He's elderly (84 or 85). My house is joined with his. There's a third house that is partially joined to his and they recently had a new kitchen fitted, so there was a lot of drilling in the morning. Since then, he's been blasting the radio on what sounds like a subwoofer aimed against the wall every morning at 7 AM. I live with my brother and my mum, and it wakes us all up. It's a very deep bassy noise so it's hard to block out or drown out. It goes on until 1 PM.
He is doing this on purpose. He did the same thing in 2023 and I went over to his house assuming he didn't know he was being loud and politely told him to turn his TV down in the morning because it's waking us up. Then he told me he's doing it to wake my brother up because "every night at 1:30 AM he wakes me up making wolf noises in the garden so I'll wake him up too since he's obviously not sleeping during the night since he's making noises all night" (foxes frequently visit our garden at night). He's also accused my brother of "cloning my phone", "stealing my water", "stealing my food deliveries", and other crackpot things.
All Summer this year he was blasting one of those 120 dB sirens at 1:30, 2:30, and 3:30 AM each night. He'd then scream at the wall for a minute or two after sounding the siren, seemingly to do with my brother. Sometimes he'd then wake up at 7 AM and immediately go and blast the radio all day. He would also come outside into his garden with a frying pan calling my brother's name. The sirens stopped in July.
The kitchen work on the third house is done and was completed on the 24th of November, but they've left a fridge next to my neighbour's drive. A few days ago he came outside and my mum heard him yell "move your fridge, [brother's name]!".
In August and September and much of October he was quiet but now he's blasting the radio multiple days in a row for weeks on end. I have health problems and don't need this. I have other things going on in my life and recently this was the straw that broke the camel's back and I had a mental breakdown on the 1st of December which caused me to knock stuff off a shelf which caused a very old and very sentimental item of mine to break (I did not mean to break it, just to knock stuff off the shelf). I feel on edge because I can't really sleep early because he also blasts his TV until 12 PM. It's not just the loud noise, it's also the reason he's doing it.
We have complained numerous times to the council (environmental health), as well as the police. They have sent him letters but he has ignored all of them and continues the harassment. He is obviously refusing to take his medication.
He has also called the police on us and we had two police officers arrive at our door because of his slander. All 3 of us are not well, we don't make any noise, and need our sleep. I don't want to move as this was my grandparent's house that was given to us by them after they died.
We are at wit's end here. We just want the harassment to stop. Is there a way we could get him sectioned under the mental health act? From what we know, he stopped taking his medication in 2020. This is when most of the bizarre texts my mum received from him began (she still has them all saved).
edit: For non UK readers, being "sectioned" means being involuntarily hospitalised and forced to take medication
Hi thanks for the reply. I'll answer each of the questions:
I did. Once two years ago, and the most recent time was very late May this year when he started the siren and yelling thing again. Police did arrive at his home on both occasions but he refused to answer the door. The police didn't do anything more besides knocking his door, shouting they're police, and ringing his doorbell. He has a doorbell camera that's hooked up to his smartphone. We get the impression the police just go "oh he's got mental health problems" so refuse to do anything even though he told me what his intentions were two years ago when he was doing the exact same thing.
No worries. We haven't done this.
That's something I've been considering. Considering the house is semi detached I'm not sure if the people in the third house can hear the radio blasting all morning. It sounds like the radio is in his hallway right next to the wall between our homes so perhaps they don't hear it. Either way if it continues I'll inquire about it to them. Their house is just a few meters down the road.
My mum puts out food for them. One of them has bad mange and is very skinny. I haven't heard the foxes lately though, not since the young cubs have grew up. I'll mention this to her though. Foxes aren't the only possible trigger, it's also if he sees one of us going to the car or coming up the street. We notice this seems to trigger him and right after he's blasting the radio all morning or his TV will be on full blast all evening.
He does, a niece who lives a way away. She comes up very occasionally to help tend to his garden. Maybe every 6 months or once a year. My mum has complained about him to her and the niece ended up blocking my mum. He lives alone.
Good idea. I'll look into that.
I know it can be stressful, I just really can't be dealing with harassment on top of everything else going on so I'm trying to find a good way of navigating this. I appreciate your help a ton.