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.
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:
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Document everything, make a detailed protocol about everything he does or says towards you.
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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)
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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)
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Call your council both in terms of mental health and nuisance laws. Be nice,but pressure them to do something.
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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.
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Do they still sell those novelty toy mics that broadcast and speakers pick it up?
I’m not telling you what to do with that, but there are many options.
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You’re probably already keeping a detailed log of every incident, and recording evidence - keep doing it
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Go to the local council environmental nuisance team
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They provide a noise meter (or sometimes app for your phone) to record proof
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After a few incidents they can serve him with a noise abatement order
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If for some reason they won’t, as long as you’ve followed the process above you can apply to Magistrate’s Court directly for a noise abatement order and both parties will get summoned to put forward their sides.
Currently going through this, the council wrote the order, took it to my neighbour, who promptly talked them out of serving it. Said he’d be quiet. Wish it worked like that for parking tickets.
This guy councils.
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Show him YouTube videos of the fox making the same noise? Hopefully you can convince him
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?
Phone the police again, phone the council and make a noise complaint, then phone citizens advice bureau for free advice on where you stand. If he is a tenant complain to the landlord as well. Very sorry to hear all this and hope your Mum is ok because #fuckcancer
Thank you. Will do. I was worried the police won’t do anything because it’s not blasting at night. I’ll give them a call! Mum’s doing the best she can and I’m doing my best to take care of her
Most jurisdictions, including councils and their relevant bylaws, prohibit any type of nuisance behaviour. It matters not if the nuisance manifests during day time or not. What matters in context of noise is frequency, duration, volume, intensity, droning and pitch. You, as property owner or tenant, have a right to the peaceful enjoyment of your property.
The council’s environmental health officer is typically the appropriate POC for these matters. They may ask you to provide a journal of events (you can write this retrospectively if this is a regular occurrence), and/or they may choose to attend themselves to verify during times in question or if you advise them as such.
Out of council hours, they usually ask for the police to be called so there’s a record/independent witness. There is nothing stopping you from calling the police during daytime.
The council may ask you if you’re comfortable to try and talk to the offending party to resolve the issue. Decline this vehemently and state that you fear for your safety (especially since this guy appears to be mentally ill!). Let them deal with the matter, it’s their job.
I feel bad for the bloke who’s ill, but conversely you do not need to suffer from his illness, and neither does your mum.
I wish you best of luck.
If all else fails phone the local newspaper and contact your mp, good luck
If you own the house, and you live in the UK, then bear in mind you legally need to disclose formal disputes with neighbours when selling the property. Might not be worth the hit to the property value from getting the council involved when in practical terms there is very little they can/will do.
I’d echo what others have said about phoning the police and social services. Maybe try to catch his neice next time she’s round.
Keep calling the police. If they don’t want to do anything I’ve found that telling them if they don’t help you that saying something like “okay well me and my mates will ‘sort him Jim out’ ourselves” kicks them in to action.
I did something similar 2 years ago when I found the address of a guy who stole my bag. They didn’t want to help until I implied I might confront him myself, possibly with a weapon.
I don’t really have any experience with situations like this, but I’d be cautious of suggesting such things to the police. Worst case they don’t do anything, and something happens to the neighbor and suddenly you have a lot of trouble waiting for you.
I know here in Germany you can create a log of all the occurrences of your neighbor being loud, and if it is excessive a court can order your neighbor to be silent. If your neighbor then breaks the order, the police will actually do something. Not sure how things work in the UK tho
If its actual radio, you could get a small bluetooth radio transmitter (you can buy them at best buy to connect your phone to car selecting the frequency, don’t know if you will find a strong enough one to broadcast to his place from bestbuy though) and then you can choose what sounds come out of his speakers, your favorite music, audiobook, porn, silence?
This might be illegal if you’re transmission is too strong, check local guidelines
oh boy would this trigger his delusions
“This is the voice of God. I am giving you a divine order to go seek mental health treatment at an intensive inpatient care facility immediately.”
(/s, obvs. don’t do that lol)
It also wouldn’t work, nor would it likely trigger his delusions any more than not doing it. My understanding is that fundamentally, schizophrenia is when someone’s running internal monologue gets cross wired and confused with external input. Your stray random thoughts gain as much, or more, validity as actual events that you can see, hear, taste, touch, etc. Sane people know they have imaginations and random BS thoughts, and we have the ability to distinguish those from reality… but even so, sane people can be disturbed by their own random thoughts too. Now imagine if you physically COULDN’T distinguish them, or even a subset of them.
Adding additional external inputs isn’t going to do jack shit when the problem is actually the internal inputs. Not unless your external inputs are really able to make him start thinking, and thus generate more internal thoughts.
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
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.
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.
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.
I don’t know how it works in the UK, but if possible I’d look into getting a protection order against harassment. Definitely gather whatever evidence you can (a security camera might be a good investment), but with someone like this they may very well tell on themselves if it goes to court. A reasonable person wouldn’t be doing something like this in the first place, so they may well make it readily apparent that this is the sort of thing they think is acceptable in a court room. Especially if they’ve admitted to you to doing it on purpose.
If you’re able to request police body camera footage, it might be worth it to do that after calling in a noise complaint, and if you share a hallway you might be able to record the interaction yourself if not. If you rent and do share a hallway, consider asking your landlord to install a camera in a shared space so that you can get footage that way. Make sure to check the laws in your area regarding consent for recording. If you’re allowed to record secretly, maybe you can get them to admit it again on camera.
I had a similar situation to this with a transphobic neighbor who was doing this for about 6 months. A court date got it squared away, because she told on herself to the police while on our hallway camera. It might help in your situation too.
I don’t know the laws or systems in place in the UK for this, but I work in 911 dispatch in the US, and I can’t imagine that something like this is too radically different across the pond
As long as the cops in your area are fairly responsive (I know a couple departments in my county will take their sweet-ass time responding to a noise complaints) call every time he does something.
Yes, you’re going to get sick of it, but more importantly the cops are going to get sick of it too. They really don’t want to be out at your neighbors house over this every day/week/month/8moths, or however often he does it. Before too long he’s going to get hit with fines and other consequences. Once or twice they might issue a warning
Speak to the officers every time. Make sure they’re seeing and hearing what you’re seeing and hearing, get it on video if you have to, don’t give them an opportunity to write it off because they drove by the house and “didn’t hear anything.”
Tell them he’s schizophrenic, refusing to take his meds, tell them he’s harassing you, that last part is important, tell them you want to file a report for harassment, discuss what your options are- pressing changes, restraining orders, whatever they may be, and pursue them. You’ll probably have paperwork and court dates and such, it sucks, but that’s how the process works.
Be prepared for retaliation from him in some form. Get security cameras, try to avoid any contact with him if you can avoid it. He already has delusions that you’re conspiring against him, and having the cops show up at his door repeatedly are going to feed right into that, it’s not out of the question that he might get violent, or start vandalizing your property.
Continue to report anything he says and does to you, no matter how small, each incident you document builds a stronger case for more consequences. Every time he accuses your brother of making wolf noises, or hacking his phone, any weird interaction at all, make sure you’re documenting it with the police.
Try to catch his niece when she’s over, explain the situation, explain that you’re going to have to take legal action if it doesn’t stop, see if she can possibly talk sense into him, or possibly if she or other family might be able to pursue some sort of involuntary commitment for him (read up on your local laws about that, I have no idea what they’re like in the UK except that I think it’s called “sectioning” over there, I suspect that you wouldn’t be able to start that process, it would probably need to be done by a relative, the police, or a medical/mental health professional)
Totally agree on the harassment angle. That’s where you’ll get the police to listen. Had to take a similar approach with a paranoid schizophrenic neighbour who equally did not take his meds. The harassment angle allowed them to involve other agencies such as mental health and care workers to improve his situation, and in turn, ours.
Thanks for the detailed advice! I appreciate it a ton. We’ll keep calling them every time he does this. I’ve got the radio/TV blasting and the siren/screaming recorded. He is a frail old man, he’s almost in an L shape. He did once go out into his garden shouting for my brother (my mum heard it and said it was mostly incomprehensible) with a frying pan in his hand. That was over a year ago. When he yells and screams after playing the siren we can’t make out what he’s saying. We already have a doorbell camera so if he comes to the door we’ll receive a notification about it and it’ll be recorded.
My mum has all his texts he sent her accusing my brother saved. These texts go years back so it’s all documented. When his niece comes over again we’ll see if we can talk to her. She did hide his siren before but she says he’ll probably end up ordering a new one from Amazon which is what seems to have happened here.
In the UK it is called sectioning. I’m not sure what the specific criteria are besides causing harm to others or ones self, I’ll have to research it more in the meantime. Once again I really appreciate the advice, we’ve all been so stressed out lately and something has to be done because we’re not putting up with this every day for months or even years
And I do want to just reiterate that the harassment angle is really what you want to play up with the police.
I don’t know the specifics of how policing and such works in your area, but there’s a pretty big difference between “my neighborhood is an inconsiderate jerk who plays his music too loud” and “my neighbor is intentionally targeting me with loud music and sirens to disturb our sleep”
The first one is a noise complaint, that’s low priority for the police and depending on where you are maybe not even a police issue but something like code enforcement.
The second one is a police issue, it’s harassment. This will vary from one jurisdiction to another, but where I work depending on some of the details I might enter that as “suspicious activity” or even a “disturbance” (basically a fight) which should get police there with some urgency.
And some of the other things you’ve said, like him walking around outside with a frying pan, I could definitely make an argument for putting in those calls as a “wellbeing check” or “suspicious person,” and if he’s acting particularly threatening maybe even “armed subject,” or possibly as a psych emergency to also send EMS to hopefully get him taken to a hospital for a psych eval.
I’m really sorry this is happening it’s fucking rough. I’d refer him to social services as well, he needs MH treatment but won’t do it himself. He may be bad enough for them to section him IDK.
He’s also likely with your local doctors I’d ring them too.
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.
Have you talked to the Council? They normally have officers who sort shit like this out.
