Homeowners are being hit for damages totalling £246m every year due to neighbourhood botches, according to Direct Line.
The insurer’s research has found that neighbours cause a wide range of woe, from smashed windows and severed electricity supplies to flooding.
During the last five years, 9% of homeowners have suffered damage at the hands of their neighbours, with each incident costing an average of £541.
Perhaps surprisingly, the most common type of mishap is not a smashed window but a severed utility, whether electricity, gas, phone lines and water.
Property damage, such as garden walls, garden ornaments and smashed windows, was the second most common.
Naturally, the more serious incidents can damage relationships, and 7% of those affected have turned to the courts, but 10% now say they are closer to their neighbour following a mishap.
Direct Line’s Matt Owen has emphasised that most people do get on well with their neighbours, and stated that once the situation is resolved matters need not escalate.