How to Deal with Worst Neighbours Ever

Lstriker5950 on 17/01/2015 - 17:42
Last edited 21/01/2015 - 17:11

Hi
I live in the western suburbs of sydney, I have moved to my new home 7 years ago, in the past 2 years I have been having constant problems with the neighbour behind us, (we share a fence from the backyard). there houses to the south of us are all "housing homes".

first it was just rocks been thrown, than eggs, this happened during different days, this has happened to my left side neighbour as well and she is a very nice old lady who lives alone. they did other annoying stuff such as riding their loud noisy dirtbike/quadbike in the backyard with loud noises and exhaust backfire.

some times in the middle of the night we hear loud screaming noises and swearing and fights between them and whoever else lives there, its really annoying and frustrating.

last year one of the occupants of the (bad neighbours) started trespassing onto our backyard, he was hiding from the cops who visited his house to arrest him for auto theft, apparently they were running a chop-shop in the backyard. so there was a serious confrontation, long story short the police came and caught him, we went to court, got an AVO against him and one of his friends.

now last week he started riding his dirt bike in the backyard again, it is so annoying and noisy, me and my family cannot have any piece and quite when we come home from a hard day at work/uni. sometimes he rides it for 2 hours straight.

so I did what any reasonable person would do and went to the police station today to report them, only to see the police officer tell me they cannot do anything about it, I quote:(we have had numerous complaints from neighbours about "them" and we have told them to stop but they don't listen to us, the police knows them and have dealt with them before). :/

so then she goes on to tell me that the best option for us would be to report them to the housing commission in the from of a letter, and also get a petition to be signed by the surrounding neighbours and send that in as well to have them evicted. she gave an example of another family who was in the housing commission in another suburb and their were causing trouble in the neighbourhood and that they were evicted once everyone complained to the housing commission.

so if anyone could help me by linking me to the right page/email/contact number where I could make a complaint to the housing commission of NSW I would be really grateful. how would I go about writing a professional letter? and making a petition to be signed by all surrounding neighbours, i've never done this before and any help would be greatly appreciated.

if anyone has been in a similar situation, id love to hear about how it was dealt with.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

UPDATE:
I just spoke to some of the neighbours from their side of the street when I went to get the petition signed, and boy did they have stories to tell, they live even closer to them than I do so they definitely are suffering more from the nuisance and constant fights and problems, one of the neighbours told me that he sees them sell drugs on front of their house, he sees them bring new cars to the backyard every few days to part, once they even threatened to stab the person I spoke to, they have young children playing around and I really felt sorry for them, they have called the police too but nothing has been done..

I even spoke to some neighbours from a few houses further away and even they can hear the bike and had nothing but bad things to say about them.

Home & Garden

Comments

    • Charity on 21/01/2015 - 14:09
      +2

      I live in the western suburbs of sydney

      There's your problem.

  • striker5950 on 17/01/2015 - 18:47
    +13

    I am the private owner of my own house, my neighbours are also private owners. that means selling my house and moving somewhere else which really is not an option atm. I really like my neighbours to the right and left of my house. they are really nice and never had any issues with them.
    only the lowlifes from the back are causing trouble.

    • scrimshaw on 17/01/2015 - 19:27
      +11

      CJC
      http://www.cjc.nsw.gov.au/cjc/com_justice_index.html

      Subcategory - neighbours
      http://www.cjc.nsw.gov.au/cjc/com_justice_cjchelp/com_justic…

      Also see NSW EPA for more information
      http://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/noise/neighbourhoodnoise.htm

      If your neighbour is continually being noisy, has a noisy animal or is using noisy appliances, and you decide to take action independently of the local council or other regulator, you can seek a noise abatement order under section 268 of the POEO Act. To apply for an order, contact your local court (listed under 'Local Courts' in the White Pages). You may also consider asking your legal adviser for help. You can contact the registry staff at your local court who will explain the process to you. There are fees for applying for a noise abatement order.

      If the court is satisfied that the neighbour is causing an offensive noise or that the noise is likely to recur, it may order them to stop the noise or prevent a recurrence. If the person fails to comply with the order, they could be prosecuted.

      • striker5950 on 18/01/2015 - 00:35
        +2

        hi scrimshaw, thank you for the links ill have a read through them, wouldn't you think it would be better to report them to the housing commission?

        • scrimshaw on 18/01/2015 - 00:38
          +5

          I googled housing commission, I don't have a clue of who they actually are or what their website is called. This is the first result that came up. You can try contacting them and see if they deal with cases like yours.

          http://www.housing.nsw.gov.au/

          You should also call your local council for advice on matters pertaining to neighbourhood noise, for e.g if you are in Sydney CBD try this website or calling them on 02 9265 9333

        • striker5950 on 18/01/2015 - 00:54

          @scrimshaw: housing commission basically provides cheap rent for tenants who cannot afford to pay normal price rent, mostly those in need and poor people, most people take advantage of the house they have been given, these lowlifes run a chop shop in the backyard, steal cars/bikes, use drugs, trespassing, assault and what ever else you can think of, the police was the one who told me about the chop shop and them stealing cars.

          basically I would have to contact housing commission in the form of a letter, but it has to be professional enough to be taken seriously, so I would be grateful if anyone can point me in the right direction and help and me out with writing a complaint letter to the public housing commission of NSW to have the current distributive tenants evicted.

        • scrimshaw on 18/01/2015 - 01:09
          +11

          @striker5950:

          If you are going to write a letter, I'd recommend that you start by gathering evidence so that you have a strong point… note down the types of noisy activities the neighbours seem to be engaged in, what times they occur and the duration, and possibly even include the names and contact details of some of your neighbours who are affected by the nuisance.

          I did some more digging on the Housing.gov.au website.

          http://www.housing.nsw.gov.au/Living+in+Public+Housing/Right…

          QUOTE

          Tenants are responsible for meeting the terms of their Residential Tenancy Agreement including:

          Paying rent on time
Looking after their property
Not being disruptive to neighbours 
Not using their property for an illegal purpose

          Housing NSW will take steps to evict tenants who repeatedly do not meet their responsibilities as tenants.

          So there you have it — if you state that these tenants are breaching their agreements and have neglected their responsibilities (keeping the noise down, throwing rocks and eggs, and using their housing for criminal activities) then you have a very strong case to support your claim.

          You can also contact them via phone — 1300 HOUSING (1300 468 746)

        • striker5950 on 18/01/2015 - 10:05
          +1

          @scrimshaw: thanks man those are good points, ill definitely list them down in the letter.

        • swiggity swag on 19/01/2015 - 15:20

          @striker5950: I'd start with using correct grammer and punctuation if you want your letter to be taken seriously.

        • scrimshaw on 19/01/2015 - 15:35
          +13

          @Kados:

          I'd start with using correct grammer and punctuation

          And spelling!

          I don't expect the people working at a government branch office or housing comission to be all that hung up on grammatical and spelling errors in a complaint letter. Make enough noise and they will care. The important bit is to keep it clear and concise so that even a 12 year old schoolkid will understand it. You're not writing a thesis, you are writing a complaint.

        • swiggity swag on 19/01/2015 - 16:58
          -2

          @scrimshaw: I'm impressed.

    • nikey2k27 on 19/01/2015 - 19:56
      +1

      No report them be nice clean and talk to your neighbours best bet i had many people kick out before if you do not get much of local office go to state one.

  • snappy1234 on 17/01/2015 - 20:16
    -8

    I hesitate to say this but i would mention to the Police that the media is going to be involved if they don't act.

    • GnarlyKnuckles on 18/01/2015 - 00:27
      +13

      I would hesitate to DO this; I doubt very much that the cops would take kindly to being 'idly threatened' with trial/exposure-by-media… it is naive to think that such a threat would 'galvanise them into action'.

    • striker5950 on 18/01/2015 - 00:44
      +1

      Im afraid that would only make me look bad, here is the thing, the police are expecting me to call them and by the time they respond and actually show up which could be a couple of hours (since its not a life threatening situation) the lowlife neighbour has already finished his session for the day. so than i would have no proof, unless i take a video (which again i think is illegal, correct me if i'm wrong),
      so the last option is to tell the police to ask the neighbours, because than I have witnesses to prove me right.

      • GnarlyKnuckles on 18/01/2015 - 01:32
        +4

        I really feel for you, and I realise that I'm probably not providing very satisfying responses in a sense, because I'm only suggesting what NOT to do, but I'd strongly advise against overtly videoing their anti-social behaviour; because it is highly likely to provoke an immediate confrontation, and/or other retaliation after the fact (which you may not actually be able to "pin" on them). I'm not suggesting for a minute that you just put up with what they're doing, but I am suggesting that it would be unwise to let them see you taping them; because they will know instantly why you are doing it, and they have a lot less than you do to lose "in life", by subsequently breaking the law, to get back at you.

        Is there any way you could set up a "security camera" mounted on the back of your house, monitoring your front door/yard, WITH SOUND, which is always on? They needn't even know it was there. These are cheap these days, they can "record to a cloud in real-time" (negating any arguments about actual times shown on the video image), or they can record to a hard-drive with a date-stamp, etc… That would be a much better option in my humble opinion, because it would not be at all obvious that the aim of the cam was to document your back-neighbour's intolerably loud/relentless noise violations. If the main aim is to capture/document the noise they are making, presumably you could actually position the camera's such that they are completely unaware of them.

        • scrimshaw on 18/01/2015 - 01:38

          edit: smartphone could easily do that (there are baby monitor apps out there they'd do the job), but you'd have to consider smartphones don't have optical zoom so you can't really get a video of the action if you're far away. A sound recording by itself should suffice as evidence.

        • GnarlyKnuckles on 18/01/2015 - 01:44

          EDIT: in my lengthy post above, I meant "your back door", not "your front door" (it's late, soz!)

        • srhardy on 18/01/2015 - 16:02
          +2

          Life's a crap shoot but i would put in PERMANENT SECURITY CAMERS on the back and front of the house and record everything, with audio if possible!

          It might on its own help. Record everything, if you want to take any action you will need proof!

          The housing commission will move them on if you complain with proof, sad thing is they will then often become some else's problem!

          I would put up a better fence, secure access front and rear, the cost is less than a funeral will cost your widow! Oh buy ear plugs and sleep well, they will always screw themselves in the end, just either be patient or sell and move to QLD…

      • jaybmate on 20/01/2015 - 20:56

        As no one seems to have corrected you yet, it isn't illegal to film them unless you tresspass onto their property. Basically you can film over the fence if you are on your property / on the street / on someone elses property that you have permission to be on.

        However I would also take GnarlyKnuckles advice about letting them see you due to provoking them.

    • Geewhizz on 18/01/2015 - 08:18

      I hesitate to say this but i would mention to the Police that the media is going to be involved if they don't act.

      Sorry, but that just seems pointless.

      The police don't have the power to physically MAKE them shut up. All they can do is tell them, which they've already done on previous occasions. At some point in time, in matters like this, they have to come to the conclusion that their time is better spent dealing with crime etc. Threatening to go to the media would be seen as juvenile and would only get their backs up.

    • Islund on 19/01/2015 - 09:13

      NSW Police are useless on matters such as this.

  • ilsan0 on 17/01/2015 - 20:20
    +1

    This is Current Affair Prime time!

    Sell this, get them evicted! Make Profit!

    • striker5950 on 18/01/2015 - 00:46
      +1

      lol mate i wish they get evicted so me and my family can have some peace.

    • Axelstrife on 18/01/2015 - 02:31

      wow people can't even take a joke anymore.

      stop being grumpy old men you guys lol

  • Unorthodox on 18/01/2015 - 00:51
    +13

    Report them to ASIO on grounds of suspicious activities

    Throwing eggs to symbolize grenades exploding etc

    • [Deactivated] on 18/01/2015 - 03:29
      +6

      Throwing eggs to symbolize grenades exploding etc

      lol!

      and the quad bikes and loud noise and exhaust backfire representing armored combat vehicles and gunfire?

      • backpaqer on 18/01/2015 - 12:24
        +1

        You could claim you heard gun shots… Who is to say you can tell the difference between a backfire and a gun discharging. Cops would be around pronto… And if they get upset about no guns being present… you explain you can't tell the difference. You just hear "bang" and something hitting your roof…

        • montoya on 18/01/2015 - 22:22
          +1

          I think it's quite irresponsible to advise making a false report.
          At the same time you might be doing this, there might be someone else in genuine need of help from police and you contemplate making a mountain out of a molehill over noise?

          Bad advice.

        • striker5950 on 18/01/2015 - 23:18
          +2

          I should add that the throwing has stoped ages ago, its only the dirt bikes noise that is the issue, and their midnight shouting/fights

        • backpaqer on 19/01/2015 - 10:50
          +1

          @striker5950:
          We have housos next to us also. The woman would get absolutely tanked every night and the guy would probably drink also though was a quiet drunk and would lock himself into the rear bungalow and the woman would start screaming at him and try to break the door down, eventually give up and fall asleep somewhere. One day I came home to find an ambulance parked at an odd angle across the road and a paramedic standing in the driveway not doing anything and as I rode up to the back of my house I could see another paramedic just standing in the backyard not doing anything. The police came over later to let us know that the woman had hung herself from a tree in the backyard while the bloke had gone to school to pick up their 5yo daughter.

        • syousef on 19/01/2015 - 13:49
          +1

          @backpaqer:

          Poor 5yo daughter. What chance does she have in life? :(

        • striker5950 on 19/01/2015 - 15:20

          @backpaqer: wow thats quite a story, the parents are to blame here, the child is gonna grow up in the same environment probably get raised by her drunk dad.
          And to everyone who suggested i should add a security camera, i already have that, installed it right after the police cought the guy transpassing, it has no audio recording though.

        • rawm on 21/01/2015 - 15:57

          @backpaqer: And here I am complaining that my backyard neighbour has decided to grow a fig tree near the fence. This thread and this comment have provided us all with a lot of perspective.

        • [Deactivated] on 21/01/2015 - 21:46
          +1

          @rawm: Hey! Free figs!

        • Wallyt99 on 30/01/2015 - 11:37

          @rawm:

          You should write a letter to them now clearly alerting them to the risk to your property and that they will be financially responsible. It will make future legal action easier when the Fig invades your pipes. And it will. $$$$$$. To really scare them - Tell them you will be billing them annually for excavation of roots from your property and subsequentcmake good.

        • backpaqer on 04/02/2015 - 09:25

          @striker5950:
          Yep…very sad. That family moved out and a new family with another young daughter moved in (1 year older than my daughter). They got along famously as youngsters but as the "housing commission" girl grew older…she developed into the stereotypical houso type; started smoking, drinking (age 14), was pregnant at 16, dropped out of school, moved in with her ex-boyfriend (???)…

          …I was pleased at the amount of disdain my daughter had for her behaviour and that she didn't feel the need to go along with any of the peer pressure the other girl was exerting and in the end resorted to hiding from her.

    • xuqi on 20/01/2015 - 23:42
      +3

      Well, yes…. In this day/age this may work.

      Do they have beards? (Olive to darker complexions are best)
      Has anyone remotely resembling a middle easterner, or African (to you) ever set foot on the property.
      Have you ever heard them speak Arabic? (or anything that remotely sounds like it to you)
      Have you heard them Praising God excessively?

      If so, then your troubles are over my friend. :)

    • altomic on 22/01/2015 - 16:45
      +1

      Throwing eggs to symbolize grenades exploding etc

      during the recent Brisbane G20 carrying eggs in the CBD was an offence.

  • NancyCat on 18/01/2015 - 00:53
    +3

    I have no solution to your problem, feel sorry for you and your family…good luck.

  • Davo1111 on 18/01/2015 - 04:48

    The housing commission might be a good start. Might want to contact them yourself, get a proper contact, then give all your neighbours the details.

  • jagboy on 18/01/2015 - 07:31
    +12

    I live in a Housing Commission unit in Brisbane. Several years ago I had new tenants move in beside me. They were the neighbours from Hell. They partied all night and slept all day which was inconsistent with most of their neighbours who worked all day and vainly tried to sleep at night. I approached these people on several occasions and was berated and abused for my efforts. My advice to you striker5950 is to contact the local office of the NSW Housing Commission and submit a written complaint. Get your other neighbours who are also affected to do the same. Keep doing it on a weekly / fortnightly basis. Housing do not work quickly unless pressured. Keep a diary of your / your neighbours visits to NSW Housing. Continue to make noise complaints to the Police. Police will interact with Housing and vice versa which is what happened in my case. They were eventually arrested and charged with 'public nuisance' - gone within 3 days and not allowed to return to the property. Be persistent! I wish you all the very best of luck.

    • striker5950 on 18/01/2015 - 10:09

      Hey jag boy, so how long did it take for the whole process to be over and them being evicted?

      • jagboy on 19/01/2015 - 07:41
        +3

        Hi striker5950. Took about 3 months but was well worth it. Good luck!

      • onlyletters on 19/01/2015 - 22:52

        Just set their house on fire when they're not home, problem solved, nah jokes lol

  • gar519 on 18/01/2015 - 11:54
    +10

    I too was having problems with a "state housing" neighbour. I lodged complaint forms through the local the Housing NSW office and as Jayboy stated in the above response, keep on lodging forms with Housing…that applies to the neighbours. They react to lots of forms.

    I did approach the police to be told not much could be done.
    On my next visit to "Housing", they suggested I contact the local Police Community Relations Officer. I did and she was brilliant. She said the police can do more and they did. They took out a police sponsored PVO covering myself and two of the neighbours… which included noise.

    The neighbour breached the PVO and he was charged, that gave Housing the necessary clout to have the family evicted. It is a slow process as the tenants did appeal to NCAT (the tribunal) however the breach of the PVO and the written complaints from other neighbours tendered to Housing clinched it.

    Also contact your local Councillor if you have one and/or the local state member..good time with the state election in March.

    P.S They wrecked the house in the 14 days they had to move and have been excluded from State Housing for 24 months.

  • Speckled Jim on 18/01/2015 - 12:06
    +6

    Bikies.
    Real ones.

    • [Deactivated] on 21/01/2015 - 00:10
      +3

      OzB solution to any community dispute

    • cmdwedge on 21/01/2015 - 19:29
      +1

      Can't believe it took so long to suggest the OzBikies.

    • altomic on 23/01/2015 - 12:31

      some bad ass bikies

  • backpaqer on 18/01/2015 - 12:27
    +2

    Mate has housos living next door to him and has had death threats from them. He contacted police and complained and they said they couldn't do anything… But his wife also dropped in to the police and complained and they took her story seriously and lodged and avo and also reported it to dhs as well. Houso has cooled down a lot…

    • scrimshaw on 18/01/2015 - 17:44
      +12

      Moral of the story is, women are better and more skilled when it comes to making complaints…

      • subywagon on 18/01/2015 - 21:02
        +1

        lol

      • syousef on 19/01/2015 - 13:51
        +9

        Actually the moral of the story might be that despite all the claims of equality these days a woman in distress is more likely to get help from the police than a bloke who is expected to take care of himself.

        • scrimshaw on 19/01/2015 - 13:59
          +2

          The good ol' Damsel in distress and the heroic policeman stereotype. Yes, that too.

  • Pumpkin_rrr on 18/01/2015 - 14:39
    +1

    Hi really feel for you. If you have kids you need to be double careful.
    In addition to the above, perhaps you can contact your local Neighbourhood Wstch and councillor. IMHO, it'd be good to have as many support as possible. Might not work immediately but good in the long run. Afterall, you are the majority.
    Good luck.

  • IvankaRohann on 18/01/2015 - 15:44
    +9

    Keep a diary, a diary is a legal document in the eyes of the courts and the tribunal.

    I used to work in real estate and whenever a tenant or landlord had a problem the first advice was to keep a diary. Paper ones you write in (not digital) are better since any edits made are obvious.

    Also back it up with audio - video is great but it's more obvious that is what you are doing, which can lead to confrontations - sound recording with your smartphone should be sufficient when combined with the diary entries for that date and time.

    Or record a video from inside your house, not too close to the window, to show just how noisy it is when you are inside with the doors and windows closed.

    With the letter of complaint, write clearly and don't repeat yourself too much. Include a ledger of all the incidents since they moved in (noise, trespassing, police calls, arrests) that you can remember with dates and times.

    After Googling "how to write a complaint letter" I found these;

    http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0002121.html

    http://www.writeexpress.com/complaint.htm
    http://www.writeexpress.com/compla09.html

    http://www.scribendi.com/advice/example_complaint_letter.en.…

    http://www.elmbridge.gov.uk/envhealth/noise/noisetemplate.ht…
    http://www.niceletter.com/free-sample-letters/complaint-loud…

    http://www2.elc.polyu.edu.hk/cill/eiw/complaint_letter_const… - I'd leave out the Warning until about the 20th letter you send to Housing. If the respond quickly great, but don't expect it.

    With a petition you can simply write up a Complaint Letter but use language such as "we have" instead of "I have" and get everyone to sign it. And make sure everyone who signs it gets a copy. With anything you send in make sure you have photocopies.

    Good Luck.

    • striker5950 on 18/01/2015 - 23:23

      Thanks ivankarohan, ill have to sit down and have a good read through all those links, write a letter and signed petition.

  • centrelink on 18/01/2015 - 20:16
    -1

    You got to stop attempting to do a slap in the hand approaches. Gather your neighborhood together and pool up a sum of money so you can pay for a hitman to cut off one of their fingers and each time they cause a nuisance just get the next finger and so on.

    They should give you peace and quiet after the first time around.

    But of course if they found out who you are then you are all screwed,.

  • Wallyt99 on 18/01/2015 - 23:47

    Bikies

  • johndowy on 19/01/2015 - 01:14

    Get video evidence, signed petitions, written complaints, police reports, complain to council. Send it all to the housing commission and keep at it.

    Good luck. Feel for you.

  • mousie on 19/01/2015 - 10:17
    -5

    This comes with the territory of being an owner occupier in a housing commission area. There is a reason why your place would have been cheaper than a comparable property in the same area.
    Scrimshaw indicated a link to the CJC. Note that these mitigation procedings are completely voluntary on both sides.
    Believe me when I say that your neighbours have got bigger problems than to just be 'neighbourly'

    • striker5950 on 19/01/2015 - 14:15

      Our street does not have any housing homes, its the street behind us that has housing homes, so I and my left and right side neighbours share backyard fence with the housing homes behind us.

      • mousie on 22/01/2015 - 00:10
        -3

        Your thread is called… How to Deal with Worst Neighbours Ever
        Not problems one street away.

    • BexForHeadache on 21/01/2015 - 19:07

      You clearly have no idea how the system works nowadays. They dropped the idea of large Housing Commission areas a long while ago, they realised that putting them all in the one area was not a good idea. Housing NSW now buy properties in all suburbs to "rent" to their "tenants". You could buy a lovely house in a nice affluent suburb and there is no stopping Housing NSW from buying the property next door for the purpose of subsidised housing.

      There's also the SEPP (Affordable Rental Housing) that NSW introduced in 2009 to allow property developers to bypass local Council polices and build cheap housing to be used as Subsidised housing. Nobody is safe anymore. I live in an upper class suburb and there is one two doors up from me. Brand new 4 bedroom house and is used for subsidized housing.

      • mousie on 21/01/2015 - 23:59

        There is more housing commission in Shalvey or Fairfield than Avalon. Housing nsw will try to get high yield off their investment. Yes they are appearing to make communities more diverse. If you're a new applicant the waiting periods for inner city housing are 5+ years for a studio instead of 6+ months for Minto. They also want more people to get rental bonds and rent privately. What diverse area do you live in champ?

  • c0balt on 19/01/2015 - 12:47

    'Deal' with him and make it look like an accident.

    "Well senior sergeant, it appears the deceased has succumbed to his self inflicted wounds from doing a burnout on his own face".

  • geebee on 19/01/2015 - 12:49
    +1

    I would be inclined to fit security cameras and make sure a couple "accidently" catch a bit of next doors backyard.
    That way you have hard evidence of the riding and any other tresspassing, egging etc.
    There are some very reasonably priced DIY ones out these days.

    • Davo1111 on 19/01/2015 - 16:03

      imo doesnt even need to be a security camera. The HD mobus camera can do loop recording in 5 (or so) minute intervals. Keep it plugged in permanently and it will just record over itself. If you see something occuring, take the sd card out and save the video to the computer. This would be mounted inside though

      Sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0HuxUPJzac

  • spiff on 19/01/2015 - 14:12

    Today Tonight

  • QuickToThePointless on 19/01/2015 - 18:17

    Hey buddy, i think we have got off on the wrong foot - I promose to stop riding my bike after dark and ill tell all my defacto kids to stop egging you if you remove the AVO and let me hide in your back yard every once in a while when i get raided? Deal?

  • lousy on 19/01/2015 - 19:31
    +1

    wow i feel for you, sounds like my neighbours. trash littered all over the yard. numerous people living and visiting the home. constant daily dirt bike riding, rubbish regularly thrown over the fence… honestly didn't think there was anything that could be done and didn't want to further antagonize the neighbours in case they came by and smashed/trashed the house when no one is home. best of luck to you and let us know how it turns out!

    • striker5950 on 20/01/2015 - 00:12

      so did you do anything about your neighbours? are they still there?

  • goingDHfast on 19/01/2015 - 21:02
    +1

    All good neighbors help each other out when they need a cup full of sugar, right? This time you just slipped and it ended up in his fuel tank…

  • deepdag on 19/01/2015 - 22:56

    I think Dept of Family & community services is these days incharge of helping people in need with housing. Please contact them.

    http://www.facs.nsw.gov.au

    I recently came across some documents also that government is going to toughen up on people abusing housing commission complexes & services. This is certainly the first place to start.

  • sleepyowl on 20/01/2015 - 00:55

    And I thought my neighbours annoying everyday "4am barking" dog was annoying, I feel for you dude!

  • adpaholic on 20/01/2015 - 11:22
    -5

    neighbour issue wont be able to solve, the only way is to move away.

    I am the owner of my driveway which is around 200m2 and my neighbour they need to use it to enter their house and they told me as they lived there for more than 30 years, whatever happen there, i need to ask for their permission, and they dont need to let me know(e.g. plant anything there) as they r the one to make it looks nice(they said everytime when i do the gardening there, it looks shit).

    another neighbour who live next to it, one day around 9pm i chat on my phone(normal voice) there and the neighbour keep shout at me and said i made noise which affect her son sleep(…..their dog actually barking every hours even night time), next day when i try to exit my home thru my driveway, her grandfather(i guess) ask if i am the one talk phone yesterday, i said yes then he jump pass my driveway fence and hit me and i have use my phone to record it since he jump off from the fence. then i call police, i show it to the police(2 woman), they said i shouldn't video it, and they said if u scare, stay in your home, then they leave, after few seconds, me and my friend exit my home(suppose to go to supermarket), the police said go back to your home, dont come out…..

    sigh…

    • Speckled Jim on 20/01/2015 - 18:25
      +1

      Yeah not believing this.

      You should upload the video.

      • jaybmate on 20/01/2015 - 21:02

        Dont believe this either. I'm sure the video got 'deleted', conveniently.

        • adpaholic on 21/01/2015 - 09:42

          i still have the video, but it will show his face, so i wont upload.

          that day is 31 dec 2013(1 year ago) around 4pm, one of my friend's friend who is a policeman he said that day police dont have time to manage a small case like this…

        • Speckled Jim on 21/01/2015 - 13:05

          @adpaholic:

          So put a blur over it. There's dozens of apps (many free) that can do it.

          You neighbour BS'ed you and you accepted it.

          Their residency claim of "30 years" is meaningless. That's like claiming squatters rights. What matters in this case is the property boundary as defined by your local Council.

          If you were assaulted, it's because they thought you were meek or simple-minded. Despite what the Police allegedly advised you, you can certainly press for an assault charge. Speak to a solicitor. They can take an affidavit from you and pursue it.

          As for advising you to stay in your home, this sounds like BS. Unless they meant to stay away until they spoke to the other party?

          And you certainly CAN record video in any public place or your own private property. If you were standing on common property (the driveway adjacent to their house) to film someone threatening or assaulting you, that's also fine.

          If you were standing on their property filming, not so fine. But given the circumstances, any court in the land will let it pass.

        • jaybmate on 21/01/2015 - 16:16
          +1

          @adpaholic: Why dont you want to upload a video with his face anyway? Its not illegal.

  • dlakers3peat on 20/01/2015 - 20:22
    +1

    My wife works for housing NSW. You are screwed.

    • striker5950 on 20/01/2015 - 21:32
      +1

      what do you mean?

      • xuqi on 20/01/2015 - 23:47
        +4

        It means they're a bunch of useless, lazy public servants.

        • striker5950 on 21/01/2015 - 00:22

          hmm well it looks like people have seen results and have had bad neighbours evicted going by the previous comments^.

      • dlakers3peat on 21/01/2015 - 00:26
        +2

        it means unless they commit some sort of serious crime they can or won't do anything about your neighbours. working for housing is very difficult as they have to deal with some of the worst people in our society. they have to deal with junkies, sex offenders, rapists, drug dealers etc. so the problems you are facing are pale in comparison to what they have to deal with. i would suggest if you can get a large number of people to complain about the same problem that might help. good luck but don't hold your breath.

        • striker5950 on 21/01/2015 - 17:16

          would you say that selling drugs, grand theft auto, parting stolen vehicles, threatening neighbours with deadly weapons a serious crime?
          i just spoke to their next door neighbour.
          they have threatened their next door neighbour with a knife. their neighbour gets a good view of the activities that happen there and he told me about how he sees them dealing drugs, the stolen cars they bring to their property, and the fights they have with him, and they have reported them to the police but nothing has been done.

        • dlakers3peat on 22/01/2015 - 18:56

          I spoke to my wife about this and she said the best thing to do is file a report with crime stoppers. Once you have done that police will have to investigate. Then make a formal complaint with housing. They will need to follow a process which can take some time to evict them. Like i said before your problem pales in comparison to the other cases they face but if you follow all the right processes they will eventually evict them. If housing finds they are in breach of their tenancy agreement they will be gone.

  • [Deactivated] on 21/01/2015 - 00:11

    The council might also have noise restrictions/laws/ordinances.

    • supaderp on 21/01/2015 - 12:46

      EPA has noise regulation guideline on their website.

    • OzzyOzbourne on 21/01/2015 - 19:36

      They do of course, but when we had a noise problem the council assessor came round and said he couldn't hear anything. He was wearing a hearing aid! He also said if we complained then we would make an enemy of the Council and life could become difficult. So good luck.

      • [Deactivated] on 21/01/2015 - 23:03

        Holy hell I can't believe that he would actually say that (even if it is true), makes you wish you had voice recorded that chat!

  • glennh70 on 21/01/2015 - 06:58

    If you can, try and get the neighbours involved, if you can get two or more different family to ring up the police at the same time you may find they do something quicker, one person complaining often means nothing to the police/council.
    I have a deal with my neighbours that when I am having noise trouble, they will also ring the police and I do the same for them when they are having problem. All the good neighbours working together is your best bet

    "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
    Edmund Burke

  • cureforanitch on 21/01/2015 - 07:49

    I've had a similar issue, although in this case they partying students with a private landlord. The key to our success was a lengthy petition from as many local residents as possible, and a diary noting times, dates and types of disturbances. We also made a point of reporting particular bad/on going noise complaints to the police while it was occurring which also went in the diary. Bottom line, keep a nice lengthy, detailed diary, get as many names very signing/confirming these events and then bombard every agency, police station etc that could help.

    Good luck

    • QuickToThePointless on 21/01/2015 - 19:13
      +1

      Students eventually become responsible adults, mostly.

      Scumbags mostly dont.

  • Speckled Jim on 21/01/2015 - 11:15
    +1

    Okay serious suggestions now. These are intended to annoy, but are completely legal!

    About one metre in from the back fence, plant a row of Borage. The flowers will attract bees…

    Also, start composting. Keep it near the back fence too.

    • [Deactivated] on 21/01/2015 - 14:40

      Play classical music at 3am

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