I came home a few times last week to find an extension lead running from my neighbor’s garage into the socket on the back of my house. I unplugged it the first time, figured it was an honest mistake.Then I caught him doing it again. I had a quiet word, saying, “Mate, that’s my power you’re using, it’s on MY meter!” He just laughed it off and said, “C’mon, man. It’s only pennies!”

He did it again while I was out, so I’ve now installed a lockable cover over the socket. This morning, I froze when I found a note through my letterbox saying: since I’ve “blocked the community socket”, he’ll need to charge his e-bike inside my house when it rains, and asked me to leave my back gate unlocked for him for that on Saturday.I’m not trying to cause a war here, I even offered to go halves on getting a sparky to fit an outdoor socket on his own wall and he refused. Now I hear he’s telling other neighbors I’m being tight. Have I gone over the top by locking it, or is he just being unbelievably rude? This is just mad!