We have an 83 or 84 year old neighbour who is said to have schizophrenia. I live with my mum and my brother and we live in the UK.
He has it in for my brother, accusing him of all kinds of weird things like “he’s stealing my water supply” “he’s blocking my TV” “he’s cloning my phone” “he’s going out into the garden at night making wolf noises to wake me up” (we have foxes visit our garden often, and you can hear them in the streets also).
Last year he started blasting his radio every day from 7:30 AM until 10:30 to 11:30 PM. Then, on most nights at 1:30 AM he’ll set off an extremely loud siren and then start screaming and occasionally throwing stuff at the wall/his room. My mum has cancer and she really does not need this.
I went over to his house about the noise, giving him the benefit of the doubt because he’s hearing impaired and has hearing aids, but then he explained to me he’s doing this on purpose to stop my brother from sleeping during the day because my brother is “going into the garden at night making these wolf noises to wake me up”.
We ended up calling the police on him last year, and shortly after that, he stopped and was silent. We had 8 months of silence and now he suddenly started again. The radio, the sirens and the screaming at 1:30 AM. We’ve done nothing to him.
My mum found out that the radio or TV (whatever it is) isn’t just in one room, it’s in EVERY room of his house (we live in a joined house). She found out that when it goes off, they all go off at once, so my mum concluded he has his radio/TV hooked up to some speaker system aimed at the walls. He knows my mum isn’t well and he’s been doing this for 2 weeks straight now. It’s so loud you can hear it over EVERYTHING, even games, films and music. I can hear it in the garden even. Constant low frequency noise that reverberates in every room in our house.
We did call the police Friday night and he hasn’t done the siren at 1:30 AM since but he wasn’t setting the siren off every night before that either. It’s keeping us all on edge. He doesn’t have a wife but his niece occasionally visits to tidy up his garden. We don’t have her contact info though. He apparently refuses to take his meds because he is the type of person to think he’s always right.
Sorry for the long post but I can’t sleep because I’m on edge about being woken up soon after going to sleep. Wasn’t sure where else to post this where I can get some quick replies.
It’s your mama, with cancer, really being hurt here. Ethically, that gives you options. Sucks for your neighbor, he can’t help it.
Fastest solution is to wait for him to leave the house and post a lookout. Make entry and destroy every speaker you can find. Decorate broken items with something that is a feature of his behavior such as a common phrase or food item.
When he gets home and throws a fit, call the cops on him and deny everything and act frustrated and put out. Talk about your sick mother. This may fix it. Ifi not, at least make it much better.
Well. I think we found the schizophrenic neighbor.
absolutely insane take
I’m being downvoted to hell for it, but I’ve done similar things in the past. I’m used to corrupt ineffective cops, sometimes you just have fix shit and be done with it.
IDK, it’s redneck but a quick frame up would at least end the noise.
I would agree with you if this person wasn’t schizophrenic. This would only worsen their symptoms and probably lead to escalations that would result in further property damage or violence. At that point you are feeding their delusions and even justifying them.
Yes. It’s cruel, but if you pushed him far enough, he would be committed. Op hasn’t been able to get effective help from the government/social system.
Sounds like he’s older and there are physically stronger people in OPs house so if it escalated, they can defend without much trouble.
Cancer mom beats schizophrenic neighbor. If causing the neighbor to decompensate gets her peace, so be it. This is not a difficult ethical problem, the expedient solution is just illegal.
I’ve done and will do a whole lot to take care of my loved ones. Society sure isn’t.
You sound fucking insane, dawg.
Well, dawg, I’ve spent most of my life living in a completely different world than most posters on Lemmy.
And yes, I hunt, fish, eat meat, drive a truck, have a beard. I also talk funny. I have castrated calves. Been backup in large deals. Dealt with thieving meth heads. Done amateur surgery.
I don’t live in my mother’s urban basement eating chicken tendies.
But yeah, that’s my white squirrel.
Counterpoint, I know lots of people that do/have done lots of those things who also aren’t complete psychopaths
Neat.
You still sound insane.
A friend of mine had a similar issue. Also UK, West London a guy was blasting his car stereo every night in front of his garage, often till 8-9 pm, in some cases during the night while having some weird people over. It was very loud, walls vibrating, etc
Various neighbours called the police on him at least 5 times but nothing happened, he turned off the music for a while, ignored the cops and turned it back on after they left.
They told them they need hard proof to do anything, this would involve getting a regular recording of the music and they should measure the decibels and vibrations to prove how disturbing it is to start anything. It was just the most bizarre way of telling people the local council and police will do nothing. Who the fuck has this kind of equipment and knowledge to do this?
Needless to say nothing happened. My friend moved to another place because of work within 6 months.
I do hope in your case the local law enforcement will be more competent, I wish I could give you an actual advice instead of a story :(
deleted by creator
Get like eight to ten shitty things delivered to his house every day. Either something he’ll have to pay for like a pizza, or something just completely useless, like a cheap spare part for something he doesn’t have.
Obviously, use his name and don’t use your real phone number. He’ll have to deal with all the trash constantly.
Won’t really solve your issue, but it’s good revenge for him being an asshole.
Oh and sign him up for all the flyers and coupon books you can. Just like a torrent of junk every single day, never ending.
Keep a log of every time he does this. Also log every time you call police/council and include dates of all this when you next call.
It’s a good idea to send complaints by email too as there is a paper trail.
When you call the police/council log the time of the call and the name of the person you speak to and mention this in future calls, "I spoke to Josh 4 days ago and he advised…”
I believe the council still provides a noise meter to record loud prolonged noises.
Any time he is in your garden brandishing anything then call the police and advise them that he is on your property with a weapon.
Exactly this. A detailed log and evidence is important.
Also, talk to your other neighbours and see if they have, or would report it.
As it is, resident B has 2 noise complaints in 8 months from resident A. Without evidence of all the rest of it, this fits all sorts of scenarios. People make malicious complaints all the time and the authorities (rightfully) shouldn’t just take your word for it that there’s a long history.
Always have receipts
I mean, if cops arent doing shit, and the neighbor aren’t listening to reason, you have to take matters in your own hands.
Make the same noise they did while they sleep. See how they like it.
Maybe don’t engage in a war of escalation with unstable people
In game theory, the best strategy is called “Tit For Tat”: Be nice at first, but strike back (in equal proportion to what they did) if they refuse to cooperate.
OP already tried being nice. You can’t live life being a pushover.
A society cannot be tolerant of the intolerant.
This only works with rational actors
Yeah do that if you want to get stabbed to death. The neighbor has mental health issues.
Thus is childish and unlikely to lead to a solution.
Blasting Baby Shark on loop 24/7 for the entire weekend while OP and his family goes away.
deleted by creator
Do not respond by playing loud noises back, no matter how tempting, that’ll just give him the chance to say “see, they’re the ones doing it”. Going away for a break might be a great idea though, just to get some rest and relax a bit. I’d suggest putting up external cameras covering the whole property, and internals covering doirs and windows first though, just in case he does anything harmful. I know you said he was frail, but you don’t want to take chances.
Yeah, relocate the family, and return the favor by blasting EDM 24/7. Either they’ll stop, or they’ll burn the whole house down.
Do you want rave ants? Because that’s how you get rave ants.
I missed a step; how do i get from race ants to rave ants…?
Lol fucking autocorrect. Thanks for being vigilant.
Saul Goodman. My typical response when i catch my own is “ducking autocorrupt.”
Escalating conflict with someone with delusions of persecution is exactly the wrong thing to do.
Not knowing the system in the UK means I can’t give very good specific advice. You may be able to contact a local mental health network and there is a good chance they will know him. Let them know what is going on in as much detail as possible and suggest that he is increasingly agitated and alienating himself from the community. It sounds like this gentleman needs a conpulsory treatment order or whatever the UK equivalent is.
UK equivalent is known as sectioning
Even if he does have delusions of persecution, he only has them against my brother specifically. he knows my mum also lives here and is terminally ill, and still feels like it’s okay to subject the entire family to this
Ok the only people that can help you are the council, noise complaints are the responsibility your local council unfortunately, given the cuts that have happened over the years this means that they are underfunded. What you need to do is get the local noise complaints number and call it every single time it happens. This is what is called a statutory noise complaint. Just Google it. At the same time you need to start a noise complaint diary,
the columns are date, start time, end time, severity*, weather, and details.
Severity is on a scale of 0 to 4, with 0 been nothing and 4 been OMFG argh. Details need to include what type of noise it is and most importantly how it affects you. Headache? Lack of sleep, emotional distress? Got to town however remember that this is going to be a legal document that could get used in court eventually. Also important is to do it daily even if there is no noise. Include if you are away on holiday etc if it regularly happens on a weekend etc. The council should send you this info after the first couple of incidents
Now for the nighttime banging on the walls and screaming, if it just randomly starts in the middle of the night that sounds to me like someone is or could be having domestic abuse. I apologise in advance if this upsets people. You should contact the police and let the know that.
If any of your neighbours are affected try to get the in on it as well, it’s much more effective with multiple people.
Eventually you will be asked to place a “noise recording device” in the room that is most affected, at this point you know something is finally going to be done about, eventually…
If you have any remote possibility of moving house in the next year or so don’t go down this route as i believe that you have to declare it to the next house buyer
The problem we have in the UK is that most of the laws, procedures and police are built around people not wanting to be complete knobheads. Unfortunately the people have realised this and also realised there are no consequences for their actions
Start going out in the garden at night and making wolf noises. This sounds like an untreated mental health issue. If no one (council, cops, ambulance) is going to respond to the current levels, try to increase them. Consider calling in a welfare check rather than a noise complaint.
Shit advice.
Escalating the situation will not improve it.
deleted by creator
I recommend moving some place with proper sound isolation between neighbors.
Or build a “room within a room” to insulate your own house, but its a very expensive retrofit
People don’t live in shared dwelling residences because they thought they’d really enjoy sharing walls…
Sharing walls shouldn’t be noticeable if the walls and floors are designed property
And yet every single apartment complex has paper-thin walls, because landlords want to maximize floor space instead of eating up square footage with thicker walls. Also, proper sound insulation costs big money. Like thousands of dollars per wall. Landlords building shitholes to rent don’t care if the tenants can hear each other fuck through the walls.
Sure. Fuck landlords. We need State housing and better regulations.
deleted by creator
Some people can’t afford to just move, like if they are dealing with cancer, for example.
The correct approach would be to keep calling the police/making a complaint every time it happens, build up evidence etc. perhaps speak with someone with legal knowledge. Complain to local authorities.
Or fight back, the way I imagine doing it is to get a huge amp pressed against his wall and blast death metal for all hours he’s trying to sleep.
Also glitter bombs/dog poop/piss disks through his door until he gets the message.
Pay someone to steal his speakers.
Yup, keep calling so you can make a paper trail. Cops don’t know it’s an issue unless you tell them, so keep calling and keep making reports. Once enough stack up, they’ll be able to take action. But you need to prove a pattern of behavior, and that takes more than a single call. Get police reports, even if they don’t take any action. Take video when it’s happening too, if you can.
At the very least, start a notebook of dates, times, and any disturbances or interactions you have. If you talk to him at all, write a summary of the conversation in the notebook. If he is blaring his siren, note the time and approximately how loud it was, (refer to other references, like “rock concert”, “lawn mower”, “whisper”, etc if you don’t have a dB meter. Get a dB meter and audio spectrum app on your phone and note hard numbers, if you can. If it ever goes to court, that notebook will be admissible as evidence. And in court, the party with the paperwork wins. Again, your goal is to prove a pattern of harassment, so having documentation will go a long way.
Keep things legal, so he doesn’t have any ammo to use against you. Also, provoking him is likely an awful idea; He has already proven that he is hostile and unstable. You don’t want to give him any reasons to get more aggressive.
Don’t pay someone to steal something. The police will treat conspiracy to commit theft much more harshly than blasting music.
Perhaps I should have put a /s, agree, dont pay someone to do it, they can sell the speakers afterwards anyway
/s
You’re right.
If you’re going to do that, don’t get caught.
Ok, I have been in this situation. I was the crazy schizophrenic neighbour.
This does not go well for you unless you avail yourself of every avenue to protect yourself. This person is mentally ill and their illness causes them to have delusions about your brother and your family. Whatever they are hearing is making them think that they need to react by terrorizing you. In their mind they are protecting themselves. It is very possible that this escalates to violence.
You need to communicate regularly with the police and ask if there is a community mental health liason officer who you can be put into contact with. You need to keep a journal of every communication back and forth and every action the neighbour takes against you. Over time keep building a case until you can have the police detain them under whatever mental health laws you have.
You also need to supply a constant stream of documentation of the behaviour to your landlord. They can take action to preserve their property in the face of a mental illness that very well might burn it down.
I’m really sorry this is happening to you. Feel sorry for your neighbour if you want but advocate for yourselves and your needs first here.
Healthcare professional with some experience in mental health and emergency medicine here: This is the way to go . Your problem is NOT the noise. The noise is a nuisance but not dangerous. The fixation on your brother is. Because there is a high risk here,that once “noise” doesn’t cut it from the point of view of the patient, he will resolve to other means.
As said before:
-
Document everything, make a detailed protocol about everything he does or says towards you.
-
Call the police, especially when he threatens you or your brother or claims he is intruding. Make sure that every member of your household is as polite as possible to the officers. If they refuse to do something accept this but kindly ask for their names or collar numbers and the name of their chief constable. Then write a very polite letter to the CC making it clear that you understand the difficulties the officers face but how you feel threatened and miserable and ask for help and advice to resolve this. (Why being polite? Because then it is nearly impossible for any copper to frame this as a *neighbours dispute" or anything - and coppers in the UK are far more inclined to help “members of the public” they see as pure victims themselves)
-
Depending on where in the UK you live contact your “Single Point of Access” mental health team. They are, well, the single point of access for mental health and by definition also are the contact points for friends,family,etc. of mental health patients.There is a good chance of them already knowing him, so that might help. Also,if your mom gets sicker from the whole ordeal, call her an ambulance - more freely than normal, to get that on the file. (And yes,I know this is a moral grey zone)
-
Call your council both in terms of mental health and nuisance laws. Be nice,but pressure them to do something.
-
Find out who the landlord of the neighbour is (if he doesn’t own) and contact him as well as your own landlord.
Again,let me repeat: The noise is not your problem. The noise is just a symptom of your problem and when the noise goes away and the problem is not resolved something else will come up - very likely something worse.
-
Disconnect his apartment from electricity. Maybe his breakers are outside. His main water valve is definitely outside, close it frequently. While he showers. Make him tired, fond out when he sleeps then ring his doorbell, call his phone, knock the door, etc…
Schizo accelerationsim. Don’t know if I approve but either way it’ll be interesting.
If calling the police gave you 8 months the first time, I’d say calling them again is a logical step. It clearly had an effect last time.
Call them every single time. Press charges. If he can’t/won’t learn to behave and the cops never arrest him, then you might need to switch to a lawsuit. I didn’t know how the laws work in the UK, but it sounds like you need to go full (legal) agro. Maybe there’s a law that can get him locked up in a mental hospital; talk to a lawyer.
If it was me I’d personally call the police every single night that the neighbor does this. 2 things will happen. 1. The cops finally take more drastic action and the issue is solved. Or 2. The cops tell you they can’t keep responding to this and tell you to stop calling them. Either way, i would call them every day and see what happens. I think that’s really all OP can do realistically do, other than moving…
If I was calling every day about a legitimate issue (blasting an alarm in the middle of the night is legitimate), and they told me to knock it off, not only would I keep calling, I’d start calling every elected official at every level - municipal, county, state, federal (I’m in America). The police chief, the mayor, my city councilman, my county commissioner, my congressman, and my senator would all be getting daily calls and emails, and I would make sure to inform them that the reason they are hearing from me is because local police officers (name them if possible) refuse to do their jobs and address the problem.
The issue would be resolved within the week.
Fair enough, however I personally have little faith in local government and law enforcement so your milage may vary on that one.
Eventually you’ll get someone who will figure out that the best way to get you off everybody’s backs is to deal with the old fart next door.
Second this. Keep calling. 8 months at a time… With 84 years it’s not that many times isn’t it?
Somehow I read it as your brother having schizophrenia and got really confused.
Continue to involve authorities, but u fortunately mental health funding keeps getting slashed. There may be a social worker centre you could reach out to for more information.
