Harassment by council tenant

[PennyP123]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm asking this on behalf of my sister - she can't get onto the CAG website at work. She is frantic - any advice would be very greatly appreciated.

 

This is a long story but I'll try and summarise:

 

• My sister and her other half bought a house from OH's parents 18 months ago, and her OH's parents moved out. My sis and BIL live there with their daughter, who is almost 2 years old.
  
• Her OH grew up in the house - his parents lived there for over 20 years.
  
• The next door neighbours have a long history of harassing her OH's family.
  
• The neighbours are council tenants.
  
• Past harassment includes verbal abuse (with lots of swearing, including against her OH's parents, and her OH and his siblings when they were growing up), playing very loud music at ridiculous hours of the night, and one incident where the neighbours were very drunk and tried to kick the door in. The police were called - the neighbours had gone home by this time. They denied everything. Nothing more was done.
  
• The harassment caused distress to my BIL's family, but the council said it wasn't serious enough for them to step in.
  
• The harassment did die down at once stage, and everyone hoped this was the end of it. This is the only reason my sis and BIL bought the house.
  
• My sis and BIL try to ignore it and be polite when they see the neighbours. If someone knocks on the door with a delivery for next door, my sis will accept it and one of them will politely drop it off when the neighbours are home. They have never retaliated.
  
• Last weekend the neighbours were playing very loud music, with lots of drunken shouting and screaming. At 3am this woke my niece. Considering the neighbours' behaviour when drunk, my sis and BIL were afraid to tap on the door and ask them to quieten down, so they asked the police to tap on the door. They emphasised they were not making a formal complaint, they just wanted a bit of peace and quiet.
  
• The neighbours have now retaliated - they've called the dog warden claiming the dogs are left alone constantly and bark all day (not true), the garden is like a rubbish tip (not true) and they also called child protection and said my sis and BIL neglect and abuse my niece (obviously NOT TRUE).
  
• The dog warden came round - when my BIL explained that he works nights and my sis works days, so there is always someone with the dogs (unless they pop out shopping for a couple of hours), he seemed satisfied and left.
  
• Child protection visited to inspect the house - they left after saying there are no problems, my niece is well cared for. They are satisfied the allegations are false and were made maliciously.
  

 

My sis and BIL are extremely upset - as are all of our families. If these people will do something as serious as make formal accusations of child neglect and abuse, what else might they do? They obviously don't like the dogs - would they throw some poisoned meat over the fence? Will they start screaming abuse at my little niece, like they used to do to BIL and his sisters when they were little? They can't relax in their own home and are terrified for the future. I don't like to imagine how low the neighbours might go, when they see nothing wrong with attempting to get their child taken away by social services.

 

My sis and BIL want to write a formal letter of complaint to the council but have no idea of the procedure, or how it should be worded. Do local authorities evict tenants who are harassing their neighbours? Is there a formal investigation procedure they have to adhere to?

 

Is there anyone here who may be able to help with this?

 

Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

EDITED TO ADD: And they've just had a 3rd official visit - BIL rang my sis to say someone from Environmental Health turned up to inspect the garden an hour ago. The Environmental Health inspector said there is no problem with the front or back garden, he cannot see how anyone could think there was a problem and said he's baffled as to why he was sent out. The gardens are fine.

Edited June 14, 2013 by PennyP123
To add up-to-date information.

[BazzaS]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm asking this on behalf of my sister - she can't get onto the CAG website at work. She is frantic - any advice would be very greatly appreciated.

 

This is a long story but I'll try and summarise:

 

• My sister and her other half bought a house from OH's parents 18 months ago, and her OH's parents moved out. My sis and BIL live there with their daughter, who is almost 2 years old.
  
• Her OH grew up in the house - his parents lived there for over 20 years.
  
• The next door neighbours have a long history of harassing her OH's family.
  
• The neighbours are council tenants.
  
• Past harassment includes verbal abuse (with lots of swearing, including against her OH's parents, and her OH and his siblings when they were growing up), playing very loud music at ridiculous hours of the night, and one incident where the neighbours were very drunk and tried to kick the door in. The police were called - the neighbours had gone home by this time. They denied everything. Nothing more was done.
  
• The harassment caused distress to my BIL's family, but the council said it wasn't serious enough for them to step in.
  
• The harassment did die down at once stage, and everyone hoped this was the end of it. This is the only reason my sis and BIL bought the house.
  
• My sis and BIL try to ignore it and be polite when they see the neighbours. If someone knocks on the door with a delivery for next door, my sis will accept it and one of them will politely drop it off when the neighbours are home. They have never retaliated.
  
• Last weekend the neighbours were playing very loud music, with lots of drunken shouting and screaming. At 3am this woke my niece. Considering the neighbours' behaviour when drunk, my sis and BIL were afraid to tap on the door and ask them to quieten down, so they asked the police to tap on the door. They emphasised they were not making a formal complaint, they just wanted a bit of peace and quiet.
  
• The neighbours have now retaliated - they've called the dog warden claiming the dogs are left alone constantly and bark all day (not true), the garden is like a rubbish tip (not true) and they also called child protection and said my sis and BIL neglect and abuse my niece (obviously NOT TRUE).
  
• The dog warden came round - when my BIL explained that he works nights and my sis works days, so there is always someone with the dogs (unless they pop out shopping for a couple of hours), he seemed satisfied and left.
  
• Child protection visited to inspect the house - they left after saying there are no problems, my niece is well cared for. They are satisfied the allegations are false and were made maliciously.
  

 

My sis and BIL are extremely upset - as are all of our families. If these people will do something as serious as make formal accusations of child neglect and abuse, what else might they do? They obviously don't like the dogs - would they throw some poisoned meat over the fence? Will they start screaming abuse at my little niece, like they used to do to BIL and his sisters when they were little? They can't relax in their own home and are terrified for the future. I don't like to imagine how low the neighbours might go, when they see nothing wrong with attempting to get their child taken away by social services.

 

My sis and BIL want to write a formal letter of complaint to the council but have no idea of the procedure, or how it should be worded. Do local authorities evict tenants who are harassing their neighbours? Is there a formal investigation procedure they have to adhere to?

 

Is there anyone here who may be able to help with this?

 

Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

EDITED TO ADD: And they've just had a 3rd official visit - BIL rang my sis to say someone from Environmental Health turned up to inspect the garden an hour ago. The Environmental Health inspector said there is no problem with the front or back garden, he cannot see how anyone could think there was a problem and said he's baffled as to why he was sent out. The gardens are fine.

 

The agencies visiting won't reveal who complained.

 

They will, however:

a) supply you, on request, with notes regarding the visit, and their assessment,

b) have their internal notes regarding the 'case' which will list the circumstances of how the complaint was raised.

 

I'd write to each agency, asking for a letter documenting their findings and the fact they found no case to answer.

Ask them to keep their notes regarding the complaints as you feel this us part of an orchestrated campaign of harassment.

 

If things "blow over", fine.

If they escalate to the point you need to go to the police or take out an injunction : they'll have the notes which may show a pattern of behaviour likely to cause alarm, or distress : the definition of harassment from:

 

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1997/40/section/7

 

(2)References to harassing a person include alarming the person or causing the person distress.

(3)A “course of conduct” must involve conduct on at least two occasions.

 

At least all three agencies were "from the council", so the notes of the complainant (if not anonymous) should be available within the council!

[hessey50]

Most councils have some form of commumity officer who with the police /community wardens etc will deal with anti social behaviour which cause alarm harrassment or distress. The council is responsible for the behaviour of its tennants and while none of these agencies want to get into a tit for tat issue they will act they often can provide you with a diary which you keep details of the incidents in and community wardens etc can act as witnesses on you behalf in certain circumstances. Have a look on thier web site try community safety and also under housing. In my authority we had a dedicated department working with Enforcement officers ( I was One) community wardens housing and police to deal with this the atmosphere has changed and most authorities are very proactive.