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[Help] Annoying neighbour dispute



Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patron
Oct 8, 2003
50,091
Faversham
knocky1 said:
Has this continued for 20 years or more and has it been "as of right"?. Nec vi, nec clam, nec precario, if you ask me. The 20 years is important.

You can read this and be even more confused. https://www.pla.org.uk/2017/08/prov...ive-easements-evidence-rebuttal-presumptions/
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Thanks for that. I have found the facts in the deeds (see a post above) but I am hopeful it won't come down to a legal dispute. She's an interesting person with whom our relations have always been cordial, but she expects people to fall in line with her wishes. She recently mooted moving the fence between her garden and mine (in her favour), but the previous owner built two outbuildings (which she wants to replace) on the boundary and she backed off when I pointed this out. Looking at the deeds just now makes this quite clear (in fact her predecessor has done a bit of encroachment it would appear).

A couple of years ago I planted a horse chestnut in the garden. We will all be long dead before it has any presence. It was grown from a conker I picked up below a tree in Stanley Park in Vancouver (tree now partially destroyed) and has great sentimental value. Without asking, my neighbour went off contacting tree specialists to get the tree removed to a park. Mrs T was livid. Neighbour has now backed off.

Kick off minus ten minutes....
 




Albion in the north

Albion in the north

Well-known member
Jul 13, 2012
1,510
Ooop North
We had a property with a spring water supply. The holding tank was in an adjoining field and we had to get a "Deed of Covenant" to allows us access to the tank.

If it were me, Id explain that you have been good enough during Covid to allow her friends access across your garden but their is no legal right for this and now that restrictions are easing youd appreciate it if they didnt come through there anymore. if shes not reasonable enough to understand this, then I would bring out all the legal stuff. But also, losing your calm is not great and any dispute you have with your neighbour would have to, legally, be declared if you ever came to selling the house.
 




hart's shirt

hart's shirt

Well-known member
Jul 8, 2003
10,189
Kitbag in Dubai






Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patron
Oct 8, 2003
50,091
Faversham


Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patron
Oct 8, 2003
50,091
Faversham
Albion in the north said:
We had a property with a spring water supply. The holding tank was in an adjoining field and we had to get a "Deed of Covenant" to allows us access to the tank.

If it were me, Id explain that you have been good enough during Covid to allow her friends access across your garden but their is no legal right for this and now that restrictions are easing youd appreciate it if they didnt come through there anymore. if shes not reasonable enough to understand this, then I would bring out all the legal stuff. But also, losing your calm is not great and any dispute you have with your neighbour would have to, legally, be declared if you ever came to selling the house.
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No, quite. Absolutely.

I walked away yesterday before voices were raised.

In our aborted attempt to speak to the woman a few minutes ago, I asked Mrs T whether we should go round the back, or knock on her front door. Mrs T said 'round the back, but let's ask her to come out and open the gate so we can get into her back garden, to save us the faff' :lolol: (That's when I found out that the 2.00 meeting hadn't actually been confirmed).

This is turning into an episode of Crossroads, with me as Benny and the neighbour as Miss Diane.
 


TugWilson

TugWilson

I gotta admit that I`m a little bit confused
Dec 8, 2020
1,500
Dorset
Point out that YOUR property is not a right of way , and that it is in her best interest to not piss you off ! . You are doing her a massive favour that can easily be revoked .
 




Normal Rob

Normal Rob

Well-known member
Jul 8, 2003
5,660
Somerset
TugWilson said:
Point out that YOUR property is not a right of way , and that it is in her best interest to not piss you off ! . You are doing her a massive favour that can easily be revoked .
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that's the problem. If it's a right of way that can be proven to be in use, it can't
 


beorhthelm

beorhthelm

A. Virgo, Football Genius
Jul 21, 2003
35,310
seems to me the right of access is being provided (they can unlock or unbolt), and they are being unreasonable expecting the gate unsecured for thier convenience. especially since the gate isnt even locked, its really laziness on their behalf.
 






T

theboybilly

Well-known member
Apr 25, 2013
6,179
Along the Shoreham Road in er, Shoreham
Normal Rob said:
that's the problem. If it's a right of way that can be proven to be in use, it can't
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This is an issue that came up with a dispute with our 'new' neighbours 2 years ago. We understand that the alley between our properties is 'their land' but they thought they had the right to stop not just three houses on our side from having access to our gardens but also two properties that need that access on the top end of the 'L' that goes around the back of our new neighbours garden. Every now and then I expect a new issue to arise but I have lots of ammo unused. We've never had to go to a solicitor so far. We haven't broached the fact that a storm drain goes under the alleyway and Southern Water will have a 'Utility Tenement' on that land for them to undertake maintenance. There are also Dominant (us) and Servient(them) tenements that they have to abide by. None of this before we even mention the 20-year rule (our properties have had access to when that land was an open field and bought by developers in the 1930s (they got round to building the new homes in the mid-70s) I'm hoping it's all resolved now but just know, with parental interference on their part, another dispute is just around the corner. You have my sympathies HWT.
 








Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patron
Oct 8, 2003
50,091
Faversham
Normal Rob said:
that's the problem. If it's a right of way that can be proven to be in use, it can't
Click to expand...

Indeed. But it is her right of way, not a right of way for her friends. It has been in use by her friends (with my tacit acceptance) only during Covid. And she is supposed to have been paying for its upkeep as part of the conditions of the right of way.

I am hoping she will agree to opening the gate herself, and not using it to let her friends into her garden once Covid restrictions are lifted. And being considerate - which means for the time being asking her guests to not peer into my house when they stumble past my house, and getting the gardener to clean the mud off the gate if they are working on her garden.

Anyway, nobody wants me as an enemy. I can be quite difficult when I put my mind to it.
 




studio150

studio150

Well-known member
Jul 30, 2011
29,619
On the Border
Harry Wilson's tackle said:
Quite interesting from the deeds:

From an agreement made in 1955, around 60 years after the houses were built: "SUBJECT to a right of way for the owners and occupiers for the time being of (my neighbour) over the track way at the rear of the dwellinghouse ....and over the passageway between (my house and the other neighbour's) on payment of a
proportionate part of the cost of keeping such trackway and passageway in repair.""

That to me says that the public (my neighbour's friends) have no right of way, and that my neighbour owes me a considerable amout of back-dated upkeep costs.

I won't bring this up unless she gets excessively pissy.

I'm quite looking forward to this. Twenty Minutes till kick off...
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This is great news, you can now claim expenses going back years, charge interest for late payment, and introduce a toll going forward for unbolting the gate to cover yearly maintenance.

An alternative would be to tell the neighbour that her bins can be left in front of their house so there is no no need to use the pathway.
 






Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's tackle

Harry Wilson's Tackle
NSC Patron
Oct 8, 2003
50,091
Faversham
studio150 said:
This is great news, you can now claim expenses going back years, charge interest for late payment, and introduce a toll going forward for unbolting the gate to cover yearly maintenance.

An alternative would be to tell the neighbour that her bins can be left in front of their house so there is no no need to use the pathway.
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Quite. But contrary to the opinion of some, I'm not a vindictive b'stard.

Anyway, the ultimate sanction will be me, sunbathing, by the back gate, on my own property, out of the sight of the outside world, stark bollock naked.

If only the weather would warm up.
 


Normal Rob

Normal Rob

Well-known member
Jul 8, 2003
5,660
Somerset
Harry Wilson's tackle said:
Indeed. But it is her right of way, not a right of way for her friends. It has been in use by her friends (with my tacit acceptance) only during Covid. And she is supposed to have been paying for its upkeep as part of the conditions of the right of way.

I am hoping she will agree to opening the gate herself, and not using it to let her friends into her garden once Covid restrictions are lifted. And being considerate - which means for the time being asking her guests to not peer into my house when they stumble past my house, and getting the gardener to clean the mud off the gate if they are working on her garden.

Anyway, nobody wants me as an enemy. I can be quite difficult when I put my mind to it.
Click to expand...

I agree with you. Access for her to put the bins out etc is fine. It's her right of way, not a public one. Maybe that just needs explaining in simple terms. if she still insists that her friends use it, then i'd lock it until she can prove that they have the right to do so (she won't be able to). It really should not come to that though.

We were in a similar position to you several ears ago, but our problem was that the right of way to 2 houses was stopping us extending. We could not win as by building across it could, in theory, lessen the value of the neighbouring properties (there is an attributable value to ease of access). We ended up giving up, paying off a large chunk of the mortgage with the money we were going to spend on the extension and are now looking to move on to a larger property.
 


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