Last year Pat moved from his Royal Connaught Hotel penthouse condo to a nearby small (tiny) home in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Little did he know he would be entering into a Nightmare Neighbor situation.
At the time bought his house, a 564 foot house, the house next door to him was unoccupied. Apparently an elderly man owned it who had died. The house was unoccupied until a few months after Pat moved into his house. Then next door a young homeless couple took advantage of the unoccupied middle home and moved in. Apparently the woman is a relative (granddaughter?) of the deceased man whose estate still owns the house. After they moved in then began a daily stream of unsavory characters all during the day. Thus began Pat's nightmare and his other neighbor ("Sam") who owns the house on the other side of the three tiny houses (see photo).
Last month I visited Pat at his home (my photo at the begging of this blog). Pat loves his home. Pat is a minimalist. His home is perfect for him. What a shame that his peace and tranquility is destroyed by the squatters who took advantage of the abandoned home next to him.
I was schedule to visit Pat for a week. I could only stay one night at his home. The noise during the night from his next door neighbor (banging on the wall, screaming at her boyfriend, etc) kept me awake all night. The next day I went up the street and booked a room at the Hampton Inn at a total cost of almost $1,000. I had no choice, I couldn't go a week without sleep. Hell, I can't go a day without my afternoon nap.
I could visit Pat during the day because apparently his neighbors are vampires, they sleep during the day (no jobs of course), but they arise at dusk and thus begins another nightmarish evening of noise for Pat from his squatter neighbors. What a nightmare for Pat!
Pat has called the city of Hamilton numerous times along with his neighbor on the other side of the squatter couple. The city does nothing. NOTHING! Except maybe perhaps collect their salary, which they collect whether they do something or not.
I'm not a religious person (far from it) but I do thank God (or whoever) that I now live in a quiet neighborhood. Oh I've had bad neighbors over the years. Homophobic neighbors who send their kids on the border of our (me and Bill) property and yell "Fags get out!" for hours on end on a peaceful Saturday morning (I took care of that). Then I've had the noisy neighbors. The trashy neighbors. The nosey neighbors. But here, in southern coastal Delaware I have the best neighbors I could ever hope for an even better, this neighborhood is always quiet except for the occasional summer time "concert" across Route One in Hudson Fields which sometimes gets carried away with itself and goes into the night with loud speaks at full blast shouting the "MF" word (that hasn't happened for a couple years now).
Out of frustration Pat and his neighbor "Sam" (Samantha, who is also a caregiver to her husband in addition to her full-time job, she needs the sleep) have contacted the local radio station and newspaper to publicize the lack of city action against their disruptive neighbors who don't even pay to live there or taxes. Isn't that the way it often is? Good, law abiding citizens have to have their quality of life destroyed by those members of our society who are too lazy or self indulged to care how their life affects their neighbors. And what is government for anyway than to protect us not only our physical safety from crime but also out quality of life that Pat pays very high taxes? Pat is seventy-five years old but he still has to work to keep up with the expense of living in his home in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The squatters next door? They pay no taxes and disturbed the whole neighborhood. What is even worse is that Pat's city government does nothing. NOTHING! What a shame! Eventually Pat will move down here to Delaware to live with me, an old man who is rapidly failing but in the meantime this is what Pat has to put up with. Maybe this newspaper article in his local Hamilton newspaper will be the beginning of a change. Hopefully.
12 comments:
OMG! What a terrible situation for Pat. I hope there's some resolution to this soon. I wonder if he and his neighbor could go together and get an attorney? I know that's expensive, but how in the hell could you even sell this home, especially now with the newspaper article? I wish him the best. I've lived in my condo for 25 years and have been very fortunate to always have nice neighbors who respect quiet and privacy. A number of retired professors from the local university live here and they're not running frat houses! LOL! You certainly have an ideal situation where you live, Ron. Stay put!! Best of luck to Pat and keep us posted.
Paranormal John
There is nothing worse than having to deal with neighbors from hell. I can fully sympathize with Pat. When I lived in Texas my neighbors were drug dealers and prostitutes, with about twenty people living in one house. The worst part is that the police were friends with them!!
That's why I'm now living in a rural area in TN. I NEVER want to live near neighbors again. All my best to Pat.
Paranormal John,
It's such a shame because Pat finally found the perfect place to live. Right in downtown Hamilton, not far from where he used to live in the very expensive Royal Connaught Hotel condo which he could no longer afford to live. The walls are thin and he can hear the woman screaming at the guy from early in the evening until the three or four o'clock in the morning and sometimes even later. There is an almost constant stream of Hell's Angel's type of characters visiting them, obviously they're selling low level drugs like meth or other drugs. They also drag in scrap metal and other things to sell to make money to fuel their drug habit. The police and city obviously don't care, they receive their salary whether of not they do anything and right now they haven't done anything. Pat's been complaining for over a year about the obvious criminal activity going on let alone how they're affecting his quality of life and his neighbor's quality of life on the other side. Why does anyone pay taxes to a city government if not to protect them from obvious quality of life and criminal activity? I am so lucky where I live now, a nice quiet neighborhood. I've lived next to bad neighbors but nothing like what Pat is going through now. I hope by publicizing his situation something is finally done.
Ron
That is a nightmare. And shame on those county officials for doing nothing. Maybe there is a local reporter (other than print) that they could contact. I know here we have "investigative" reporters who focus on this type of thing; they highlight and go after cases/situations in which people have found no recourse from "officials." And often have luck.
And is this woman a squatter?? Did she actually inherit the house? I am thinking of moving but things like this worry me. I love my neighbors now but who knows what I would get? (And maybe that's what my new neighbors would be saying about me! Haha.)
Yesterday was a good day, wasn't it, for those of us who appreciate the law. A really good day. Although I admit, I would not have wanted to be on that jury. Trump supporters are a rabid lot; I can only imagine personal details of the jurors will be leaked.
Take care, Ron!
These guys are doing all these disturbances at all hours of the day to get the people on each side to move.
They will buy the homes, demolish everything, build something with the required 3 units, and make some money.
They are not smart enough, but they may be being used as a pawn.
PS--One can contact their local US representative and or Senator here in the US.
Do they have something like that in Canada?
Give Pat our best. We are with him. Now if we have to fly out there and make an international incident we will.
Sounds like they may be running an illegal business processing stolen scrap metal in there.
Elle,
Yes, the woman is a squatter. Supposedly she has some connection with the elderly man whose estate owns the property. I think she's a granddaughter or grandniece but not the one named in a will, if there is one. She's just taking advantage of the situation because apparently the elderly man did not have a will. Pat and his neighbor already checked into that aspect. Apparently the man's estate could be tied up for years in the meantime this woman found a place to live with her boyfriend and conduct "business".
Yes, yesterday was a good day for the rule of the law. Now it's criminal Trump, what I've been saying all along. The criminal Trump has been getting away with breaking the law his whole life, finally he's being held to account.
Ron
Ivy Green,
Yes, they are definitely running an illegal business out of that house they are squatting in. Also probably drugs (meth) because there's a steady stream of traffic of all kinds of unsavory types of characters.
Ron\
Vic,
Believe me, those squatters are not trying to get Pat and his neighbor to move. They're just taking advantage of a situation of the deceased owner of the house not having a will. She's some kind of relative of his but not the owner. The estate is the owner of the house and there are other relative involved. Pat's on it, he'll keep the pressure on.
Ron
oh the horror; there is nothing as bad as feeling trapped near bad neighbors.
With all the sawing etc. are they manufacturing meth? That would grounds to get them out! I’m intrigued by the idea that they’re being paid to force the two neighbors to sell. That would be a tidy coup for the person who inherited. Can the estate be sued for allowing this mess to go on? Sympathies to Pat and his neighbor. It is ROUGH to get no sleep on top of having your space invaded. Been there…
How did you get the kids to stop yelling at you and Bill? Olivia
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