A row with neighbours has left a mum blocked from accessing her own back garden which is on communal grounds. Naima Watt, 36, said she has been left 'shaking and in tears' by the dispute which has raged for three month.
Naima, who lives in Ayr, Scotland, claims neighbours have left a barricade of bins on the border of her garden and put a padlock on the main fence to the 'shared communal' close
The mum of an 11-year-old boy, Kai, told Ayrshire Live: “I feel like someone else is controlling my whole life. I just can’t stop shaking and I get upset every time I think about it."
The private tenant who lives in Ayr's Annfield Glen Road, said the dispute means she has unable to collect parcels or have her rear windows cleaned. “I’m desperate for it to stop, it has been going on for three months and it is just so much negative energy that I need to live next to," she said.
“I can’t get parcels delivered, when it was Kai’s birthday his presents were late because I had to collect them from a depot. The window cleaners can’t get access, my son can’t get his bike out from the back.
“I once ended up locked out as well because the front door closed when I was out and I couldn’t get back in via the back.”
Naima is currently recovering from a dislocated shoulder and damaged nerve endings after a fall last year. Her injuries meant that she can’t carry her son’s bike through the house and her only option is currently blocked off due to the ongoing dispute.
And she claims the neighbour war left son Kai without his bike on important Bike Ability lessons at school. Naima told Ayrshire Live: “I dislocated and fractured my shoulder and damaged nerve endings last year so I can’t lift my son’s bike through the house.
“He’s had to spend all summer without his bike.”
Tensions reached boiling point when Kai was left in tears after he couldn’t get his bike out to go to Bike Ability at school. Naima said: “My son was standing waiting with his bike, but he couldn’t get out.
“My son had to go to his bike ability without his bike, he was so upset, he kept crying. He had to watch all his class mates enjoy their bike course.”
Naima says the problems created by the blockade have caused a full summer of discontent.
Now she is desperate for an end to the conflict and is urging her landlord to help fix the problems.
Ayrshire Live has seen sight of the lease from her home which states in the any shared areas/ facilities section that there is a “right of access through back garden of the adjoining property and the shared communal close.”
Naima added: “I’ve been to the council, I’ve been to the police, I’ve been to a lawyer through legal aid – and I’ve been told nothing can be done. It has to be my landlord who fixes this.”
But officers at the local authority’s ASBO team were unable to deal with her complaint as it is understood that both neighbours are not council tenants.
A council spokesperson said: "We provide a service to anyone reporting cases of anti-social behaviour. We investigated this particular issue and there was no evidence of anti-social behaviour. We offered mediation to the parties to help them resolve their access dispute but this was declined.
"We have advised both the home owner and the private landlord, that they will need to contact their own solicitor to resolve the issue.”
Naima’s landlord did not wish to comment. When approached by Ayrshire Live the neighbour did not wish to comment.
Police said they received a report of an issue and gave advice to Naima.
