Thanks for the support @jaketheone46 and @wc14
Have you contacted the building management regarding the communal area poop, smoke, door slamming, parking, etc?
• - for 2 years the landlord housing association has had ongoing evidence, last few months have been daily. The first time I went and looked at the property, my neighbour let his dog alone fouling in garden and I pointed it out to the housing association area manager who is meant to deal with it (everything goes to him) who was with me at the time and witnesses it, and he brushed it off as not an issue. I later found out that another neighbour here had been complaining many times of dog fouling by him before I even moved in. He since has stopped reporting it and won’t anymore because it’s time consuming and the housing association don’t reply or act.
- contacted citizens advice who freely advice the public who need help with anything
- contacted my council (environmental health about ASB and smoke) who were also useless despite daily evidence for months, and saying they need to prove their is smoke by smelling it. They are not able to because it happens late in the evening when they are shut, at weekends, and throughout the night
- I contacted my MP out of desperation, he advised to contact my local councillors
- contacted councillors in my area most recently last 2 weeks, only one person replied but his reply was ‘its being looked at and updated monthly’ (note taking that has gone on 2 years with updates being done monthly does not help and is not reassuring. I replied and he said he knows it is frustrating but it is being looked at. Rubbish.)
- contacted my local fire brigade recently asking if they can do a report with my evidence (as I have had to go down the route of his door being open could cause a death/deaths). Waiting to hear if they reply
- police can’t help with civil matters
Does the building have cameras that have coverage for the garden, parking, hallways, etc. If not, can you request the building to install them?
• No the housing association will not install CCTV. In fact they don’t reply to anything including my request for CCTV (or the fire, assult from months back despite several emails, or emails about other incidents or important questions). Yet coincidentally they sent me a letter yesterday, wanting me to point my camera down within 7 days as it’s a privacy issue. They need me to act within 7 days but never responded to messages over past 2 years which really has made my mental health worse by then repeatedly ignoring me and the behaviours continuing and escalating. This letter makes me angry because they are NOW saying this week, they need more specific evidence (yet they have daily evidence with time stamp on it, what more can they need!), and at the same time I can’t have a camera to get said specific evidence, in order for them to take action. They care more about his privacy than the affect of ASB for 2 years causing daily distress. I sent an email reply yesterday saying there wouldn’t even be a camera if they dealt with his behaviour in a reasonable time and if his behaviour was not still persistent and ongoing.
Is there a local ordinance for loud noise after a certain hour? If so, you can call on the police each time that happens.
• No the police in the UK do not deal with most of these situations which are civil matters. The housing association should be dealing with it. So I am on the phone to the police saying that I am not getting help and they say there is nothing they can do but keep a report. Until the other week where something else happened - camera caught evidence and is vital I point out - and they said they can look at give him a criminal harassment charge (but it probably happen because the police don’t seem to like charging people unless something really bad happens).
@xtremehumvee84 's peep hole camera suggestion is a good one that allows you to get video of what’s going on outside your door with little interference from your neighbour. This is of course unless your neighbor spray paints the lens. Hopefully he/she is stupid enough to do it after showing his/her face on the video.
• Yea but unfortunately as I said previously I don’t know how to set up a peephole camera
You didn’t mention where you’re located but in the US, cameras are generally illegal only in places where there’s a reasonable expectation of privacy such as bathrooms. Public areas are free game. That includes your public hallway. Just make sure it’s not against the building policy.
• I’m in the UK. I checked and I can put a camera up if I feel unsafe but the housing association says it is not prohibited because of privacy, and the police also pointed this out. I mentioned to the police he keeps moving my camera and they said we shouldn’t do anything about this because he would just argue it’s a privacy thing, that is fair enough. They also pointed out because it is such a small space the camera sees a tiny bit of his hallway because when he comes out of his door, he opens it allowing the camera to glimpse his hallway. This can’t be avoided unless I point the camera down which would make it pointless. And the police say this is an argument for privacy. The policeman said it’s a stupid law conflicting my needs as the victim because it doesn’t help. Nothing is proven without a camera.
So again he gets away with his behaviour, as he has done from the start, by me recieving this letter to ask me to move my camera down or it being in breach of my tenancy, and I’m the person made out to be the issue. Yet he has breached his tenancy several times a day for 2 years and they have done nought. So they are helping him carry on his abuse by not enabling me the right to continue to prove it is happening, though I have done that daily anyway. Sums up my opinion of the housing associations willingness to take action against the perpetrator.
@WildBill If the neighbor’s door happens to be open (or he/she leaves it open) and the camera can see inside, as long as it viewable from the public area, then that’s fair game too.
• Unfortunately not here in the UK. As I said above it’s a privacy issue. The government law says I can have a camera but the housing association can say I can’t, and I’m in their property with the communal area being their property. The government says if the housing association says I can’t then my tenancy is affected.
So I now have anxiety because because of this letter (and probably future letters) about my tenancy renewal being affected at some point because I refuse to stop my only way to get evidence of his behaviour. It is also vital for my wellbeing, knowing that at least some of his behaviour can be caught on camera.
When he assulted me on two occasions in the garden I had no CCTV. When he left poo outside my door or smashed up my car etc, I had no CCTV. At the time he shouted through my door to kill myself (knowing I just tried to, a day or so before because he must of heard I went to hospital), I had no CCTV evidence.