still got a problem with my nieghbour

[Mrkakaka]

still got a problem with my nieghbour who won't stop harrasing me she has sent 3 letters all hand written 2 threating court 1 about a compost heap which didn't exist and then a fence which her kids ruined playing football against it.she also wrote one as if it came from a solicitor. she also know calls me a pervert as I still dare to go out into my garden and makes nasty comments about me being unemployed as I have been redundant a while know. The police don't seem to be doing much she was even nasty about putting my house up for sale because of her. and as may wife can't bear to stay hear any more. where do I find a legal aid solicitor to get her to stop I have contacted a few in north essex near braintree but can't help. is it easy to get a court order to get her to stop. Help v v much appreciated.

[mikejclark]

Re: still got a problem with my nieghbour

Hi,
If she is harrassing you you will need to make an application for an injunction under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. You will need to show that she has carried out a course of conduct which the person causing the harassment knows amounts to harassment or a reasonable person would consider it to be harasment (not exact I know but its a case by case basis).

Regarding legal aid for this, it is (or at least was when I last did a legal injunction) available for this type of matter. But you would have to be eligable for it by way of means testing. You can find the calculator on the legal service commision website. You will be eligable if you are on certain benefits (ie income based jobseekers but not contribution based) and/or dont have a certain level of assets (off the top of my head I cant recall what that figure is though). You would also need to pass the sufficient benefit test ie there is a strong enough case and a decent chance of success.

Im afraid that due to legal aid cuts a lot of solicitors cant offer legal aid anymore, but you are best off first finding one that does legal aid (go to the law society website to search for a solicitor).

Hope this helps.

[The Debt Star]

Re: still got a problem with my nieghbour

The main thing to remember is that you are not alone. Believe me, up and down the country tens of thousands of people are suffering from anti-social problems from neighbours, some of it intentional harrassment and some of it just lack of consideration/ignorance.

The trouble is that when you are living through it it is just so raw and emotive.

You need to step back and objectivise this as much as you are able to do, even if that means going on these forums and having a rant, talk about what is happening and get practical advice.

Even if people are not livging through it now, many have had neighbour probs in the past. I once lived next door to a woman who was a total nutter and used to spray a hose pipe at my kids when they played in the garden and would scream expletives at us when challenged. Also when guests came round she would hose down the patio. The worst was when she started hacking down the plants in our garden by leaning right over the fence.

This person, as it happened, was schizophrenic and alcholhic, had a lot of bad **** in her life and vented out her anger at life on the soft targets her neighbours.

We woulkd have gone down the ASBO route eventually but for the Police tipping us off about her condition and also she did eventually move. By that point though we were so affected that we left anyway and have been happy, as it really does come to pot luck what neighbours you get.

I have a mate who lives in a quaint village but every now and then a nightnare famikly move in and the community suffers for a few years. So there's no guarantees, wherever you live.

We found the Police next to useless. They won't take sides and put a lot of pressure on you to drop any complaints.

Also, bear this in mind ref post #2 above, getting your neighbour an ASBO may result in you finding it more difficult to sell your house. I'm not 100% sure of this though, but its worth asking as I think in conveyancing questions such as ASBOs crop up and can put off prospective purchasers. Also might show up on private searches of your postcode anyway.