A recent survey undertaken of members of the Neighbours From Hell In Britain (NFHIB) organisation, shows noisy neighbours as being the main source of Neighbours From Hell abuse.

A spokesman for NFHIB said: “It’s 21.82%. There are a lot of people who ignore their neighbours legal right to enjoy a peaceful, quiet life. There are some Neighbours From Hell (NFH) who deliberately target neighbours with noise in order to harass or intimidate them.

“It’s hard for normal people to believe this, but, here at NFHIB, we have plenty of evidence gathered from our 10,000 plus members that this is what happens in many cases.”

Causes of problems for neighbours were identified as being:-

Noise (21.82%)
Anti-Social Behaviour (14.30%)
Harassment(9.75%)
Animal Disturbance (2.97%)
Boundary Problems (4.27%)
Car Parking Issues (or other vehicle problems) (4.27%)
Children/Young People Problems (4.09%)
Bullying (3.81%)
“Other” problems(2.88%)
Rights of Way Issue (or shared access problem)(2.41%)
General Garden related issue(0.84%)
High Hedge Problem (Leylandii, etc)(0.84%)
Rubbish/Litter(0.84%)
Racism or other Hate Crime(0.46%)
General Crime(0.19%)

The spokesman added: “Some deliberate NFH use a variety of methods to harass their neighbours. There have been cases of people playing loud music in the middle of the night, banging on walls, using power tools in the early hours of the morning, deliberately blocking access to neighbouring properties, and so forth. Sadly, with some NFH there’s no limit to what they will do, even sometimes to the extent of damaging property or using violence.”

Some victims of NFH call in the police to help them deal with the illegal behaviour of their neighbours. With mixed results.

When asked “Thinking about the neighbour from hell problem you've experienced, did you find the Police helpful?”, results were:

Yes, they were very helpful and sympathetic (9.56%)
They were somewhat helpful (17.27%)
The Police didn't believe me/didn't want to know (10.86%)
The Police told me it was a 'civil matter' and wouldn't help (17.27%)
They made it worse (4.46%)
I didn't use the Police at all (39.09%)

“We at the NFHIB find it worrying that the majority of police officers seemed unable, or worryingly, unwilling to help victims of abusive and illegal behaviour from neighbours. Or that they even inflamed a situation in some cases, instead of helping to solve the problem.”

He went on to say: “The way police look at so-called ‘neighbour disputes’ is 20 to 30 years behind how they now perceive domestic violence, as a serious problem. NFHIB believe it is a serious error of judgment to label the anti-social and abusive behaviour of Neighbours From Hell as a ‘neighbourhood dispute.’ The deliberate targeting of a neighbour for abusive behaviour and illegal harassment is not what a reasonable person would call a ‘neighbourhood dispute’. Some police forces do realise how serious the problem is, but unfortunately, others lag years behind their more enlightened counterparts.”

The location of Neighbours From Hell might give pause for thought. The survey showed that the majority of Neighbours From Hell activity took place in private housing:

Owner Occupied (75.77%)
Council Property (9.66%)
Housing Association (8.08%)
Private Landlord (5.66%)
Living with Family/Friends/Shared Housing (0.84%)

“There are a number of possible explanations as to why such a large majority of NFH problems occur in owner-occupied housing. We do not feel able to speculate, but point out this means many local authorities might be forced to radically re-think how they deal with the problems of NFH in their patch.”

Tony Blair’s Respect Agenda was seen as not being very helpful. Indeed, almost 40% of respondents didn’t believe it would make any difference.(39.18%)

And 94.43% of people reported having had their ‘stress levels’ increased by the actions of their NFH. “This just shows what a serious problems Neighbours from Hell are in today’s society,” commented the spokesman. “It is a problem that needs to be seriously addressed by those in authority.”

END

EDITORIAL NOTES:

Neighbours From Hell in Britain (NFHiB) was created in 2002, due to the founder’s personal experiences with repeatedly anti-social, noisy, inconsiderate and rude neighbours. A 'NFH' (Neighbour From Hell) can come from any walk of life and any part of society - the large amount of collective experience and information contained within NFHiB can help you address neighbour issues in any situation. It is a voluntary not for profit organisation which receives no government funding.


For further information please visit www.nfh.org.uk or email  contact@nfh.org.uk