Eviction hearing - Neighbourhood war

LirW

Okay, first off, it's not about myself.

I live in an End of terrace for around half a year now (owned). There are two neighbours that are at war with each other and I'm remotely "involved" in it.

So there's neighbour A, they are an absolute darling family, very helpful and nice. They live in the other End of terrace of my terrace in a council house, he's employed and she is a stay-at-home.
Neighbour B lives right next door to me in the end of terrace to the next terrace, I don't see them much. Rent privately.

Both parties are very quiet and don't make any obvious trouble, I'm befriended with A.

A and B were friends once and had a fall out over a ridiculous claim of B. B started to stalk one of A's children, A told B to stop, didn't work, things escalated.
One evening I had the guards parking in front of my house and heard that later that evening that A's sister was in for a visit, saw B, snapped and they had a proper fist fight. Don't get me wrong, a very bad thing to do. A wasn't physically involved in it and called the guards on the spot asap.

I had a guard knocking at mine and some other neighbours doors, he was asking around for any witnesses. I genuinely didn't see anything.

Today A got the notice for an eviction hearing. She got in touch with me and she was very upset. The hearing is on the grounds of anti-social behaviour and B claimed that A tried numerous times to break into B's house, which is ridiculous. She has no idea what to do now.
B is a notorious "I sue you" person at it seems, she seems to have several lawsuits going on. She put together any proof of solicitor correspondence etc and sent that off to the council.

While I do not want to get involved, and A is fully aware and understands that, is there any advice I can give her?

Not a nice situation to be in being stuck between 2 parties hating each other but it would be horrible seeing A go for some crazy claims, they are genuinely hardworking and caring people that keep their house spotless and are an essential part of the community.

Hitman3000

LirW wrote:

Not a nice situation to be in being stuck between 2 parties hating each other but it would be horrible seeing A go for some crazy claims, they are genuinely hardworking and caring people that keep their house spotless and are an essential part of the community.

Maybe see is it possible to speak on her behalf to the council. Probably a non runner but I can't see what else you can do. You still have to live in proximity to "B".

LirW

If that could save the family from being evicted I'd do it in a heartbeat.

Is there anything A could do that would make her life easier? I think they approached B's LL a while ago but she didn't go into detail. The LL is not aware of the current on-going their tenants are involved in. Would it make sense talking to the LL?

Hitman3000

LirW wrote:

Is there anything A could do that would make her life easier? I think they approached B's LL a while ago but she didn't go into detail. The LL is not aware of the current on-going their tenants are involved in. Would it make sense talking to the LL?

I get your concern for "A" how do you think your life would go if you go to "B"s landlord and she finds out. It's a sh*tty situation but there is very little you can do tbh.

Dev84

B sounds like an awful C

justfillmein

you still have to live on the same street as B whether A does or doesn't get evicted.
so you might want to consider how much you get involved in this.
personally, I'd take a step back from this one.
A is a grown woman and needs to deal with this fall out herself, as bad as i'd feel for her.
And i'd just stear clear of B, for the next forever.

LirW

I stated in the OP I'm currently not involved and would rather prefer leaving it that way. A is fully aware of that, I just hate seeing them so upset.

Both have kids in the same age as my son, he plays a lot with A's kids and sometimes with B's, that boy is not out that often though. I definitely won't tell my boy he's not allowed to play with any of the kids because it would be so unfair putting that on the kids.
I keep quiet about the whole thing anyway, not making a big deal out of it.

I'd be more inclined to help A by giving her any advice on what she could do that she might didn't think of yet.

Tell A that you will help out if you can, tell B the same. Perhaps have a chat with B about cancelling out their lies and try to make them see sense.

Tell A that getting someone evicted from a Council house is intensely difficult, rarely happens to even the worst offenders, and the tenants are generally re-homed almost immediately.



For your own sake, side with A. If A gets the boot, there'll be some new council tenants shifting in. You've already struck it lucky with the genuine, decent neighbour.. it could be your turn for the scumbags from hell. It's a complete lottery and if a council tenant is a good tenant, then do what you can to make sure they're there forever more.

But they won't be evicted anyway. On what grounds? They've been accused of breaking and entering multiple times. Who are the witnesses, what evidence do the Gardai have, have arrests occurred or criminal proceedings began, is there damage to the house being broken into, what precautions have the victims taken to prevent it happening, why are they only complaining now, etc. it's nearly impossible to point the finger at an actual criminal, never mind makey-uppy ones. The Council will have an anti-social bhaviour officer. He'll have a one-to-one meeting with A and B separately, will realise it's nonsense, and the whole thing will be forgotten about.

If I were you, I'd be siding with A to get rid of B. It's easy to not get involved when it's A that's getting hassle. But would you like if A didn't get involved if the hassle was being directed at you? B seems a bit mental and will likely 'do the rounds' with all the neighbours having rows.

LirW

The place I'm living in is a very mature place with most people either owning or living here since the houses were built.
A is currently in the process of buying the house off the council, which is a painfully slow one. My direct terraced neighbours are here for as long as the world exists and are a core of the local community and they'd fight tooth an nail when any obvious anti-social behaviour would show up. Would probably be worth to mention we're talking about a small village here than a town/city.

But thanks, KKV, that's definitely something I'll tell her and it'll probably ease their mind. I understand it's insanely stressful for them and unfortunately B doesn't seem to a person that you could reason with as she hides behind her solicitor for pretty much anything. Don't get me wrong, I'm not in a row with her, I greet her but it clouds the whole thing when someone is at threat of losing their home when they didn't do anything wrong.

bisset

Mediation might be helpful here. Local citizens information centre should be able to give you a leaflet.

LirW

LirW wrote: »

The place I'm living in is a very mature place with most people either owning or living here since the houses were built.
A is currently in the process of buying the house off the council, which is a painfully slow one. My direct terraced neighbours are here for as long as the world exists and are a core of the local community and they'd fight tooth an nail when any obvious anti-social behaviour would show up. Would probably be worth to mention we're talking about a small village here than a town/city.

But thanks, KKV, that's definitely something I'll tell her and it'll probably ease their mind. I understand it's insanely stressful for them and unfortunately B doesn't seem to a person that you could reason with as she hides behind her solicitor for pretty much anything. Don't get me wrong, I'm not in a row with her, I greet her but it clouds the whole thing when someone is at threat of losing their home when they didn't do anything wrong.

Anecdotal story: I work with property on and off, and recently was in Offaly in a house estate. The estate was full of small bungalows, about 20 of them i'd say, in a semi-circle with a green area in the middle.

The place was immaculate. But on the entry to the estate there were 'cctv in operation' signs, a height barrier, barbed wire over the garden walls of the end-terrace houses and speed bumps galore.

I noticed it immediately and it seemed so odd and out of place in an estate that was clearly in great condition.


What had happened, from speaking to a resident, is that 2 people were leaving the estate and sold their houses. The Council bought them, and turned the quiet mature estate into a hellhole by moving two separate families of travellers in. Within a week they had caravans galore on the green area, were dumping, burning, joy-riding, etc. etc. and had the place in tatters. This went on for apparently 2-3 years.

When I arrived, apparently the travellers had only left about a month before. I arrived just after the Council had managed to clean the place up and make it presentable again.

(just for clarity, ive worked with travellers, and i live alongside some, too, and they're quiet, decent people, but the stereotype of travellers is definitely true for many of them).


So just be very careful. Although my example above is an extreme, it demonstrates that it can, and does, happen. If you have a quiet mature area, don't take it for granted that the Council will care. Whoever is at the top of the list is going into the house regardless of their background. Just be careful of that.


(only fair to point out that you could get a replacement neighbour who is the nicest person in the world, but it is a complete lottery).

spaceHopper

Hang on a second, A is up for possible eviction by B but A tried to do the same by going to their LL. Pot, kettle black. The best thing A could have done is leave it alone. If you want to help point out to B that if A get evicted they will be rehoused in the are, they will still see them and B will have to live in an area where everybody will know they made a family homeless.

LirW

The thing between the two parties went on well before any complaints were made and to be fair A took up with a lot before getting in touch with the LL. She merely pointed out there were troubles but didn't go into any details and she's very hesitant contacting the LL again simply because she doesn't want anyone in trouble.

A decided to do nothing and keep it low profile until the eviction hearing, after the initial shock she's not worried anymore because she has a good papertrail of what happened before including all solicitor letters and garda reports.

bucketybuck

How did it go from B making an accusation to eviction? Seems like a bit is missing there.

Did A not have a chance to respond to the claims or were the claims true all along?

LirW

She is currently in the period before the hearing, where she can prove that these claims aren't true. She sent everything that she had off the day she received the notice for the hearing and is now waiting.

In fairness, B is a bit mental, she had a go during the day at A's kids, not nice at all, she also doesn't allow her boy to play with the kids (he's not allowed to go out most of the time anyway). She has the reputation to run to the solicitor for everything that could hurt her feelings and has currently more than one lawsuit open.

Mongfinder General

What are you worried about? Do you really want to be stuck in the middle of this? The council will rehouse that family - you will miss them no doubt but one or both parties needs to go.

LirW

Will they seriously be rehoused if there's proof that these claims are absolute bollix? Hard to imagine that really.

surrender monkey

Get get your neighbour to contact Mercy Law. They deal with local Authority tenants in danger of losing their tenancy.

If A is in the process of buying her house, how can she be evicted?

LirW

Buying a house off the council with a council mortgage (the houses here aren't very expensive and the mortgage they need is so small that most bank wouldn't issue such small ones) is a very long process as it seems. They are still renting of the council in the meantime, they can still be evicted in that case I'd assume.