Google me: Neighbours from hell

By THERESA GARNER

The story this week of a monkey apple hedge that caused such friction between Herne Bay neighbours that it took a High Court judge to lay the matter to rest would resonate among all of us who live in homes next door to other people. In effect, everyone.

A search on google for the term "neighbours from hell" brings up 77,000 matches.

Many of the websites tend to be in the country that invented manners and politeness - England. But an Englishman's home is his castle, and the world's most comprehensive website on "neighbours from hell" is based there. Neighbours From Hell came about due to the creator's personal experiences with "repeatedly anti-social, noisy, inconsiderate and rude neighbours".

It gives free advice on resolving problems. Noise seems to be the number one problem over the fence. Examples on the site are a teenage wannabe who was threatened with noise control action by her council in Devon for singing too loudly, and the horror of a man stabbed in Leeds after arguing over noise levels.

Possibly the most interesting tales are not those from news stories, but from blogs such as www.hgriggs.com. In a post headed Our Himalayan Cats is the following abridged tale of a state of siege: "The new neighbours have not turned out very nice. They are young and arrogant, and they bought for investment and plan on moving soon, so they don't really care about fitting in with the neighbours.

"They brought a neutered male called Max. He's grey and white and looks really sweet. At home, he's placid and gentle and happy and looks as if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. When he leaves the house, he believes that all the neighbourhood is his and he must go out and mark his territory and fight and make sure that all the other cats know that it's his. So he fights.

"The Siamese next door has been attacked and been to the vet for abscesses. Our two cats have been attacked about five times each in the last six months, with vet visits each time for the abscesses and wounds.

"The vet bill is already close to the $1500 mark. We've spoken to the neighbours about it, and they look concerned and say they'll pay half the vet bill. All mouth and no action. Everyone is gunning for Max. If he gets cornered, he won't be going home. It might be me, it might be one of the others, but if Max makes one mistake, he will be garden fertiliser, and we will all be relaxing. The next item in this page will be news of his death."

On the website Bully Online we find that the makers of Faking It and Wife Swap are looking for participants for a new reality TV show. The producers want to build an "idyllic community" and are asking people to nominate their troublesome neighbours.

Bad neighbours are bad enough, but even moving house may not be as easy as you think. The Guardian advises that keeping quiet about a dispute so you can sell a house is against the law. In a landmark case, Tony Pemberton, of Foxwood in York, recently won undisclosed damages because the previous owners of his home did not tell him about noise from a neighbour's house.