Heās elderly (84 or 85). My house is joined with his. Thereās a third house that is partially joined to his and they recently had a new kitchen fitted, so there was a lot of drilling in the morning. Since then, heās been blasting the radio on what sounds like a subwoofer aimed against the wall every morning at 7 AM. I live with my brother and my mum, and it wakes us all up. Itās a very deep bassy noise so itās hard to block out or drown out. It goes on until 1 PM.
He is doing this on purpose. He did the same thing in 2023 and I went over to his house assuming he didnāt know he was being loud and politely told him to turn his TV down in the morning because itās waking us up. Then he told me heās doing it to wake my brother up because āevery night at 1:30 AM he wakes me up making wolf noises in the garden so Iāll wake him up too since heās obviously not sleeping during the night since heās making noises all nightā (foxes frequently visit our garden at night). Heās also accused my brother of ācloning my phoneā, āstealing my waterā, āstealing my food deliveriesā, and other crackpot things.
All Summer this year he was blasting one of those 120 dB sirens at 1:30, 2:30, and 3:30 AM each night. Heād then scream at the wall for a minute or two after sounding the siren, seemingly to do with my brother. Sometimes heād then wake up at 7 AM and immediately go and blast the radio all day. He would also come outside into his garden with a frying pan calling my brotherās name. The sirens stopped in July.
The kitchen work on the third house is done and was completed on the 24th of November, but theyāve left a fridge next to my neighbourās drive. A few days ago he came outside and my mum heard him yell āmove your fridge, [brotherās name]!ā.
In August and September and much of October he was quiet but now heās blasting the radio multiple days in a row for weeks on end. I have health problems and donāt need this. I have other things going on in my life and recently this was the straw that broke the camelās back and I had a mental breakdown on the 1st of December which caused me to knock stuff off a shelf which caused a very old and very sentimental item of mine to break (I did not mean to break it, just to knock stuff off the shelf). I feel on edge because I canāt really sleep early because he also blasts his TV until 12 PM. Itās not just the loud noise, itās also the reason heās doing it.
We have complained numerous times to the council (environmental health), as well as the police. They have sent him letters but he has ignored all of them and continues the harassment. He is obviously refusing to take his medication.
He has also called the police on us and we had two police officers arrive at our door because of his slander. All 3 of us are not well, we donāt make any noise, and need our sleep. I donāt want to move as this was my grandparentās house that was given to us by them after they died.
We are at witās end here. We just want the harassment to stop. Is there a way we could get him sectioned under the mental health act? From what we know, he stopped taking his medication in 2020. This is when most of the bizarre texts my mum received from him began (she still has them all saved).
edit: For non UK readers, being āsectionedā means being involuntarily hospitalised and forced to take medication
Did you call the police when he sounded the siren at night? Like 999? From what I read here there is enough there to get him cited if not arrested.
You need to keep a paper log of every incident. Keep it factual, just answering the w questions, no ādickhead was a dickhead againā, just āMr Smith turned on his radio at very loud volume at 6:30am on 6th December.ā āI asked Mr Smith about the loud noise on 6th December at 6:30am when I saw him outside in his driveway at 9:23am. He told me he did it on purpose.ā
I would call 999 for every noise complaint in the night and every threatening remark made against your brother at any time. You need a stronger paper trail for people to do something. Youāve complained to your council and youāve talked to the police. It seems that wasnāt enough.
Donāt retaliate with loud music or deliberate harassment yourself. It might be hard not to. But you need to be spotless victims. You donāt want a āletās look at both sidesā to give the impression you provoked anything at any time.
How is the third semi detached party feeling about this old guy? They must feel some of the nuisance? Surely they could corroborate that your brother isnāt doing werewolf things at night? See if you could get them to write letters or call the police as well. The more neighbours join in, the better (but donāt start a poster campaign, it should look ānaturalā).
Is there something that can be done to stop foxes from coming into the gardens? If they are the āwerewolvesā here then this could be a way to root out that delusion.
Does the old guy have family? Is there a way to reach out to them? Not in āreign in your fucking dickhead father!ā but āwe are really worried about your fatherās mental state because he keeps making outlandish and unsubstantiated statements.ā
Can you google if there is a solicitor in your area that will maybe hear your case for no or a low fee to see if you can take this to court? Either the old dickhead or the council for not doing anything about him? Thatās where the paper log might be useful.
The only word of warning I would leave here is this: you said youāre all not at your best. Taking legal action will be additionally stressful and will cost money and time. Another thing that would cost money and time is selling the house and moving somewhere else. In the interest of your mental health, you should probably discuss this first, which path to follow. And although it is cynical, you also need to factor in that this problem will resolve itself naturally, probably within the next decade.
Neighbourhood disputes are not great. Your home should be your castle and somebody is shooting cannonballs at it. Iāve seen one case in my parentās friend group that started with a fence encroaching on the other property, more than a decade of lawyers going back and forth, accusations of tyres being slashed, police calls for any minor infraction. This can consume people. Donāt get consumed.
Hi thanks for the reply. Iāll answer each of the questions:
I did. Once two years ago, and the most recent time was very late May this year when he started the siren and yelling thing again. Police did arrive at his home on both occasions but he refused to answer the door. The police didnāt do anything more besides knocking his door, shouting theyāre police, and ringing his doorbell. He has a doorbell camera thatās hooked up to his smartphone. We get the impression the police just go āoh heās got mental health problemsā so refuse to do anything even though he told me what his intentions were two years ago when he was doing the exact same thing.
No worries. We havenāt done this.
Thatās something Iāve been considering. Considering the house is semi detached Iām not sure if the people in the third house can hear the radio blasting all morning. It sounds like the radio is in his hallway right next to the wall between our homes so perhaps they donāt hear it. Either way if it continues Iāll inquire about it to them. Their house is just a few meters down the road.
My mum puts out food for them. One of them has bad mange and is very skinny. I havenāt heard the foxes lately though, not since the young cubs have grew up. Iāll mention this to her though. Foxes arenāt the only possible trigger, itās also if he sees one of us going to the car or coming up the street. We notice this seems to trigger him and right after heās blasting the radio all morning or his TV will be on full blast all evening.
He does, a niece who lives a way away. She comes up very occasionally to help tend to his garden. Maybe every 6 months or once a year. My mum has complained about him to her and the niece ended up blocking my mum. He lives alone.
Good idea. Iāll look into that.
I know it can be stressful, I just really canāt be dealing with harassment on top of everything else going on so Iām trying to find a good way of navigating this. I appreciate your help a ton.
Shit, I had hoped reaching out to his next of kin might be a good avenue to pursue. Causally chat with your neighbours, even the fully detached ones. Awkward, I know. But the guy is bound to have pissed them off on occasion as well. At the very least youāll know youāre not alone in this. At best they could all call and complain on occasion. Naturally.
You are sure heās mentally handicapped, right? Iām sure your council has been austeritied to the brink of non-functinality thanks to the delight that is UK politics of the last 20 years. I wonder if there is a charity organisation in your area that sort of stepped in, out of necessity. A mental health fire service/outreach of sorts. Even if they cannot help you with your case directly, they may know of more resources to deal with a person like that, seemingly self reliant but with episodes and delusions.
There are always cases that fall through the cracks. Not mad enough to be institutionalised, not well enough to live alone. Heās also too old to go to prison really and your best case scenario is to get him admitted somewhere.
Definitely have a chat with your mother about feeding the foxes. Try to sell it to her as a test. Weāre going to test for x months if fewer animal noises lead to fewer weird shit coming from our neighbour.
Get him a ten pound Christmas gift and write him a card thatās 90 percent merry this and that and best wishes for the new year. And 10 percent if itās possible please keep the volume of anything on a loudspeaker down, thank you for your cooperation. No threats, kill him with kindness. Leave it at his door. (Log that as well and keep a picture of text on the card.)
I imagine describing the mood between you and him as tense might be a bit of an understatement. Giving him fewer reasons to fear the family of werewolves next door might cause him to be less delusional? This is a last resort strategy but builds on the kill him with kindness idea. Get his bins in, offer to mow his lawn, that sort of thing. Slowly involve your brother.