I’ve suffer from anxiety and depression for months after my relative just keep telling me “not to worry and let karma do the rest” about my neighbour from hell next door. Things didn’t get better but escalate for the worst. He never listened to me to be about being careful about those people trying to harm us/seek revenge and it is always better to stay safe than to be sorry. I tried very hard to stay positive and always strive to protect my home from these sort of jerks that try to provoke us with their words, kids playing on our driveway, and petty revenge such as littering or blocking our drive. They simply can’t flick off.
They act all innocent on the outside but when they open their mouth it’s full of bullshit. Eventually, my family installed cctv camera around our home to deter them from parking/blocking our driveway, littering cigarettes, and kids from doing damage to our car. I warned him several times that people can sue over almost anything now a days no matter how ridiculous it may seem but he never listens to me because he is confident that my malicious neighbour can’t do no harm to us. I tried very hard to “let go and forgive” them for all the petty revenge that they had done to us but deep inside I had a bad feeling that they are always there waiting for an opportunity to sabotage us again. I should of followed my intuition instead of listening to the grown up in my family.
The darkest part of my life happened on January 21st, 2015. It was on the day that my neighbour took pictures of our Garbage bin set out on the wrong date that was meant for Recycle. Apparently, I found out in the morning the reason behind it was because we can get a fine over this matter in Canada. ($100, I assume). The guy next door (the one who took the pictures) gave my relative an evil smirk and intentionally chuckle out loud when he saw him outside on the driveway getting ready to go to work. It was like he accomplish something wonderful in life. Meanwhile, when I got home from school his nephew (brat) was jumping up & down in the bathtub next to our adjoined wall and barking. They have been doing that for months once in awhile…intentionally laugh out loud when they hear us go us the washroom next door.
A few days later, my neighbour threaten to sue us (shouting indoor at night) that they can get us fine, arrest and are seeking money from us. The song that can perfectly summarize how I feel about my life right now is: “In The End” by Linkin Park ~
“I tried so hard
And got so far
But in the end
It doesn’t even matter”
Those obnoxious neighbour that I tried to ignore for months declared it was: “GAME OVER” for us. “How is that even possible,” you may ask. Well, for months they have been secretly recording noise that comes from my relative’s car back-up alarm. The back-up alarm automatically activates when it is shifted into reverse which is why sometime my neighbour would intentionally use their car to block us from reversing out of our driveway (someone would secretly record us outside from the indoor of their living room).
We genuinely didn’t know that you can get fine over “noise” without any warning given by the police. So, we kept using the back-up alarm for months while my neighbour laugh at us for being so naive.
It was no secret to me that I was aware of them constantly have their eye on us watching our every move when we go outside of our house. I had a feeling that they we’re secretly recording us but my relative kept telling me to ignore them which I regret now because he made my neighbour become overly confident and obnoxious after gathering enough evidence against us (EASILY). In addition, it sort of contributed to my sadness when he allowed them to disrespect us and give them an opportunity to be taken advantage of. What is more sad is that I live between them and their in-law house down the street so, they are seeking double the amount of compensation money from us but none of my family members believe me and think I’m over exaggerating this issue. My family still haven’t seek a lawyer for any legal advice.
I read somewhere on the web afterwards that the fine accumulates for everyday that they are being disturbed. My relative had good intention of installing it for safety reasons and you can find/buy a back-up alarm online on eBay or Amazon. For this reason, he told me not to worry and didn’t think it was illegal to us since they also sell back-up alarm at Canadian Tire in our area.
What irritates me the most is that those people are twisting up the story by saying that my family are anti-social and are using “noise as a form of HARASSMENT!!” Ironically, instead of repelling trouble and keeping pedestrian safe from car reversing accidents, it attracted financial leeches in my neighbourhood.
I shed a lot of tears because I felt like it was my fault that I wasn’t able to protect my family from these financial leeches coming after us. I don’t care what other people may say about him because deep down I know he is good and kind hearted person with good intention of installing a back-up alarm for safety. In my opinion, he is very naive and gullible because even if my relative had no intention to sue my neighbours for their past petty revenge of littering and vandalism in the first place – I told him they will always be out to get him. I’m very sad and worried about losing money and our home to compensate these sort of people because I know my relative works hard his entire life and losing everything out of the blue so, suddenly without any warning just made me lose faith in humanity a lot.
I don’t want to see his money wasted to compensate these jerks who treat his home and family badly just breaks my heart into a million pieces. There was also a time when my neighbour picked out fruits from the tree in my backyard.
Overall, my feeling of disappointment and depression came from this story. I had trouble focusing on my studies ever since that garbage incident that happened back in January 2015 and have been striving to get my life back together ever since then. I always feel that there is not many days of freedom for me because my neighbour are a threat to my family well-being, finance and happiness. I found some other articles about someone losing $500K (Their Home) over barking dogs and another article about an ex-neighbour suing a pianist (seeking jail time for emotional distress). Need guidance on this matter because my family refuse to find a lawyer and still don’t believe me even though we still haven’t formally received a letter to get to summoned to court yet. Nothing really matters to me any more…which is why I’m struggling in school right now because I’m worried that my family will get arrested for noise-pollution any day randomly if we ever go to court. I don’t know what the future may hold but I’m thankful for all the wonderful friends that I made in school this year (2016) that made my life meaningful. Through various ups and downs in life, I’ve come across this:
THREE TYPES OF PEOPLE TO REMEMBER IN YOUR LIFE
1. Those who helped you in your difficult times.
2. Those who left you in your difficult times.
3. (And my favourite)Those who put you in your difficult times.
Thank you to the people who took your time to read this long post~! Much appreciated. I’m sorry, that it ended like this but I’m not really use to expressing myself to others. I’m in the process of emotional healing and trying to make each day wonderful although sometime I still cry alone at night and whenever I see my relative’s face (the one that had the back-up alarm installed on their car). I worry about all the hard times that my neighbours can make my family go through since my mother has to undergo surgery soon. I’m very worried about losing money, our home and sudden arrest over noise. I feel very disappointed in myself for not being able to protect my loved ones from these malicious neighbour with evil intent and let them get their way, pleasure for seeing us miserable. I honestly, have a pet peeve of other people touching myself even after I clearly tell them that I don’t like it. I feel defeated, lost, and tired of keeping these demons away sometime. I noticed my body would feel numbness and tingling when I’m really sad or angry. I’ve made my family members worried about my well-being because they are sad when they see me like this. Hopefully, I will get back on track in life because toxic people have been pulling me down and renting space in my head. In addition, my neighbour made malicious comments about me and my Mom being prostitutes even though it’s false. She has an illness and sometime make nausea or vomiting noise in the washroom. Is it my fault that those jerks next door have nothing better to do with their lives than to spy on us? I’m not blessed to live beside them. Those creeps would sometime talk to us through the adjoining walls or vents. They sometime they threaten to sell all of our personal belongings and take possession of our home. I really am so, displease with their behaviour but you can’t control what other people say, think, or feel about you. But, wishing ill things towards someone else life really ticks me. To me, I always see them as my family anti-fan, paparazzi, and are a bunch of pesky flies than never go away no matter how many times you shoo~ them away. Even our security cameras can’t keep them away. They tried to put my family to shame for using a back-up alarm. Unlike, typical beepers, my relative’s back up alarm sounds like an ice cream truck. There’s also a bird-chirping back up alarm and talking back up alarm sold online (depending on people preference). I’m really disappointed at my relative for all the times that I warned him to be careful and recall all of the things that I could of, should of, but didn’t do to prevent this. If only I didn’t listened to him and convinced him to remove the back up alarm sooner they wouldn’t have an opportunity to sue us. He and my family made me doubt my intuition because why would they waste their time following us around for months just to record us?
TALKING BACK UP ALARM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aFizlXs-7U
My neighbour’s kid in a nutshell is like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k6MLy1fb58|
3 comments
I wish I could help but I “specialize” in our national law and a tiny bit in EU law, so I have no clue about Canadian legal system besides very basics.
If it’s not illegal in there, I would only advise to gather as much evidence against them as possible, especially the threats (which are rather serious in my country and they alone could get them in trouble) and if it’s not illegal, do it without them noticing, so they won’t suddenly act all innocent. Record all the harassment. Also if possible try to stay on good relations with other neighbors, since they could become witnesses if it got before court.
I say “if it’s not illegal” because in some places you are not allowed to record other people without their consent even if it’s for private use and such evidence can’t be used in court, so check how is this regulated in your civil code or other laws before you do anything. But that would also mean that neither they can use such evidence.
Judges are not stupid and everything counts. Even the way you act before the court. If your relative is a good, honest and kind person and they are notoriously well know and obvious assholes, it plays a big role in final decision.
Try not to worry too much, it just gives fuel to their flame. Perpetrators love when their victim is scared and drives them insane when you remain cold to them. And angry people make mistakes, which when they do, you can use against them.
Maybe you could call police the next time they harass you, but there is a chance that they will call police on you the next time after that. However if you do call police and the police finds that they were harassing you, it’s a big plus for you in a possible future trial, granted that is if Canadian judicial system is similar to ours.
An actual Canadian lawyer would be much better help for you. You can look for free legal advice, there are surely offices which offer it or you could try looking at your universities, they sometimes have programs with free legal advice.
Unfortunately, there was a time when someone smeared poop on our front door (I randomly overheard who did it indoor while they were in the backyard) but we didn’t manage to record it because the cctv system was turned off at night due to my mom forgetting to turn it on. They notice when the infrared LEDs on a surveillance camera is turned off at night. Those jerks said they are not afraid of us.
There’s 24 hours a day and I find it very tiring using video surveillance to catch the neighbours in the act because I don’t know when the next incident might happen. It eventually developed anxiety and depression because those toxic neighbour would badmouth us on a daily basis. Their negativity eventually got to me. Spiritually tired of trying to tame those jerks, We live in a semi-detached house and they did suddenly act all innocent on the outside ever since we installed the security cameras but they have verbally abused us on several occasions indoor threatening of taking possession of our home, finance, and wrecking the place up. For some reason, I could sometime hear their voice coming through the vents. For months, I suspect my home got Eavesdropped or Bugged by them because the electronic would react strangely. Hopefully, they are not trying to jam my home security cameras using a jammer.
I noticed that whenever I went to the bathroom, my neighbour would sometime enter theirs and intentionally laugh out loud or giggle out loud next to the adjoining walls. (Creepy) Some people online encourage me to stay positive and simply ignore them because they will enjoy teasing us to see us suffer/give them a reaction.
My uncle should of kept track and reported their past incidents of littering and intentionally blocking our driveway. We live in between them and their in-law house who are planning and threaten to sue us for money. We haven’t formally received a letter to get summoned to court yet but they all act obnoxious and cocky to the point where they decided to change their WiFi name with their in-law down the street as: “BrightDeer” and “TallEagle”.
I’m not sure if our back-up alarm will be consider as amplified music because it sounds kind of similar to an ice cream truck even though it lasts for only a few seconds for us to fully reverse out of our driveway (It automatically activates everyday when the car is in reverse). They are probably going to say we are intentionally using noise to harass them, emotional distress and etc. to try to squeeze every penny possible out of us.
In addition, I suspect they tried to record us indoor secretly because they can apparently, hear our cuckoo clock that rings every hour. I got very self-concious living indoor next to them because I don’t know how much they can hear through the adjoined walls. I asked for some legal advice online and someone said they can’t sue us over the clock because it would sound like a petty case and would be immediately be dismissed. So, my only concern at the moment is regarding the back up alarm that they have been recording us for months. We never got a warning from the police and kind of upset if we can get fined without them giving us a warning first.
Thank you for your advice and encouragement. Hopefully, there will be a rainbow after the rain~ As for now, I think they are just trying to sabotage us so, the house won’t be able to sell with their presence (if a lawsuit occurs). Such despicable people. I’m not sure if my family is lying to me or not when they said they already spoken to a lawyer about this case or they are just saying it to comfort me. I’m not sure how much compensation money they are seeking from us and the total amount that we can get fined. I honestly dislike the fact that fines can accumulate over time, for everyday noise occurred while we were unaware of it was happening behind our backs.
http://www.toronto.ca/311/knowledgebase/64/101000042164.html
If they didn’t tell you was bothering them, they don’t have a leg to stand on. And with all the harassment they’ve given you it would end up them paying out. A lot of hassle to go through, but I believe that you will come out on top.