've seen the court end of lots of neighbour disputes over the years.

One that rather unkindly amused me was an argument over a cat messing in next door's garden which ended with one party banjoing the other.

The defendant's solicitor told the magistrates: "This matter is unlikely to rear up again because at the police's last visit, an officer accidentally ran over the cat, killing it."

A common theme is neighbours who were quite friendly falling out, often over something that looks trivial to an outsider.

With that in mind, I've always kept my neighbours at arm's length, share a few words if we happen to meet but I don't go out of my way to make contact.

 

[raleighnut]

[QUOTE 5231778, member: 43827"]Consider yourself lucky you don't have neighbours like these:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/1138749.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lincolnshire/2989364.stm[/QUOTE]
There is a weird pop-up on that 1st link

 

[slowmotion]

There's a faintly laager mentality about some cul de sac dwellers. If you park your van in one while going about your business, blocking nobody's drive, somebody will make a point of parking two inches from the back doors. It's quite amusing. They need to get out more.

 

[Milkfloat]

We get on well enough with our neighbours that when we replaced the back fence recently we put a gate in so we can walk directly into their garden without the effort of going out through the front door and into theirs.

 

[cisamcgu]

We get on well enough with our neighbours that when we replaced the back fence recently we put a gate in so we can walk directly into their garden without the effort of going out through the front door and into theirs.

We did the same, then they went and moved

 

[raleighnut]

[QUOTE 5231965, member: 43827"]Sorry. Nothing when I look at it.[/QUOTE]
It's stopped doing it now here too.

 

[Profpointy]

There's a faintly laager mentality about some cul de sac dwellers. If you park your van in one while going about your business, blocking nobody's drive, somebody will make a point of parking two inches from the back doors. It's quite amusing. They need to get out more.

That happens in the suburbs, <edit rather than> cul du sacs. Have recounted before, we live in a narrow street, <edit: a cul du sac> in the middle of the city, and a fair few of the houses are split into flats, so there are a lot of cars, and it's a reasonably mixed group of people - renters, students, people owning whole houses, owner occupier flats, some social housing. We all seem to get on just fine and there's a good bit of community spirit. Parking is not a problem - everyone squeezes in as close to curb as possible, wheels straight, and tucks their mirrors in. If someone's having a delivery and a lorry blocks the street for 15 minutes to unload scaffolding, everyone simply has to wait to get in or out. Not a problem. Need to leave a space for your builders to drop a skip off- leave a little note out - not a problem. No room, park a street away. Yet in the suburbs where there is plenty of room it is all very difficult and big fallings out ensue. People, usually visitors, do get an "educational note" if they park on the pavement blocking it, or leave their front wheel turned which blocks the road for delivery vehicles- it is that tight in the street.

 

[keithmac]

My street is a fairly harmonious place, if you ignore the periodic night-time rows and door-slamming from next door. However, before we moved in, our house had apparently belonged to a family with a 'reputation' and been the focus of a minor local scandal, and one of our neighbours refused for some years to cross our threshhold for fear of being seen entering 'the (family name)'s house'. My Dad has now moved to the village too, to a house a few streets away, where the previous occupant fell out so badly with the landlords that she had a court order to keep her away from the property. I think we are calming influences.

Same here, the two lads who lived at our house were real bad eggs, had ASBOs and were banned from coming near the estate for 5 years iirc.

When we moved in and had the front and back doors replaced my wife rang the Police as a precauction to tell them we were new owners and not to kick the door in (a common occurrence we found out!).

I knew a few locals already and was assured we'd get no bother if we bought the house so all good in the end.

 

[slowmotion]

That happens in the suburbs, <edit rather than> cul du sacs. Have recounted before, we live in a narrow street, <edit: a cul du sac> in the middle of the city, and a fair few of the houses are split into flats, so there are a lot of cars, and it's a reasonably mixed group of people - renters, students, people owning whole houses, owner occupier flats, some social housing. We all seem to get on just fine and there's a good bit of community spirit. Parking is not a problem - everyone squeezes in as close to curb as possible, wheels straight, and tucks their mirrors in. If someone's having a delivery and a lorry blocks the street for 15 minutes to unload scaffolding, everyone simply has to wait to get in or out. Not a problem. Need to leave a space for your builders to drop a skip off- leave a little note out - not a problem. No room, park a street away. Yet in the suburbs where there is plenty of room it is all very difficult and big fallings out ensue. People, usually visitors, do get an "educational note" if they park on the pavement blocking it, or leave their front wheel turned which blocks the road for delivery vehicles- it is that tight in the street.

I'm sure that the vast majority of cul de sac dwellers are perfectly reasonable people. I just seem to have come across a disproportionately large number of the sad petty ones who seem to take exception to a visitor having the audacity to park on "their" street. I might have had a sliver of sympathy if the roads were unadopted, but they were not.

 

[gavgav]

I live in a cul de sac and must be lucky as everyone gets on well, not to the extent where we are best mates, or anything, but a friendly hello, etc, and always have a chat with immediate neighbours. Also we have 1 lovely retired lady who acts a bit like our neighbourhood watch, brings peoples bins back to the houses, after collection, takes parcels in, etc.

My brother has not long moved into a new estate and there are parking wars there already!!

One chap, nicknamed Victor (as in Meldrew) by my brother, came banging on the door a while back, moaning my brother had parked outside his house, when there wasn’t room on the driveway, due to it being my Niece’s birthday party (4 cars there instead of 2). Apparently he couldn’t get his Jag into the drive. I could have got a bus through the space!!

My brother explained that it’s a public road, with no double yellow lines and so there was nothing stopping him parking there.

Since that day, Victor now parks both his jag and his wife’s car outside the house, on the road, in that space. They don’t use their drive and they’ve made it hard for people to get around the corner due to even less space.

My brother has had a 3rd space created on his driveway and so that has made things easier for parking at his.

Why can’t people just get on with each other!!

 

[perplexed]

I'm sure that the vast majority of cul de sac dwellers are perfectly reasonable people. I just seem to have come across a disproportionately large number of the sad petty ones who seem to take exception to a visitor having the audacity to park on "their" street. I might have had a sliver of sympathy if the roads were unadopted, but they were not.

I think you're right here - there is something about the cul de sac which promotes ridiculous territorialism in some of their residents (emphasised some, before anyone jumps down my throat). When we moved, we actually said to any prospective agents who's list we went on, 'no cul de sacs'. I always find it slightly odd when this aspect of a house's position is considered to be a positive selling point.

I lived on one once. A mix of houses, bungalows and some flats. There were about 4 parking areas, each could accommodate 4-6 cars. Next door but one absolutely insisted that a certain space was his. It wasn't, they were not dedicated to any property, ours included. This didn't stop him parking across the back of whichever poor sod who happened to be in 'his' space, despite the fact that there may be 6 free bays within a 20 yard walk... (Edited to add, I was also working shifts-after me getting him out of bed at 0430 am a few times, he stopped doing it to me).

Where we are now, we parked around the corner on the end of a cul de sac whilst we were having building done, for about 8 weeks on and off. The bit of the cul de sac where we parked has common land abutting it, no houses! This didn't stop one of the residents having a go. I pointed out that it was a public highway, we weren't blocking anyone, there were no parking restrictions, and to please desist from swearing at us. He was one of these big, nasty old men, who'd probably been an arse all his life, and wasn't used to being stood up to. He whined on for a while about us paying council tax for 'our' road, and him paying council tax for 'his' road. And besides, we were parked where he wanted to wash his car . He didn't like to wash it on his drive you see... He just sloped off in the end...