Don't know where to post this so feel free to move it if need be...

About a year ago, my elderly next door neighbour died leaving his bought house on the market. Another local family moved in, consisting of mum and dad with their 14 year old. All was quiet when they first moved in then we soon discovered their "brat" doesn't go to school.

She plays music at all hours, so much so, that it's banging through the walls into my room and making things shake it's that loud. She's also thrown cigarette ends onto our conservatory roof leaving brown marks on it. She has no respect for anything of anyone else, and as I haven't been brought up like this, I find it disgusting.
A couple of weeks ago she was playing music until half 11 at night, not good when you have to be up at 5:30 for work. I banged on the wall in temper and all I got was "shut up (enter swearing here) or I'll torch your car!" So, after she'd finished banging and swearing I finally got to sleep.

This week, her parents have gone away for the weekend, they come back on Wednesday apparently. So, their "brat" is left on her own, to her own devices. She threw a party Friday night with loud music but as I didn't have to get up for work I wasn't too bothered. She had about 6 lads in there. Screaming, banging etc. That same night, my mum's car got pinched. Coincidence??

I get up this morning, open my blinds and what's on top of the conservatory roof?? A dirty used condom. I haven't moved it, neither have my parents, luckily my mum's at work otherwise she'd have been round there I know. Her parents have no control over her so I doubt they'll be bothered when they hear. I've thought about putting it in an envelope and posting it but that's stooping to her level.

Just wanted some advice on what we can do, what with it being a private house and not council? Will the police help? It's getting ridiculous now.
Cheers, Chloe

burning cig marks on the Conservatory ?? does that not class as criminal damage then ?? loud music, hmm I dunno but i used to think after a certain time loud music was classed as noise pollution but could be wrong..

Maybe worth a 'enquiry' to the police station just check on things like this..

Don't stoop to their level, you know you are wiser than that.

Cheers you.
And I'm sorry, think you know what I mean...

You could give them a ring or ask an advice shop. I've had it myself.

Don't worry bout it Chloe, what you said actually helped in a funny way..

Let me know how you get on :)

I should definately talk to your local police station - there certainly seems to be some sort of drive to get rid of nuisance neighbors so they may be helpfull - especially if you have talked to her parents about her behaviour.

Oh and if she is only 14 isn't any kind of sex statuatory rape?

I daren't go round because I know I'll lose my temper, and then who'll be the one on the wrong side of the law??

That makes it difficult - as I would think one of the first things you will be asked is whether you have tried resolving the problem with the parents! I'm not sure of this though - we need some input from any police officers / lawyers on the forum!

A good place to start would be to keep a detailed diary of times, dates, what happened, whether parents there or not. If the family are council tenants you can go to the council and put in a complaint, but you need evidence, ie the diary. speak to near neighbours and ask them if they have had problems. If they are private tenants or owners (god forbid) still speak to the council and they will be able to advise you on what to do next....
good luck, remember that if you tackle them about the antisocial behaviour and they in turn become aggressive then you can ring the police and tell them they have used threatening behaviour - they should send someone round and maybe then they will realise you are not going to put up with all this crap.

sue:thumbsup:

You can probably find some good info on the Neighbours from Hell (http://www.nfh.org.uk) website.

If possible, take photos, recordings.
See your local councillor.
Environmental Health dept. at Town Hall should deal with this.
Granma

Mediation are an impartial and free service that can advice on neighbour nuisance issues. Don't know if they only work with tenants or not but they may be worth a call, on (0114) 2412771. Good luck, it sounds a right pain.

Hi there

I can sympathise totally as we used to have nuisance neighbours, 3 football maniacs on the end of a cul de sac who used our front lawn and drive as an extension of their playing area.

Actually caught one of the so and so's taking a free kick from outside our front door - but having a word with the parents they say rubbish things like "well, there's nowhere for them to play" when there's a playing field about 100 yards down the road.

If the parents aren't interested then I guess you'll have to get someone else involved, everyone's given you quite a few numbers etc... good luck and remember always you are in the right!

:D

It's a legal requirement for children up to the age of 16 to go to school unless the parents have made special arrangements for the child to be educated at home.

Have you thought about contacting the local education authority? They seem pretty keen on stamping down on truants these days.

Be careful - if you take photo's of her and don't get her parents permission you could be breaking the laws and be branded a paedophile.

You would also be breaching her rights under european law.

Just so you're aware...

Try this neighbours from hell (http://www.nfh.org.uk/) forum for some good advice.

I've been told it's a wonderful resource on getting your own back and keeping within the law for terrible neighbours.

Sorry you're having trouble... hope it all gets sorted soon!:(

I say next time she is having a party you post it all over the net.. We could gatecrash the party, would be fun the see the house after that.:thumbsup:

We don't have photos of her! Not that desperate I'm afraid! We have photos of all the burns on the conservatory roof from fags and the condom.
Dirty little ...

I say phone Social Services on the family. Tell them you are concerned that the girl isnt in school, and all about the anti-social behaviour etc. There's nothing more embarassing than getting a knock on the door and it being social services about your delinquent child.

At 14 a child shouldn't be left on its own even if the 14 yo is putting it about (which is also illegal) social services and the police would take an active interest in her. Now wouldn't that be a nice welcome home for her parents ! go on go for it cause the little biatch maximum embarrasment...don't get mad get even.

For the music you can contact Enviromental Health. My friends are being kicked out because they have a PA system setup in their flat and they play music 24/7 as it's a house full of DJ's. Their Neighbors haven't had to do much to get them kicked out as it's a rented flat.

well chloe,
I sympathise,as i too have rotten neighbours.
only my neighbours are in their 40s and insist on screaming matches that start around 12 30 am and go on till sometimes
4 oclock am.
it use to be fridays and saturdays but now sundays have crept in.
they are not the type of people you can approach, as they
just glare at you in the street,and never speak.
or the daughter shouts an insult. and every time i go in the back garden the daughters make strange animal noises through their bedroom windows.
mine is a council house but im not sure about their's , if theyv'e bought it or not.
But im told the council may have the right to take them to a civil
court.
if it goes any further.
not been here all that long but neighbours at other side are really nice.
i must ave touched on some looneys.

Originally posted by owdlad
At 14 a child shouldn't be left on its own even if the 14 yo is putting it about (which is also illegal) social services and the police would take an active interest in her. Now wouldn't that be a nice welcome home for her parents ! go on go for it cause the little biatch maximum embarrasment...don't get mad get even.

Blimey... at 14 I was youth hostelling alone in the Peak District with friends of the same age and at 15 I was going on cycling holidays to Great Yarmouth with them - no parents in sight. Social Services didn't seem to get involved, but then my Dad was a policeman, so maybe he was just highly irresponsible. :P

I think you should give them a little more credit at 14. Cut the apron strings, let them walk to school, find out about life, live a little! I think there would be a few less bad neighbours is people did so.

There is ONLY one way to deal with difficult neighbours and thats to tackle them face to face. In my experience compalining about them to authorities just gets the situation worse as they always know it is you who has complained. 3 years ago we had a family move in next door to the private house in our so called nice area....the parents were OK but they were always away and left the house in the control of their grotesque 17 yr old brat. This guy was a bonehead and a total moron. We had cigarettes flying over the hedge, noise, and parties for 3 nights in a row. I suggested to him he turn down the party a bit 3 times in one night, but I just got rediculed and insulted. This guy was showing off in front of his friends and pretending to be a bit of hardman in his baseball cao, skinhead hairstyle and track suit. In fact he had a local reputation for being a troublemaker.

Later we heard a crash and it turned out this brat and his cronies were playing darts in their back garden and one went straight thro the hedge and our front window. They cheered and hurkled insults over the hedge and a empty box of beer cans...AND THAT WAS IT! That was the final moment for me and I simply have to admit I went round the front door, kicked it in, smashed the stereo and gave the main brat a good kicking and kicked all his friends out. I was not messing about here.....I spelt out my feeling in no uncertain terms.


Strangely enough, they did not make a complaint against me and spent the next week tip toeing about and even offered to repair the window. They moved away a month later and a lovely elederly couple moved in.

Not the most tactful suggestion, but I just dont tolerate that kind of crap from anyone.....I am not sugesting this is good practice, as it isnt, it just worked for me. These morons needed a good slapping and I did not care if I went to court or not.....they got the message and that was it. Suspect they had too many dodgy secrets to go to the Police anyway...

I'm pretty sure i'ts illegal to leave a 14 year old home alone:(

I work for the Environmental Health Dept, Sheffield City Council.
First thing you need to do is ring up and report what is happening to you. A diary will be sent out to you and you will need to keep the diary and log in everything that is happening, noise wise. A decision will be made from the evidence provided in the diary. If there is satisfactory Noise recording equipment will be fitted in your house and you will record the noises they make with a press of a button. An abatement notice will be served on them if it is bad enough and they will have to stop legally.
It is not my exact field of work so this is a limited explaination.
Feel free to pm me for more info...

Chloe, has anything been sorted for you yet ?

Sorry it's taken so long to reply.

Well, it's no better but it's no worse. She's just been on holiday with her boyfriend for 2 weeks and it was as quiet as ever. She came back and the music started. I stayed at my blokes last night and when I've come home this morning both my parents are asleep on the sofa downstairs, saying that "brat" was outside till 2am with her boyfriend, climbing up the street lights and turning them off so now we're in for another week of no light at night... There's rubbish all over the street and broken glass.

We don't know what to do really. Is there someone in the police who we can phone or see for advice. It's getting too much around here now, I feel more for all the elderly who are scared to death to go out.

Contact the police and the environmental health them and find out what they can do for you. It's down to you to get things rolling. I don't mean to sound unsympathetic, but people have all come up with suggestions and 3 months on things are the same - and it appears that nothing's been tried.

we've had problems with loude music before, when you report them the first time, they get a letter, you report them a second the get a threatning letter, report them a third time & the police will take the sterio away, if you leave it & never report them then it will just carry on.

I wish you all the luck in the world. Peeps have been very helpful on this site with advice. I hope it solves your problem and you dont end up like me. I am in the process of selling my house because of the neighbours.

Anyway, good luck x a million. Be tough.
:)

Although it is private house, the local council still has the power to impose restrictions on the owners,

To te unsympathetic one, the reason we haven't done anything is because she's been away for part of the time and so have we. We've also been keeping a diary but we can't be here all the time, we have to work too! The council aren't really bothered, they know what it's like and don't do anything.

:mad: Chloe, we have a similar situation with our neighbours. We have been writing 'diary sheets' for over 16 months now and to no avail. It's getting to the point where I have had enough and want to take action myself. We are homeowners ( ex council ) and they are council. Nobody seems interested.

Maybe getting in touch with Social Services may have a desired effect. They can't be responsible parents though if they are leaving a 14 year old on her own.

Good luck!

Can I ask where abouts you live, chloe?
The police really should be doing something about this as my mate is 16 and lives in dore n the coppers came round just because his brother fell asleep in his car with the stereo on, an 6 months later they had the police round again about him because a stranger threw an egg at the neighbours house and the neighbour tried to blame him even though he was at my house! Although maybe the police were giving the neighbour special attention because they were posh my view was that they shouldn't do as much because kids round there aren't bad eggs.

report them to the council & police every day .
14 is too young to be left at home alone, i think it's actually against the law.
sling all the stuff over the fence or collect it together & give it to hr mum at the door.

Would an ASBO cover this sort of behaviour?

what about social services if they are leaving this underage child alone ?

A 14 year old kid who doesn't go to school, can't parents go to prison for that?

A 14 year old kid who doesn't go to school, can't parents go to prison for that?

As long as she is not registered at school and her parents are providng her with an education suitable to her age, apptitude and ability, they are quite within their rights to have her at home.

A 14 year old kid who doesn't go to school, can't parents go to prison for that?

She'll be sixteen now!

report them to the council & police every day .
14 is too young to be left at home alone, i think it's actually against the law.
sling all the stuff over the fence or collect it together & give it to hr mum at the door.
You can leave a new born baby at home on its own, perfectly legal. But if something unfortunate happened then you would be liable for negligence. i'd say 13 is old enough to leave a child to look after a house, depending on the child that is.

i dont know what to say apart from that girl sounds like a little spoilt b*tch :)

All i can say is chloe don't be intimidated by any of them i know how you feel my family had alot worse than that when we lived on lowedges i got beat up several times was nearly kidnapped and my grandma who was like 80 years old got injured when 1 of the idiots kicked the door in.

needless to say my dad went beserk there was alot of people outside chanting for him to beat my dad up because he was massive and the rest of them where hiding behind him once my dad put him to the floor they was all saying please don't hurt him and all that.

also because we was not common foul mouthed lazy lay abouts like them they picked on my family but my family would never back down to scum like that but in the end they got what was coming to them after the first major incident with my gran it came to a head.

1 night there was a gang of about 25 to30 of them outside threatening to kill my dad and my family i was only 9 at the time i was scared stiff the coppers would not do anything until someone got hurt my dad had enough so he phoned his 2 brothers up and they came up and in typical cowardly fashion when they got here and my dad and 2 uncles went to confront them they ran like the wind into there houses.

And when they went to confront them all one by one they had the cheek to call the police because they was scared they was going to get a kicking.

I know violence is not the answer to most things but some times it is called for when you have idiots like i have just explained living next door to you thank god i live in a nice quiet area now.

Though ive still got the wicked witch of the west living next door to me:hihi:



good luck on sorting it out anyway:)

Don't waste time with the council as nothing will be done,i had the same problem 19 years ago and it went on for eleven years football kicked at living room window loud music at all hours, complained to council on numerous occasions,filled in a diary,result....nothing got done and i was the one that had to move,consider all the other offered options but don't rely on the council as they are not interested.Most of what snowboarder said is what i went through,i like the way he tackled the problem head on but not everyone is able to do that,but well done snowboarder.