(July 2011) Assaulted by my teenage neighbors and their friends, What can I do?

[EG]

I love living in east dulwich and I have every intention of sticking around for quite a while. Saying that, My neighbors who's garden backs on to mine, have a couple of kids in their late teens who frequently tend to have friends over in their back garden and will make lots of noise until the wee hours of the morning and occasionally into the next day non stop. We have had words with them on several occasions (sometimes politely, sometimes not)and their response is always with complete distain and belligerence. My other neighbors have caught them in my yard late at night sitting on top of my garden shed. I'm not the only one having trouble with them either I have spoken to other neighbors who are sick of them. On friday night, they were all gathered in their garden at about 2am and my wife went out back and lead over the fence to ask them (very politely) If they wouldn't mind taking it all inside because it was late and we were trying to sleep, she was greeted with lots of F-off's etc etc. So I went out and said hey she asked you guys nicely now I'm asking you to do the same, I was then bombarded with a shower of lit cigarettes followed by ten teenage guys throwing punches at my from their side of the fence two of which gave me a fat lip and a gash in my face and a black eye. I just want to say I never laid one hand on any of them! I was on my side of the fence standing on a chair! So...I'm not traumatized or anything, Just really frustrated at the fact that there apparently is very very little that can be done to reign these kids in. We called the police that night and one of the kids that hit me spent the night in jail, but after speaking to the police they said there is almost nothing that they can do about noise complaints or arguments with your neighbors unless it turns violent as it did. Noise complaints are supposed to be dealt with by the council, but council wont deal with anything after 11pm or something and even then they do something ridiculous like send a letter to them or something? What is the point? These kids, from what I can tell live with their mother, I see her reading in the back garden frequently. I have no idea if she knows what is going on or not. I'm not really thrilled with the idea of going around and knocking in their door, I cant guarantee she will be the one answering the door and I'm not too thrilled with the little turd that punched me, so I would like to avoid any contact with him. So I thought I would put this out here to see if any of you have had similar experiences or if you might have some suggestions about what we should do about this situation especially now that it's gone beyond just them being loud. Anyway, thanks for listening.

A.

[Polly D]

God, awful! I expect the mother will know about it now her son has spent the night in prison.

We had a bad experience a couple of years ago with 2 teenage boys living in flats which overlook our garden: they pelted eggs, oranges, apples etc into our garden from their balcony when we were out there, on a daily basis for about 2 weeks, narrowly missing our newborn son's head one day by about 50cm with an orange which then exploded on the decking. I still shudder to think what might have happened if it had hit his head.

We contacted the police and nothing happened. We worked out which flat they were in, went round when we could tell the mother was in and spoke to her via the intercom. Like you, we weren't sure what kind of response we would get but she was horrified by what had been going on, assured us it wouldn't happen again, and it hasn't. Worth talking to her, I would say.

[James Barber]

You should have dialled 999 to report the assualt.

You should still report it even now. The behaviour as you've report it is criminal.

Sadly Southwar;'s noise team no longer operate after 2.30am which means realistically no more calls after 1.30/2am.

If you find you don't get sufficient Police follow up please email so I can escalate it.

[EG]

James Barber Wrote:

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> You should have dialled 999 to report the

> assualt.

> You should still report it even now. The behaviour

> as you've report it is criminal.

> Sadly Southwar;'s noise team no longer operate

> after 2.30am which means realistically no more

> calls after 1.30/2am.

>

> If you find you don't get sufficient Police follow

> up please email so I can escalate it.

I called 999 and one of the guys that hit me spent the night in jail. I did a full report with the police they took pics of my face etc. I just now gave the councils anti-social behavior dept a ring and gave a the report to them. Said they will definitley follow it up. I'll keep you updated.

[EG]

Polly D Wrote:

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> God, awful! I expect the mother will know about it

> now her son has spent the night in prison.

> We had a bad experience a couple of years ago with

> 2 teenage boys living in flats which overlook our

> garden: they pelted eggs, oranges, apples etc into

> our garden from their balcony when we were out

> there, on a daily basis for about 2 weeks,

> narrowly missing our newborn son's head one day by

> about 50cm with an orange which then exploded on

> the decking. I still shudder to think what might

> have happened if it had hit his head.

> We contacted the police and nothing happened. We

> worked out which flat they were in, went round

> when we could tell the mother was in and spoke to

> her via the intercom. Like you, we weren't sure

> what kind of response we would get but she was

> horrified by what had been going on, assured us it

> wouldn't happen again, and it hasn't. Worth

> talking to her, I would say.

I could only positively identify one of the guys who hit me and he's the one who went to jail. I got hit 4 times from several directions, it's was a bit hard to tell who was who?

[kford]

Does your house back onto a house in Fellbrigg Road?

[EG]

kford Wrote:

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> Does your house back onto a house in Fellbrigg

> Road?

Nope, we are on Solway road.

[bonaome]

If it continues you might benefit from getting a solicitor involved. There was an article from the Evening Standard's Homes & Property resident solicitor just last week which covered a lot of what you can do regarding noise and nuisance. You can see it here (p38), it's free but you have to register with an email address. Hope it gets better.

[Jeremy]

You really need to go and speak with the mother.

Surely this kid isn't just going to get a single night in custody and a warning. I would have thought it's a serious offence worthy of a full trial/sentence.

[EG]

Jeremy Wrote:

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> You really need to go and speak with the mother.

>

> Surely this kid isn't just going to get a single

> night in custody and a warning. I would have

> thought it's a serious offence worthy of a full

> trial/sentence.

It is, The police are fairly certain he'll be charged with ABH and it will go to trial. Fine and good, but he's a friend of the kid that lives behind us, so there is no guarantee that it will change anything.

[EG]

I've been keeping an eye out (not the black one) for his Mum hanging out in the back garden so I can maybe have a word, but it's been dead there since friday.

[trizza]

This is awful - very sorry to hear you are having these problems.

I would be carefully looking at getting an injunction against the owner and the other residents of the house preventing them from causing harrassment / a nuisance. It may be worth spending some money on obtaining legal advice to assist you. I would also be pressing Environmental Health to act.

The key to all this is evidence. So you need to: a) keep a diary of exactly what is going on; and b) video / pictures (if possible).

I would also be writing to the owner of the property where the problems are emanating from putting them on notice. You can get the details of who owns the property from the Land Registry. You may find it is owned by the Council or a Housing Association, in which case you can progress your issues with them direct.

If it was me then I would also be painting the roof of my shed with anti climb paint (with the appropriate warning sign ;) ) so, if anything else, the kids' clothes would be ruined if they climbed up there again.

Presumably the noise is also impacting on other houses? You could always write or contact them to see if they have any issues. This may bolster your position with environmental health or the Court (should the matter get that far). Good luck.

[diana stevenson]

Hello,

I think you can contact Southwark noise nuisance department at the council. They do come out and listen to the noise and issue a warning, take away equipment and issue heavy fines.

On one occasion when our daughter and her friends were having a rock concert in the garden ( yes ) on a Saturday afternoon and the chap turned up with the clip board - I hid and thought well if he does call the police it will be hours and the concert will be over. Within about 5 minutes we had about 7 police in stab jackets in the front garden and I had to take responsibility for it. I now have a notice saying if I do it again it will cost me ?1000. This was a fairly calm respectable party so you could get a really good response.

Might do the trick.

Otherwise get or borrow a large dog.

[jane1]

i would go and speak to the mother while u still have all the cuts and bruises from what her son and sons friends have done to you, also make sure you take photos yourself, so if it does go any further like to court you can show people what these kids have done, me and my family went through the same sort of thing like this a couple of years ago, it was very stressful and a living night mare, i hope you get it sorted out very soon,take care

[PeckhamRose]

Call the police Safer Neighbourhood Team (and it's this reason I hoped my earlier post would be stickied) but if you look in the LOCAL INFO tab above right, you will find the number for your area.

[legalbeagle]

If you're worried about direct contact again (and I don't blame you!) I would definitely suggest writing a letter to the mother. I had some issues with neighbours a while ago (noise, but not assault) and they refused to speak to me or to answer the door to the council. I wrote them a really balanced, civil letter, not threatening them, but just asking for a solution that they go inside and be quieter after 11pm. I didn't get a peep out of them after that. Obviously here you are dealing with much more unpleasant behaviour, and I'm not sure you'll get the same miraculous response, but you at least have a good chance of putting your case to the adult in question without being threatened.

Also follow up with the police and enlist James Barber's kind offer of help. You were assaulted, it's a criminal offence, and the person in question should be prosecuted. That in itself may deter at least some of the behaviour.

[muffins78]

That is absolutely dreadful what happened to you and I hope that whatever routes you take will be successful.

If you are concerned about approaching the mother, could you ask either the DC or PC involved in your case, to accompany you to their house? It maybe something they can do to help you?

[TillieTrotter]

As a mother of teenage sons I urge you to talk to the mum. I would be devastated if my sons got away with the behaviour you've described, in fact half of what you've described. Good luck.

[Otta]

Problem with that, is that you're nice and sane. These lads may be acting this way due to having arsehole olds.

[Damian H]

Any chance of applying for an ASBO? Or sending a solicitors letter to the mum telling her to ensure her children cease and desist or what-not?

[Polly D]

Otta Wrote:

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> Problem with that, is that you're nice and sane.

> These lads may be acting this way due to having

> arsehole olds.

This is what I meant in my post: we thought the parent/guardian of the two boys who were harassing us could well be "so what?" in attitude but not at all. If you can go and talk to the parent who you see reading in the garden, it could be a good place to start.

[jam_log]

This is terrible for you and I feel your pain.

I recently had issues with my neighbours upstairs with their toddler jumping on the floor day and night, i had a polite word and that made it worse and he then started hurling abuse at me verbally and threatening physical abuse.

I contacted my housing association, who quite frankly were useless but they gave me a diary to fill in.

Things got better for me when i called the peckham rye neighbour hood team from the police, who i got to go round and read them the law, since then fingers crossed things have improved.

Hope this maybe of some help?

[JDR]

I've no experience of this sort of thing thankfully but as a cost saving advice - do you have fully comp house insurance? If you do there shoudl be a free legal advice line 24 hours and they will be able to give you advice on this. (On advice of a work colleague who used hers very sucessfully againnst the nhs, which led my husband to get legal advice regarding grievance stuff for work) - hope you get in sorted and get to live a more relaxed life....

[Pugwash]

Years ago a single woman with 2 young girls moved into the council property next to my house.The girls were around 3/4 and 5/6 years of age. They started throwing food, bricks, shoes,wood etc over the fence and also almost hit an elderly blind relative who was in the garden at the time. After explaining to the girls about not only nearly hitting my aunt that she could not see items on the floor and could easily fall. Things carried on and we spoke to the mother who apologised and did nothing. Follwing an incident when my aunt was hit on the head ( it was something soft like food) we contacted the housing office and read them from their own conditions of tenancy rule book - the section on harressment and unsocial behaviour towards neighbours. We and other neighbours kept ringing the housing officer to report incidences until such time, the housing officer visited the mother and advised that any more complaints about the children's behaviour could end up with her losing her tenancy. Things were a little better after that.

[Cam123]

A friend of mine who lives in the large period building at the end of Solway road which has been converted to flats has had a bit of trouble with a group of lads. Nothing as bad as your horrendous incident, but pretty antisocial - they sit on the private stairway leading up to the flats, blocking the way and often smoking weed. It's all a bit intimidating for her (or guests for that matter) when coming and going, they don't have the most delightful of demeanours when you ask to go by...

Who's to say if they are the same kids though?