Urgent legal advice needed

Normal Rob · May 28, 2013

Hi all,

My wife and I are in a dispute over some land with our neighbours, rather than go into the specifics on the detail, I'll stick to my main point. As advised by our solicitor , we went around to see them yesterday to inform them that that they would be be getting a legal letter from our solicitor this week ,and that they would then ahave a right to reply to that letter to put forward their case (both parties are adamant that they are in the right).Things got a little bit heated (from their side, not ours) and it ended up with me being manhandled out of their house, whilst my wife was left inside.

I am going to the Police station this morning to put this on record, but I do not think that i should press charges as this would only add fuel to the fire. Am i right to think this, or should i not put it on record at all?

The guy next door,who moved in with my neighbour 6 months ago (she is the houseowner) was really aggressive. Rather than fight back i just lket him throw me out or it could have got really very nasty indeed.

Thanks in advance.

Springal · May 28, 2013

You let him man handle you, and left your wife in side ? And went along with it ?

I'd definitely go to the police to get it on file.

Normal Rob · May 28, 2013

Springal said:
You let him man handle you, and left your wife in side ? And went along with it ?

I'd definitely go to the police to get it on file.

yes, call me dumb but getting into a fight did not seem like a good idea. We were in the back garden at the time so i returned home, went into our garden and asked my wife if she was ok. She said she was, and i could view from there.

I think i did the right thing.

Springal · May 28, 2013

Normal Rob said:
yes, call me dumb but getting into a fight did not seem like a good idea. We were in the back garden at the time so i returned home, went into our garden and asked my wife if she was ok. She said she was, and i could view from there.

I think i did the right thing.

Ah OK that makes a bit more sense.

Either way, I'd at least get it logged, but maybe say you don't want any further action taken at this time. Will only help you with the legal side of things.

Mowgli37 · May 28, 2013

Sensible of you not to react, then sh*t really would have hit the fan! I'd report it if I was you

Goldstone1976 · May 28, 2013

There really isn't any such thing as putting it "on the record", nor do you decide whether to press criminal charges or not. You can go to the police to report a crime, if you believe that a crime has been committed (from what you say, perhaps assault?). The police will then decide whether to investigate (unlikely in my opinion) and if, after investigation, they decide there is evidence of a crime having been committed advise the CPS of their findings. The CPS then decide whether to bring the matter to a Court. Given that, imo, it's unlikely the police will do much, if anything, the only benefit in reporting the alleged crime to them is if something way more serious happens in the future. In that situation the fact that you have reported this event to the police can be taken as evidence by a Court that there is a history of issues between you and them.

Separately, you can bring a civil action against them - I would strongly advise against it - it'd be seriously expensive.

Finally, I'm surprised your solicitor advised you to go and see them (unless there's been no tension between you before over this matter, in which case, fair enough). My advice would be to not go and see them again. If it's got to legal letters, the best thing to do is to let the lawyers deal with the issues. Bear in mind that every time you speak to your solicitor or he/she sends them a letter or takes a call from the other side's solicitor it'll cost you money!

Good luck.

DavidinSouthampton · May 28, 2013

Not totally sure about the legalities, but if you report it, would you not then be asked if you want to press charges? which would be the step you would not want to take.

EDIT: previous poster probably knows much more than me.

Rookie · May 28, 2013

Tell/inform your solicitor. He will advise

Normal Rob · May 28, 2013

Rookie said:
Tell/inform your solicitor. He will advise

We called him earlier. It's his day off, which is somewhat infuriating as i wanted to do just this. Again, I'm not sure, but i just feel that if i am to put something on record, the sooner the better.

albionalex · May 28, 2013

Normal Rob said:
We called him earlier. It's his day off, which is somewhat infuriating as i wanted to do just this. Again, I'm not sure, but i just feel that if i am to put something on record, the sooner the better.

Does he not have an office you can call?

Tricky Dicky · May 28, 2013

I don't quite see, if you've got to the stage of legal letters, and have obviously given this some thought, why would you go round there ? What outcome were you expecting ? Presumably, your legal threat to force them to back down, but it sounds unlikely.

nwgull · May 28, 2013

Rookie said:
Tell/inform your solicitor. He will advise

And charge you accordingly - it's way cheaper to ask NSC!

Anyway, I'm intrigued about the dispute in the first place. You never know; you may get some decent advice from someone on here who's had a similar dispute.

dougdeep · May 28, 2013

Is the dispute really worth arguing over? These things can go on for years and end up costing thousands.

Normal Rob · May 28, 2013

Tricky Dicky said:
I don't quite see, if you've got to the stage of legal letters, and have obviously given this some thought, why would you go round there ? What outcome were you expecting ? Presumably, your legal threat to force them to back down, but it sounds unlikely.

we were trying to keep things civil and just explain that they would be getting the letter and they would then have the right to reply. Call me old fashioned, but i believed that it was just courtesy to keep them informed of developments, and to let themknow them that nothing would happen until they had had time to put forward their case. We had had no reason to suspect that they would react so badly.

The fact that they did has made me think that i have severely misjudged them.

Normal Rob · May 28, 2013

dougdeep said:
Is the dispute really worth arguing over? These things can go on for years and end up costing thousands.

fair point. Once my solicitor has seen what they have to say, I'll ask him if the risk/reward is worth pursuing, and will make a call then. I'm prepared to invest some money to investigate, but I'll make that decision on whether to continue after hearing the legal advice.

Racek · May 28, 2013

Normal Rob said:
fair point. Once my solicitor has seen what they have to say, I'll ask him if the risk/reward is worth pursuing, and will make a call then. I'm prepared to invest some money to investigate, but I'll make that decision on whether to continue after hearing the legal advice.

Is it a lot of land you are talking about?

Da Man Clay · May 28, 2013

Goldstone1976 said:
There really isn't any such thing as putting it "on the record", nor do you decide whether to press criminal charges or not. You can go to the police to report a crime, if you believe that a crime has been committed (from what you say, perhaps assault?). The police will then decide whether to investigate (unlikely in my opinion) and if, after investigation, they decide there is evidence of a crime having been committed advise the CPS of their findings. The CPS then decide whether to bring the matter to a Court. Given that, imo, it's unlikely the police will do much, if anything, the only benefit in reporting the alleged crime to them is if something way more serious happens in the future. In that situation the fact that you have reported this event to the police can be taken as evidence by a Court that there is a history of issues between you and them.

Separately, you can bring a civil action against them - I would strongly advise against it - it'd be seriously expensive.

Finally, I'm surprised your solicitor advised you to go and see them (unless there's been no tension between you before over this matter, in which case, fair enough). My advice would be to not go and see them again. If it's got to legal letters, the best thing to do is to let the lawyers deal with the issues. Bear in mind that every time you speak to your solicitor or he/she sends them a letter or takes a call from the other side's solicitor it'll cost you money!

Good luck.

I'd be very surprised if the police didn't go and speak to them regardless of whether or not NR wishes to price charges. Doubt it would go to CPS now though - More than likely the police will make their own disposal decision on minor offences. You are allowed to use reasonable force to remove someone from your premises though depending on the circumstances so may well use that as a defence.

brighton rock · May 28, 2013

Meet somewhere nutrel next time and have a little recorder in your pocket
Boundary disputes can take years take over your life and cost lots of money if that your problem i'v been there try to sort thing out between you now if you can?

Normal Rob · May 28, 2013

Steve2244 said:
Is it a lot of land you are talking about?

they say that they have flying freehold over into our land. They have a section of our stone shed in the garden they we want to join to our house and make our kitchen.It's just nowhere in the deeds. (theirs or ours)

drew · May 28, 2013

Nobody seems to have raised the point but have you got your wife back yet!

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