Hi everyone! Would like to know where to post my issue...

[Phinno23]

Hello Everyone!

This is my first time here and I would like to know which forum I should post in for some advice regarding issues we're having with the neighbour's children.

A brief synopsis is that they play ball games in their front garden, which isn't really a suitable area for this activity, and balls are frequently kicked over the fence they've erected and smashed into my mother's rose bushes. The children also used to walk onto the garden without permission or care toward my mother's plants to retrieve balls, but this seems to have stopped since I installed a webcam to record our front garden, which I believe they've noticed.

We've repeatedly asked the neighbours to stop their children from doing this, but to no avail, so I want to send them a letter to 'officially' ask them to stop, with the aim of taking legal action (if possible?) if they don't.

I'm not sure what wording to use in a letter or what legal options there are to prevent the children or their balls coming onto our garden, so any advice would be much appreciated. I'd also like to include a complaint against their dogs barking in the letter. My mother has also historically had issues with our neighbours regarding noise from loud music and they were issued with some sort of noise order, though this was several years ago now.

I can post a bit more detail either here or in a new post on the correct forum.

Ta very much!

[atticus]

Welome to the LB forum.

You can post here.

[Phinno23]

Thank you, Atticus.

If I can provide a bit more detail then: our neighbours erected a metre-high fence around their front garden to give their children a play area, but our gardens are only small and are around 5 metres square. Not really ideal for their ball games, whch is usually a ball being kicked against the fence. As I said previously, the ball often gets kicked over the fence and into my mum's rose bushes and other plants and I've seen smash several flowers off over this summer. If the ball is kicked with force into either the fence between our gardens or the one against their house then there is also the issue of sound transmission through the wall and into our kitchen, which gets annoying. Kids are kids and we can accept that there is a degree of noise expected from their playing, but the thudding from the ball gets too much.

I've installed a webcam to record our garden to capture any intrusion or damage to our garden and this seemed to stop the ball games when the neighbours discovered this, but they've begun again and I've seen an instance of a ball being kicked into my mother's rose bush this week, which I've got recorded. I've got a couple of recordings of this happening now, maybe more if trawl through some of the footage that I haven't reviewed yet. There has been damage done to my mum's plants from being trampled on previously, but there's no evidence other than my brother seing this.

We have complained to the parents many tmes now, and it's not a new problem, but they're not respectful people generally and haven't taken steps to prevent the behaviour of their children.

In the letter I intend to send I will ask them to prevent their children from kicking the ball iinto the garden and not to enter onto our property, but I don't know whether to say anything about having verbally asked them previously. I will also inform them that we are recording video footage of our garden, but not sure if to state that it will be used to take legal action against them, as I'm not sure what can be done (though I'd imagine that we can get an injuction of some sort?). Another issue is that we don't know their identities, but I think addressing 'to the occupiers' is acceptable at this point? If someone could give me some tips here or give me sources for my own research then that would be great.

For extra context: I've moved back in with my mother to provide care for her because she became disabled a while ago (mobility) and is also due to undergo tests for Parkinson's disease and dementia. She does get depressed at times due to her health issues and the neighbours' actions do cause her distress. They also have two small dogs that bark when they are left in the garden and this can be early in the morning and also late at night, which also gets her down. I don't know if to factor this into the contents of the letter also or if it could affect legal action that we could take.

[atticus]

I can see no reason not to mention previous communications, whether verbal or non verbal.

As to legal action, yes, you would be seeking an injunction, and possibly damages for nuisance (a term with a specific legal meaning). But think (a) long, (b) hard and (c) several times before deciding to sue a neighbour. Neighbour disputes end up being like trench warfare, and make a property unsellable.

And yes, you will need the names. There are ways of finding out, such as asking them or other neighbours.

[Phinno23]

Thanks for the information, Atticus.

I think I know how I will word the letter I send to our neighbours now.

I'll also find out who owns the property through the land registry - my brother has said that they used to rent around the time that we made noise complaints against them, but it's possible that they've bought the property since then, as they've lived there a while now. If not, then a complaint to their landlord/agent could be another option.

Would you mind expanding more on the comment you made about neighbour disputes and how it can make a property unsellable? Are you implying that there is a certain degree or specific type of evidence that we would need to collect to definitively prove they are a nuisance?

Do you have any sources where I could research this sort of thing?