Potentially violent neighbour and I am too frightened to go back

Dear Mart,

I am very sorry to hear of your situation and I totally understand your reluctance to go back.

If this was a Private Landlord you would normally report this to the Council so I would do this asap regardless of it being a Housing Association that is the Landlord.

Also as you genuinely fear for your physical safety I would call the police again and be more insistent to see if you can get better advice or action.

Hi Mart. Whilst this situation isn't great, you are effectively being bullied by your neighbour. Most bullies bark ALOT and are experts in threatening behaviour normally based on their own unhappiness. The problem here is that you're the one who has left. My suggestion would be to find the confidence to return to the property, preferably with a friend or two who can act as witnesses and record any anti-social behaviour. Bullies are not particularly clever, and usually rely on the loudness of their bark to intimidate their victim and gain pleasure when they can see it working. The more you show you're frightened the more this will fuel his attack. I've dealt with many threats but none of them have ever become a physical assault - I stood my ground and let the other person shout it all out until they ran out of energy. Your Housing Association or the Police should recommend mediation and at least this allows you to remain in the property. If the neighbour breaches his tenancy agreement or the peace via anti-social behaviour for which you have evidence, then the HA and Police will be able to act. Alternatively, you could look for other accommodation but please don't stay frightened hiding out on a friend's sofa.

Do you have a friend who could accompany you home, and possibly stay for a few days?

Also, a personal video camera (one you wear) might help gather evidence?

Mart,
Are you reporting the instances as L.A's have a CAT ( not the fluffy kind that meows, )
I am of course referring to a Community Action Trigger CAT, if there are 3 instances / reports of Anti-Social Behaviour, this invokes a CAT which is basically a multi-agency meeting to look at what measures each of the public services can take to address it and halt it.
Look up your Local Authorities cat 😉
Hope this is of help.

Hi Mart

What do YOU want to happen? e.g. Do you wish to return to the flat? Do you wish to get rehoused somewhere else? Do you want to get the neighbour arrested? Do you want mediation so that you can settle your differences and live in peace? - The point is that what action you need to take will depend on what outcome you want, so you need to be clear about what it is that you want to happen. Once you decide what outcome you want, then we may be able to advise on how to achieve this.

Hi all and thanks for your replies. Since making my post and submitting it here, I went back to my flat this past weekend. Just two days after having my front door kicked in. Unfortunately my friend and I were about to enter via the communal door when my neighbour came out of nowhere and assaulted me. I hit my head and he was arrested. The police questioned him about the assault and criminal damage, and then released him under investigation. They told me they didn't do bail these days and therefore couldn't put conditions in place to stop my neighbour coming near me. However they did say they would arrest him again if he tries anything similar again. I've been sofa surfing and staying in a tent for the past week. The housing assocition told me I was doing the right thing by staying away. To me that is no different to saying going homeless is for the best. My GP wrote a letter to the housing association asking them to move me somewhere else because I didn't feel safe and because my health was being negatively affected. Of course this didn't do much good. On Monday I put in a formal complaint due to them not taking their duty of care seriously.

I am now considering my next move. After two incidents I doubt I'll be going back to that flat. I think officially registering has homeless may be my only option ???

I assume the council will have to help find me temp accomodation ? I mean in the space of 3 days there have been 2 episodes of violence/aggression, and more violence in the future is a real possibility. People generally aren't happy when they are arrested. I guess its more than likely made my neighbour is more pee'd off than he was before he ended up in a cell.

Knowing where to go from here is difficult. sofa surfing and sleeping in a tent isn't doing me much good. suggestions on how to proceed would be appreciated

That is terrible sorry Mart.
I have no experience in this area so hope someone has some advice.

This is shocking behaviour and totally irresponsible of your HA. I suggest you begin with your MP then follow up the complaint and hopefully you've given the HA a copy of the police report of the incident as well as your own record. By the way, which area of the country are you based in? Do you have a Housing Trust nearby?

Thanks for your input HMOLandlady. I've given the HA police crime reference numbers and they say they are waiting for the police to provide them with further information about these incidents. I'm in Oxfordshire and can't find any housing trusts in the area. I've found the local MP and will contact him asap though. Other than that there doesn't seem much I can do today/tonight, so its back to the tent for a lay down. Before I head out to the fields, I've been trying to find out if its possible to prove my mail is being tampered with. There was a bunch of post in my front door last week and some of the dates were from weeks ago. Postie cannot get past the communal door unless me or my neighbour let them in. And of course I didn't let them in...and although I can't say one way or the other if my neighbour let them in or not. I think its unlikely. Its unlikely because my neighbour doesn't even have a doorbell on the communal door and since day one he has been happy to ignore most people when they bang on the door. he basically lets me play bellboy. Anyways I went onto the british gas website to find out when my next bill was due, and its due in 3 days time. Apparently they posted the bill weeks ago. I'm now wondering what is going on, and after these issues with neighbour, I wonder if they have been hiding my post.

Hi Mart
I realise this is an old article, almost two years to the day
I was wondering how this was resolved?

Reason I ask, is my son is in a very similar situation.

Son is a vulnerable adult and moved in to a housing association flat five months ago

Bloke upstairs is a paranoid schizophrenic who has been causing mayhem and last week assaulted my son - the assailant has been sectioned under the mental health act for a short term, but he will be back and the clock is ticking

Sons housing association are being about as useless as yours were, despite four meetings with them, so far

We have the local MP, housing association, social services, council all involved, and everyone is saying DO NOT give up the flat, as you will be intentionally homeless, so you will not be re housed.

Was wondering how things went with you, as I stumbled across this thread and your story sounded pretty similar