Many of us cannot do without neighbours. This is because some neighbors are like families.They have become so close to us that we cannot bear to watch them move away from our neighborhood. However, some are a pain in the ass.
sour ce
Do you live where neighbors are stalking you, wanting to know the kind of job you do? Is the noise from their house or music, deafening and makes it difficult for you to relax? Without knowing it, you are being harassed.These are annoying neighbors.
source for images 2$3
Harrassment is any behavoiur , verbal or physical which threatens a person. It is an act which makes someone unprotected and unsafe.Several forms of harassment exist, verbal, sexual, personal, marital, neighbour harassment, harassment through tresspass, mischief etc.
But for the purpose of this post, I am going to look at the neighbor harrassment.
Neighbour harassment could be in form of damaging your property repeatedly, noise pollution, tresspassing or someone passing lewd comment each time they see you. That neighbor that borrows items from you and never returns or the neighbour who uses vulgar words on kids in the compound is annoying. In some environment some neighbours drop garbage on people's property.
Some neighbours go to the extent of sending children on errands without their parents knowledge or permission. Recently i saw an eight year old girl on a commercial motorbyke, running errand for a neighbour. Thats risky. We have them so many, in the neighbourhood.
I wouldnt know if this is harassment but i know a neighbour who knocks on people's door as early as 5:00AM to say she ran out of match stick. Hmmm. Imagine a friend telling me her neighbor called her up while she was in a ceremony to ask for yam pounder. She told the neighbor she was still in the ceremony but the woman insisted that her yam was almost cooked. She had to run back home to give her the yam pounder and thats over for the ceremony.
How about the neighbor who eavedrops on your conversation every other night and make some remark about it in the morning.
source
Such behavior is much more than annoying and some even make you feel unsafe. How can you deal with an annoying neighbor or his harassment? Should you go legal?
It could be legal but it has to be proven in court (in order to have a viable case ) that you have suffered some economic, property, financial and emotional damage leading to mental health conditions confirmed by a medical practitional.
HELP FOR DEALING WITH ANNOYING NEIGHBORS WITH THEIR HARRASSMENT
- Dialogue with the neighbour-- Visit the neighbour and if he is not violent and you know your life is not going to be threatened, discuss and let him or her know your stand about the issue on ground
- Keep a record-- Document your visit and discussion. Keep a log of your visit and dates. If you have a log of complaints along with the dates, it will help build your case if you decide to go legal.
- Seek help--- where you live, find out if there are social workers who can mediate and look into the case
- Go Legal. If things go out of hand, and there seem to be no change about the harrassment you get from your neighbors, dont just get mad. Get a lawyer. If everybody in the building or neighborhood knows him/her well to annoy or harass people, then your case is easy. You might have witnesses. Police intervention can ease up things too and he could be given a warrant to stay away from you and your property.
- Move out of the house if you do not want any trouble.
ARE THERE NEIGHBOR HARRASSMENT LAWS?
If you get in touch with relevant authorities of your state or your country, you could find temporary warning orders which may resist your annoying neighbor from his place of residence .
Depending on how severe the level of harassment is, the harasser could be charged with a disorderly person offense or assault.
Neighbor harassment can be enhanced to a felony if the offender act involves an imminent threat of violent action. If it involves a threat of violence that may lead to severe physical harm, or the victim believes that communicating or dialogue with the harasser is likely to cause a violent response, then a felony may be charged. Other states may require the threat to be immediate for a charge of felony.
Although problems from annoying neighbors may sometimes be overlooked, any act from any neighbor that poses a threat to your life or repeatedly annoys and irritates you is criminal, a harassment. Do not allow any one make you feel uncomfortable, however dont get mad, follow the steps above or get a lawyer.
More so, if you are aware of of harassment faced by people in your neighborhood, mention and sudggest how such case can be tackled.
This piece was sourced from here, here and here
THANKS FOR READING
I'M
