Suggestions please sicko nasty neighbour

[Hilary]

Your suggestions/ideas please for a (legal) “dish best well served cold”

Recently the house next door has been rented out to a young man on a temporary basis until the owner can sell it. The young man appears to now be renovating furniture using the house as a workshop. On Wednesday afternoon he started using an industrial compressor to spray paint furniture by the back kitchen windows & on the patio, filling the house with paint fumes (and also the house adjoining ours where there is a small child) & making us all very ill. It is also right next to our aviaries full of little birds. We asked him to stop but he got very aggressive & carried on, calling abuse & making gestures. He was spraying all night right up until it went dark (deliberately on the aviaries). Thursday morning many of the little birds were dead & the others lying on the floor dying (I have them inside trying to save a few). Some have lost a lot of feathers & others just lying on the floor of their cages.

He was by then getting ready to spray again, which will probably finish off the survivors & also possibly us as well (as both of us have severe breathing problems). We have tried Environmental Protection (but he refused to answer his door to them), the Police (who initially did not want to come out as they were too busy & don’t deal with animals) and the RSPCA (who said they would come out, but weren’t in too much of a hurry). Later on Thursday afternoon, the RSPCA showed up, but didn’t come here, just called at next door (who’d gone out for more paint so they spoke to his latest girlfriend). When he came home he came around to the house & tried to attack me. I shut the door on him & we called the Police, & this time they came out on an emergency, & called an ambulance ‘cos they didn’t like the sound of Rob’s asthma (really embarassing). At least the idiot was on CCTV so they gave him a Section 5 disorder & a fixed penalty £80 to start with & offered to work with the RSPCA to get him on the animal cruelty.

So at the moment the house has turned into a bird hospital, with the few survivors in cages in the bedrooms, the one surviving chick in a heated cage (mum died along with the rest of the clutch) and we’re trying to incubate some eggs (their mums also didn’t make it). Also all of the fumes have made us both quite yuk (Rob had to go to the Doc’s & was put on heavy dose steroids).

We finally had a visit from the RSPCA but by the time they came out he had got rid of the evidence, bought some pots of house emulsion & flannelled them into thinking that was what he had used (like you use a compressor for emulsion! – it certainly doesn’t give off fumes like the ones we have been gassed with). They wouldn’t do anything – kept wimpering about the cost of prosecution, how poor they are & that they can’t afford the autopsies to prove cause. Complete oxygen thieves both of them. They certainly won’t get a penny more out of us again.

The birds have all made it through the night, so hopefully will recover, just looking bedraggled with lots of feathers missing. The quail cock, “Marquis of Bath” is coming around & has been chatting to the surviving wifelets, so that’s cheering him up a bit. We can’t put them back outside yet though because the creature next door is still hanging about like a bad smell, threatening us every time we go into the kitchen & I don’t trust what he would do next to them. It’s not even safe for the dogs to go into the garden alone. He keeps standing in his doorway, all puffed up, turning on the compressor (in his kitchen!!) spraying the paint gun at us, like it is some sort of weapon. Hopefully he will lose the plot completely & I can use a bit of “reasonable force” (as an old lady on a short shelf-life, it would probably finish me off too, but it’d be worth it & very enjoyable – and be a favour to the gene pool) or get the Police to lock him up properly this time. Meanwhile trying to think of other (legal) ways to sort him out (can think of lots of not legal ones, particularly with a house full of sharp pointy things – gladius & falcatta swords, longbows, etc).

[RacingSnake]

Originally Posted by Hilary

The young man appears to now be renovating furniture using the house as a workshop.

do you know the owner?
Id so let them know.
By the occupier using the premesis as a place of business it opens up the owners liabilities. It will mean the owner will need to pay business rates, a business mortgage, higher degree of insurance including liability insurance.
It will also potentially expose the owner to the irs for the aforementioned business rates due.
This will all be hassle the owner does not need at the moment, so should be fairly quick to evict this tennant based on breach of contract (i would assume there is no agreement in place allowing this work to take place).

My first port of call would be the owner.... Or a solicitor!

[ClareandCo]

Is the let arranged through an estate agent/letting agent - if so, I would get on to them and tell them what has happened and that he is running a business from the house.

What an awful situation for you at the moment - I was very sorry to read your post.

[jonesy]

Ditto what the others have said. You need to speak to someone that is renting the business out. Can you do this?

[pixie-egg]

If he's still points the spray gun at you i'd take pictures too. Every bit of evidence about his threatening behaviour will stack against him. Totally agree with contacting the owner/agency. I rent and if I set up any form of business i'd be out on my ear.
I'm so sorry your birds and family have suffered. I really hope the survivors pull through and you get this sorted x

[suttysue]

My heart goes out to you & I would certainly let the owner of the property know if you can locate him/her.
sue

[judith ann]

My husband and myself were reading this in total dismay .So sorry for you but we immediately thought the same as above ... Get recordings of what is happening and get in touch with the owner via the Estate agents Hope you can resolve this without using your "Weapons " Judy

[TortBabe]

What an awful experience for you to go through Agree with all said above, contact the owner of the house, and get any pics you can. What a toe-rag, I am so thankful for my very lovely neighbours

[vikiilou89]

This is terrible . . Im sorry for your loss of birds. id do the same as suggested above and contact the owner of the property. this man oviously has some serious issues. how are the reSt of your birds doing?x

[gregnobes]

i feel really bad for u aswell i dont know what i would do if this happend to some of my birds