Neighbour standing at fence all the time

LegacyUser

We recently moved to the south and decided to rent a house in the country with plenty of land so we could have space for a few chickens, etc. We got a great house close to a town but not too far off. The auctioneer told us that an old woman 'who kept to herself' lived in the cottage behind us.

Its been 6 months since we've moved in. Since then, we've found out that she's mad and been told all sorts of stories, mainly that she cons people out of money. She already asked if I could pay her car tax online for her and I denied saying that 'we hadn't a penny between us'.

The problem is, she waits for us to come out into our back garden where we keep the chickens and ducks whether to look after them or have a cup of tea or glass of wine in private and stands at our fence, talking absolute crazy ****e. We have no privacy whatsoever with her. Patricularly, if we have family or friends down from Dublin, she will make sure that when we show them the garden or we have a drink outside, she interrupts us. She looks wild as well and stinks of piss.

This all may sound petty, but I'm sick of her banging on the back door during the week. I'm sick of the intrusiveness of her, we're a young professional couple living in the back arse of no-where because we like privacy, if we wanted neighbours that we see all the time, we would have taken a house in the town.

This may sound bad and people may say that she's just lonely, but even still, thats not our problem and we just want to be able to have some privacy in our back garden without her being intrusive.

The fact that she's eccentric and has gone crazy means handling this situation will be harder.

Just before I typed this, I went out the back, stood at the fence looking at the chickens and glanced towards the fence that separates our properties and she was standing at the fence, I ignored her and turned back to the chickens but she came right up to the fence and started asking how I was. I lost my cool and said 'fine' and walked off. I've had enough, please someone give me advice on this, shes making me feel trapped in my home.

cats.life

im so sorry to read this, i no whats it like to look for an ideal house to rent in the country, we are in the process of the same,,where we are the kids next door kept coming over to our kids even though i told them to go home cos my lads were doing home work , plus they broke a few things belonging to them like the gocart, rough little ****ts, they were not from ireland, we saved up for that gocart from santy for months for them , then it took only half a day to get broken , well op i lost the head and told them to never come over again, the mother and father never came to say hello or anything, they were renting like us, we used to tell the guy who owns the house what was going on but he could do nothing, they were ok tenents. older kid kept coming over even though i told him to go home , after a while he got the idea that he wasnt wanted, op tell your nemises to stop chat,n to you and to go away, stand up to her , what does your other half say to her, well its widely known that she is cukkkkkkooooo so just keep up go away mode, it should work.last november our nemises moved out cos it was very far away from the city school the kids went to. it was the best xmas he had in two long years, freedome .stand up to that twat of a neighbour of yours.

trebor28

could you not put up a six foot high fence??
so she cant see when ye are out and cant really talk to ye through it.

crotalus667

trebor28 wrote: »

could you not put up a six foot high fence??
so she cant see when ye are out and cant really talk to ye through it.

not on the boundry line with out her permision

D rog

Put up the max planning height fence allowed just inside the boundary so the issue is no more. Or plant some fast growing trees.
If she's a little mad you may not want to go all guns blazing as she could maybe turn a wee bit nasty.

iguana

crotalus667 wrote: »

not on the boundry line with out her permision

Stick it 1 inch inside the boundary and make sure it's no more than 2m high (and go for the full 2m allowed) and she would have to right to stop them. No need to get anything too expensive, a roll of bamboo slats would do the trick.

Something like this would do the trick reasonably inexpensively. http://www.homebase.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=20001&partNumber=888312&c_3=3|cat_14287870|Fencing|14287873&c_2=2|cat_16849255|Garden+gates+and+fencing|14287870&c_1=1|category_root|Gardening|16849255

up for anything

cats.life wrote: »

they were not from ireland

Why did you feel the need to put that in?

OP, it sounds to me that the quickest way to get shut of her is to move yourselves. As you are only renting, you don't want to put up even an unexpensive fence, that is supposing the landlord would allow you. You mention an auctioneer which means you probably went through a letting agency. The auctioneer was obviously lying through his teeth about her keeping herself to herself if you have heard lots of stories about her since moving in. This would be a valid enough reason to break your tenancy agreement or at least force the landlord to bear the expensive of putting up a fence.

Good luck with it. I know from experience what a nightmare it is to live with in your face neighbours with whom there is no reasoning.

R.D. aka MR.D

Ignore her the best you can.

If she's at the door don't open it or if she wants to talk give one word answers.

I'm from the country originally and we have a local crazy man. He nearly killed me once as a baby. But the country being the country my parents entertain him because it would be 'rude' not to.

My brothers girlfriend moved into the area and she took the strategy of completly ignoring him or telling him where to go if he hassled her. she also wouldn't open the door to him. For this last year he hasn't darkened her driveway.

Still always about our house though...:rolleyes:

Ghost Train

Had slightly similar problem just regarding fence, higher fence was put up and it been years without issues

kjl

I would plant a bit of bamboo, in this weather it will shoot up and she wont bother you anymore.

mikemac

unhappyneighbour wrote: »

She looks wild as well and stinks of piss.

Has she any family that visit her?
Is she capable of managing on her own, maybe she needs a carer? Maybe she is but it doesn't sound like it from your post

Now I'm not saying contact social services to see if they'll take her away, in fact they won't do this.
But maybe she needs a carer for a few hours a day.

Her family should be doing this though, not you.

Cheap Thrills!

feelingstressed wrote: »

Has she any family that visit her?
Is she capable of managing on her own, maybe she needs a carer? Maybe she is but it doesn't sound like it from your post

Now I'm not saying contact social services to see if they'll take her away, in fact they won't do this.
But maybe she needs a carer for a few hours a day.

Her family should be doing this though, not you.

+1

It sounds like she might be suffering from some sort of dementia. She should not be left to manage on her own.

You should try to bring it to the attention of her family or social services. Many old people are totally socially isolated and no-one may be aware she is unable to function properly.

Building 6 foot fences is the wrong way to go about it, first see if there is any family that can be contacted and explain she is wandering around pestering you. Thats probably only the tip of the iceberg of her problems.

LegacyUser

Hi folks, its the OP here.

Many thanks for your replies, I read them silently, gathering advice.

The landlady was actually down this morning to paint the outside of our house so I had a quiet word with her. I asked here if there was any reason for there to be a gate adjoining the two properties and explained that she was using it all the time. She said initially it was for the oil tank but that its not needed anymore and so I explained the hassle we were getting.

She was fantastic, told me her own troubles with her over the years, how to manage her and that they would erect a higher fence or buy a tree or get some hedging over the next 2 weeks.

She went off for lunch and when she came back she knocked in and told me she had spoken with her husband. She said they were sorry if she had been a burden, but I let her know that I recognised she wasn't the full shilling and I didn't want to hurt her feelings.

So, if she asks why the gate is being blocked up they are going to tell her that I am afraid of my life of burglars using it as a point of access to the back door and they want to conceal it. I asked them not to say anything to her that may hurt / isolate her even more.

It was fantastic talking to the landlady about the problem. She has had her own experiences with the neighbour over the years and was more than accommodating so that we can have some privacy out the back.

Also folks, she is renting from the landlord, not owner occupier. She told them she was loaded a few years ago, but the money ran out and they dont want to get rid of her because shes late 50's and lost her marbles. Not quite all of them though, shes still got some and knows how to use them to get what she wants for nothing.

So thank you for your replies, I am delighted I spoke to the landlady this morning. Thanks so much folks.