Neighbour Blog Part 1...

My wife and I have come to the conclusion that we are dealing with a neighbour who acts like a spoilt child and becomes spiteful and irrational when challenged! He is a university graduate who worked as an IT contractor but latterly has started companies involved in property letting and management and he is the Company Secretary of a local company operating a bar and brewery. We have no idea how such a person can be so ignorant and totally dismissive of those that do not belong to his social group.

He appears to be obsessed with his standing amongst his peers and seems to spend a fortune on showing off. His huge kitchen extension built back in 2019/2020, multiple cars and continuous improvements to the interior of his house seem solely aimed at trying to impress others although, we have been told that he has made changes to his property for use as an HMO (House of Multiple Occupation) which, if this is true, will bring a lot of legal grief his way.

He has, over the last 4-5 years employed 2 main contractors, Mr Angry who became very upset when he was asked to move his vehicle one day. He stopped working for Mr Braun circa 2023 and his place was taken by Vlad (our name for him), an eastern european handyman/builder etc. Vlad is also a very angry man and argues every point made to him. He is, in my opinion, the epitome of belligerence. He is also has a history of deliberately blocking the driveway despite multiple requests not to do so which he totally ignores. He also refuses to move his vehicle when requested!

A Strange Relationship

Mr Braun's relationship with Vlad (the Eastern European contractor) has developed into a social relationship. They make a great pair, my neighbour and Vlad as they are both arrogant, ignorant and rude in the extreme. I have given up tackling Vlad over his totally selfish parking as it is pointless; his ignorance of the law, belief in his own interpretation of right and wrong and total disregard for anyone but himself truly reflect his employer.

We now have a dangerous combination to contend with! Mr Braun, who is just plain nasty and his Eastern European Contractor, Vlad who is arrogant, ignorant, belligerent, manipulative and a bully. It's a perfect combination and all the evidence we have seen so far suggests that Mr Braun is extremely influenced by Vlad! Mr Braun has made it perfectly clear that he does not wish to comply with his obligations as a neighbour and will continue to do what he wants, when he wants with no regard for the impact his actions have on others. It has become obvious that Vlad has great influence over Mr Braun who is has shown himself to be extremely gullible and easily manipulated.

A Penny Saved

Mr Braun will go out of his way to shave a penny off here or a penny off there, so much so that when his central heating boiler required replacement, he employed a firm in west London to come to our town, some 75 miles away, to do the work. We were still speaking at the time and when I saw the 'finished' job, I asked Mr Braun if the company were actually Gas Safe registered as the installation was a complete bodge on the outside. The plumbers hadn't even trimmed the flue pipe on the boiler so that, to this day, it protrudes at least a foot from the wall of the house. The 'condensate' pipe to the drain was angled at 45 degrees across the front of the house in white plastic piping with a bodged repair using blue insulating tape.

How Many Vehicles?

And finally, the Braun's have 4 vehicles but there are only 2 drivers in the household.

• A Range Rover, nicknamed the "Bling Rover" by us due to all its chrome being replaced with gold
• A Mercedes saloon car (missing since May 2025)
• An ancient Mercedes Mini Bus which sits permanently in 1 of the 2 parking bays in our street. In fact it does move occasionally but only for a few days at a time normally
• An ancient BMW M3 convertible which Mr Braun drives in the summer. It is 20 years old but is de-aged with personalised number plates

Basic Problems with My Neighbour

• Despite numerous warnings that he is in breach of the covenants contained in his deeds, he parks his own vehicles and allows others to park their vehicles so that they obstruct our 'Right of Way' over the driveway.
• My neighbour has never asked if we mind people parking on the driveway despite more than 50% of the land belonging to us. Mr Braun feels 'entitled' to do as he wishes. He has also told visitors that they can park on the driveway.
• Mr Braun has, allegedly, called us "untouchables" which is the word that one of his Indian builders used.
• Mr Braun has repeatedly lied to both my wife and myself regarding his intentions regarding the driveway surface which his contractors destroyed. They excavated a trench in the driveway, fitted a drainage inspection cover incorrectly and, in the process, lost 2 - 3 tons of decorative aggregate. The upshot of this is that the driveway floods every time it rains.
• Mr Braun refuses to engage and discuss the issues, preferring to send his wife out to discuss the issues.
• Numerous instances of Mr Braun and his cronies standing in the street or on the driveway, talking loudly at 2, 3 or even 4 o'clock in the morning. This also affects other neighbours in the close who have been woken up.
• Mr Braun's permanent commandeering of one of the two visitor parking spots in the street.
• The parties where his visitors park on other neighbour's driveways or block their cars in.
• Mr Braun has completely destroyed the driveway surface and sub-surface by allowing heavy vehicles to drive onto the property but refuses to do anything about it. He has spent many. many thousands of pounds over the years extending and modifying his house but nothing on the exterior of the property. To our knowledge, he hasn't had his windows cleaned since he moved in in 2016. His garage door is peeling and filthy!

Timeline of Issues

Thurs. 4 May 2023: The BMW and Mercedes Mini-bus are still here but the Mercedes car has gone, only to be replaced by a bigger Mercedes car. I do talk about our problems with the Brauns with the other neighbours as I am aware that they see and hear things which make them aware that there is a problem. A recent 'chat' with one of the neighbours further down the road made me aware that the Brauns are universally despised because of the parking problems they cause and their habit of parking their vehicles in parking spots used by other residents. It appears that I have allies that I never knew existed.

Sat 20 May 2023: The Brauns held a party and it caused shocking problems for both us and our neighbours! My wife estimates that circa 50 people attended, both adults and children with arrivals starting early evening. The visitors kept turning up in their cars and most of them dropped just off their passengers but a few decided that they were entitled to park where they wanted, blocking neighbour's driveways and restricting the width of the already narrow street. Had there been an emergency such as a fire or the need for an ambulance, the emergency vehicles wouldn't have stood a chance of getting down the street.

Despite, our warning to Mr and Mrs Braun, one visitor parked on the end of our driveway for 3 hours from 20:56 until 00:02 the next morning! The Braun's allowed this flagrant breach of the rules and showed their utter contempt for both us and our other neighbours! The driver of the car totally ignored the large "No Parking on the Driveway" sign on the front of the wheelie-bin which shows how ignorant and entitled they really are. Three requests/demands were made to move the vehicle and all were ignored!

August 2023 – Midnight Vehicle Shuffle

Mon 7 August 2023: Is it reasonable to decide to move one's vehicles at midnight? Well, Mr Braun did just that at 00:03 this morning. He moved the Bling Rover and the white Mercedes off of his parking area and then put the BMW convertible on the area followed by the Bling Rover and the Mercedes. The BMW has been badly parked for weeks on another road nearby. The Mercedes Mini-bus is still permanently taking up one of the 2 visitor parking spots our street.

September 2023 – Minibus Disappears

September 2023: The Minibus has finally gone! the Braun's went off in it with a whole lot of family members and it has never been seen again, hoorah!

May 2023 - We took action and got our Solicitor to write to the Brauns

Things have been a lot better since May this year (2023), when he was read the Riot Act by our solicitor and was told that if he didn't stop allowing his visitors and contractors to park on and/or obstruct the driveway, I was going to take him to court. Of course, Vlad has continued throughout the summer to park his van unnecessarily on the driveway causing obstruction on many occasions.

2024 - A New Year, Same Problems

OK, I'll own up, although things have been better on the parking/obstruction front, they are far from satisfactory! The stress of wondering what Mr Braun and his visitors/contractors are going to do next is starting to get to my wife and me.

I look at the situation very simplistically, the deeds say that Mr Braun and his family etc. MUST NOT prevent my use of the 'Right of Way' across their property and likewise, I MUST NOT prevent their reciprocal rights. I should not have to tackle their visitors and contractors and ask them to move their vehicles off of the driveway as they should not be there in the first place. Mr Braun's front door has a full view of the driveway and they can clearly see if anyone is parking selfishly and blocking or impeding our right of way yet, they are either unwilling or unable to simply ask their visitors to park in the visitors spaces in the street.

In the case of Vlad, this man is such a belligerent bully that I seriously believe that he will not listen to Mr Braun and will do as he pleases. Of course it doesn't help matters when Mr Braun permanently parks his own vehicles in the visitor parking spaces.

My wife gave up driving our car some time ago as she will not navigate the restricted width of the driveway when Mr Braun's visitors so selfishly block or obstruct it. I have reached the end of my tether with Mr Braun's visitors and I'm fed up with their arguing and sometimes, abusive reaction to being asked to move their vehicles. I can remember two contractors in the last year that have actually stated that Mr Braun told them to park on the driveway!

February 2024 - Noise and Takeaways

We were shocked to see the Mercedes Minibus reappear on the street a few days ago but it seems to have gone again so, fingers crossed. The anti-social behaviour continues and is even worse this year as Mr Braun and family are often out until 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning and they often have visitors during the evening that don't leave until the early hours making a lot of noise as they depart.

We were wrong, the Minibus seems to be back to stay and, as before, it is permanently parked in one of the two visitor parking spaces.

For a family that spent many, many thousands of pounds on a huge kitchen extension, they eat an awful lot of take-ways. It is almost a daily occurrence to see at least one and sometimes up to three take-way drivers arrive. They seem to live on take-ways.

Over the last three years, there have been contractors working inside Mr Braun's house for at least half the year. One can't imagine how much money has been spent inside the house and to what end. A neighbour commented that for all the money Mr Braun has clearly spent over that last 4 years, he could have bought a 5 or 6 bedroom house, with more than adequate parking in a much better area of the town. We both decided that we would never know Mr Braun's thinking!

Mr Braun has taken to playing extremely loud drum and bass (Jungle) music in whichever of the cars he decides to drive on a daily basis. It is deafening at times but goes well with his image of baseball cap. cool shades etc. Oh, by the way, did I mention that he and his wife are both in their early 40s!

I mentioned before that I don't discuss my problems with my other neighbours apart from one and then, not in great detail so, you can imagine my surprise when, chatting to another neighbour, Mr Braun came up in the conversation. I suddenly discovered that I was not alone! I was told that Mr Braun had made himself very unpopular with at least 6 of the nine families living in our part of the close, primarily due to his selfish parking but, even more worryingly, over his fast driving in our street, which, I believe I mentioned, has no sidewalks and is very narrow. I was also informed that he had, lied to other neighbours about the purpose of his extension to his property when he was sucking up to them to approve his building works.

A Dark Kitchen and HMO Suspicions

We believe, on reflection, that the huge kitchen and attached room with toilet and washing facilities were intended for use as a Take-Away kitchen with facilities for drivers and riders which thankfully never materialised. We have also been told that one of his contractors with whom he had a disagreement, mentioned that Mr Braun is making alterations to his property with the intention of turning it into a HMO (House in Multiple Occupation) which would explain the huge amount of work being carried out inside the property which, by the way, is still progressing through the winter of 2023 - 2024.

Then, in January 2024, we discovered that Mr Braun has started-up a limited company with the following business aims:

• Buying and selling of own real estate
• Other letting and operating of own or leased real estate
• Management of real estate on a fee or contract basis

So, it looks as if Mr Braun is going into the property business.

Now we find that Mrs Braun has also registered a limited company with the same aims as her husband's! A cynic might see a great opportunity for money laundering!

There have been some run-ins with visitors parking on the driveway so far this year. One parked their car right on the end of the driveway, completely blocking it and when challenged, got very argumentative and even swore at me. Mr Braun or his wife, came out and moved one of their cars so that the visitor could park properly in their parking area. The second one involved a driver who pulled onto the drive, switched on his hazard lights and then ran into the house. 20 minutes later, as I was photographing his number plate, he came out and at least apologised. I explained to him that he had no right to park on the driveway and he promised to never do so again.

The "Blue Lagoon" puddle

The damage to the driveway has increased and the puddle mentioned before has now become a lake. My half of the driveway entrance is being damaged by Mr Braun's insistence on tearing off of the driveway and the constant traffic of his contractors.

Unbelievable – March 2024 Incident

Tuesday 12 March 2024: We went to town for lunch and shopping. What we came home to was unbelievable!

My wife was extremely upset and once I had settled her in the house, I took the photograph shown here. I then went to Mr Braun's front door where I could see bodies moving around in the hallway. I pressed the doorbell but nothing seemed to happen so I banged on the door 3 or 4 times which got an almost instant reaction as the door was opened by Vlad who started to say something but I didn't wait, I simply walked away shouting "Move that van now!". I was utterly amazed when Vlad came out within about 30 seconds and moved the van into the totally vacant on-street parking spot where he should have been parked in the first place. I am pretty sure that Mrs Braun instructed him to move it!

This is typical of Vlad's selfish and, in my opinion, intimidating behaviour!

Why We Had to Involve a Solicitor Again

May 2024: We finally decided to involve our solicitor again and he has now written a further letter to the Brauns giving them one last chance to toe the line and comply with the law. Our solicitor took a different approach this time by reminding the Brauns that the deeds state that they are not allowed to have any 'commercial or trade' vehicles on their property so, all this time, none of the contractor's vehicles had any right to even drive onto the property at all. This wasn't previously brought to the Brauns attention as it was thought that the other restrictive covenants would suffice, clearly not!

Both Mr and Mrs Braun have been told that any further breach of the covenants and/or interference with our rights will result in legal action and a claim for damages. We really believe that the Brauns have no idea how much it could cost them!

What happened next truly surprised both our solicitor and ourselves! The very next day after the solicitor's letter was delivered to the Brauns, Mr Braun telephoned our solicitor who was out of the office so another solicitor took his call:

Mr Braun implied that our solicitor, a senior partner in the firm, hadn't done his job properly and checked the facts before sending the letter. He also implied that my wife and I were lying!. He complained that he had received two letters with different dates which he did but, had he actually read the latest letter he would have realised that there was a copy of the letter sent in 2023 for his information. Mr Braun then, out of the blue, stated that "he is friendly with the neighbours and that he respects his neighbours", I think his neighbours might have a different opinion.

Mr Braun stated that he would not be responding to the letter in writing as he is right and he is going to disregard the letter and probably shred it. He also stated that he was going to do what he wished on the shared driveway and that he had no control over vehicles parking on the property. He fails to understand that he is totally accountable and responsible for the actions of visitors and contractors on his property.

Mr brown clearly did not understand the letter as he is completely misinterpreting its content.

Mr Braun's telephone call was irrational and delusional with regard to his comments about his neighbours. He clearly shows that he has no respect for the law or anyone else!

I think the old adage "It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt" applies here.

Dumb and Dumber...

29 June 2024: The latest incident, which is still unfolding involves both Vlad (Dumb) and Mr Braun (Dumber). I apologise for the humour but it helps relieve the stress!

Mr Braun appears to have retaliated in a most childish and irrational manner to our solicitor's letter. He has, with the help and no doubt encouragement of Vlad, laid a string along the centreline of the driveway running from the garages to the edge of the area over which our 'right of way' exists. He has placed a wheelie-bin at the junction of the two areas in the middle of the driveway.

We cannot understand what Mr Braun's intentions are unless it is some pathetic, knee-jerk, attempt to mark 'his' territory and, perhaps, intimidate us. Our car is to the left and one of his cars is shown to the right.

The wheelie-bin has been placed at the start of the area of the driveway where the 'right of way' exists and the area extends to the front of the driveway which is at the bottom of the picture. Dumb (Vlad) spent some time measuring the position of the wheelie-bin, as captured on our CCTV camera and his attempts to decide where the boundaries lay were hilarious and totally useless, in other words, he didn't have a clue what he was doing!

The Anti-Social Behaviour Continues

15 June 2024 01:12: A hoard of people left the Braun's house and stood in the close talking loudly whilst starting their cars and driving off. They had begun to gather after 22:30 the previous evening, just as noisily. There appeared to be 4 cars with at least 10 adults, all male, and they showed no respect for people sleeping. This is quite a common occurrence but this one stood out because they all left at the same time. So much for Mr Braun 'respecting his neighbours'!

The wheelie-bin was moved soon after the photo above was taken but, the bricks remain forming a trip hazard. Clearly, Mr brown doesn't care or even considers this a problem.

The gatherings of Mr Braun's friends and cronies continue, usually on Friday and/or Saturday evenings. They arrive at or just after 22:00 and don't leave until 01:00 or 02:00. Needless to say, they do not leave quietly!

12 August 2024: Other than 1 incident where a contractor was allowed to park on the driveway for over an hour, things have been relatively normal, no visitors or contractors have parked on the driveway and Vlad has parked in the street although he is not visiting on a regular basis.

October 2024 – More Parties and Parking Mayhem

We have had a couple of instances of visitors blocking the driveway recently but I've not made a fuss about it. Had I needed to get off of the driveway I would have torn the Brauns a new one!

28 October 2024: Out of the blue, cars and visitors started arriving during the evening and it soon became obvious that the Brauns were having a party, on a Monday? The usual mayhem ensued as there wasn't enough space in the street for the cars so, most of them dropped off their passengers and drove off to park somewhere else.

Except for this idiot! He parked his car on the street at the end of our driveway, locked it and went inside the Braun's house. OK, I thought, he's just popped inside for a moment and then he's going to come out and move his car... Nope, he left it there so I, yet again, hammered on the brown's front door and told the person who opened it "Move the car now!" It was moved a couple of minutes later but seriously, who parks like that?, only an ignorant, selfish moron in my opinion!

More importantly, why didn't the Brauns tell him not to park there? They know the rules but choose to ignore them when it suits them!