General Chat

See below and forgive rambling, on the edge now over this.

DESPERATE FOR ADVICE PLEASE Some of you may know of our neighbour from hell situation. This guy hasnt even moved in yet (our dear neighbour died last year and he bought the house from executors). He has done various things, such as filling in the communal ditch at the end of the garden with building rubble - in an area known at risk of flooding - which has been ordered to remove. He has bonfires night and day burning all sorts including rubber. And we have tried to be tolerant and laid back but then in April I came home from my voluntary job, went out into our patio and found a 10 ft gap in our hedge and this mans relative still hacking at another tree! This isnt any old bit of hedge, but the backdrop of a raised garden where our dogs are buried, and where there were precious plants given to me by deceased mum and deceased neighbour. The man stopped hacking at the tree and said he was doing it cos 'he told me to, he needs it down for his planning application' To cut a long story short, the guy is a madman. He seems to decide what he wants to do then just change the environment to suit his plans. The hedge/trees meant he would have to dig deeper/more expensive foundations for his planned extension, so right, rip out the trees and hedge! Our solicitor sent him a letter giving all the info over 58 years, including statements from all the neighbours and next doors gardeners and our deceased neighbours family showing that the hedge was and had always been ours. We gave him 21 days to sign an agreement that he acknowledged this and would do no more damage. Solicitor now tells us the madman rang him rambling about he wasnt disputing the boundary but that he needed a straight line and our little lean to bike shed was 2 inches into his garden! Now this little bike shed has been there in one form or other for 58 years and was our side of the fence panels erected by our deceased neighbour. The fact is I overheard him telling someone that he needs an extra 3' to get a JCB down the side of his house! He has given the impression to our solicitor that he wants the shed down! He has also refused to sign the agreement. My question is, we have spent money we can ill afford on all this nonsense yet he has done nothing at all not instructed a solicitor and has made just 2 phone calls to our solicitor. The first one he agreed to attend for a meeting but failed to show. We have lots of photographic evidence which our solicitor told us to take when he came to the site and saw our trees and shrubs in a pile in the nfh garden along with boundary stakes he had ripped out. The nfh has now removed the few panels between the houses and dug over the ground so that the original post positions are not visible! However, luckily we took photos of the panels when solicitor came for the site check. We know he has bodged his foundations - should we tell the Planning Dept. It seems a sneaky thing to do, but we are feeling so impotent about all this and we need to show some strength and control. Please help!

So sorry to hear about your problems. I really do feel for you. Alls fair in love and war.It really is something you alone will have to decide about but this guy sounds a bit rough shod. Has he got planning permision at all,as he had everything passed.If his foundations are bodged then what will the rest of it be like. It doesn't sound like he knows what he is doing.So for safty reasons if nothing else maybe you should see those higher up. Good luck Angie x

I would give the local Planning Dept a ring, just to make sure he is doing everything correctly, if he has no planning consent they will be able to tell you, just a thought, shouldn't they be coming out regularly to check his progress? and usually neighbours get notifications of any planning don't they? Heather

TC, You MUST get your Local Authority Planning Department involved in this as soon as possible. If this man is flouting Planning and Building Regulations, he needs to be stopped before he does further damage. DON'T be put off by wishing to seem like a 'good guy'. You're dealing here with someone who obviously has no scruples with regard to neighbours. You will probably find he won't move in himself, but will let the house, and that's very likely why he doesn't care about the neighbours or their property. Phone your District Council offices and ask to speak to a Planning Officer. They are usually very keen to act in cases like this and will probably come out to inspect the site. (Over the years, I've had lots of dealings with this sort of thing - working with Architects, dealing with our own Planning issues regarding houses we've lived in, plus my brother did conveyancing for many years in the legal departments of various Councils.) Best of luck - and let us know how you get on. CB >|<

I am sure that they should come out at every stage to check his foundations etc. I know they did with our neighbours who had to have something extra done when they had foundations laid. If he is being nasty (and I have been following this on the tips board but not commenting so know what a problem he has been), I feel you could ask the Planning authority if he has been checked. you could say that you are worried that whatever he's doing could affect your property if he is doing it incorrectly. Ann Glos

If any of our direct neighbours have work done that requires planning permission, other neighbours are notified and given time to raise objections or concerns. I am surprised you haven't been contacted. Your neighbour has hardly been considerate to you so I wouldn't feel any guilt if I was you about contacting authorities to check things. Good luck. Jacky :-)

Hi, we did recieve notice he intended to build an extension (well, actually 3 extensions!) but being good guys we did not object to them - the council itself turned one down as being overbearing and affecting the neighbours privacy and amenities. (Thank god they did). Its just that he is mad and just wants to change the environment to suit his plans rather than fit in with the plot he has! I know the planning people came out to look at his trenches which were too shallow as he came round that night (he hasnt even moved in yet) smashing up everything in sight in the garden! He then had to have a mini digger back to deepen them (this was what he was trying to avoid when he hacked down our hedge). He has literally a mountain of earth in the garden - it must be about 15ft high - a normal person would have used a dumper at the same time as the digger to fill skips and get rid of it. I dont know if they have been out to see the concrete now in the foundations as if they had, surely they would see that it is on two different levels, two different colours and two different consistencies! However I heard him next door last night telling a bricklayer or something that he is going to use some of the rubble to overfill. So it could be they came and didnt notice???

TC, If he wants a straight line boundary, then let him make an Application to the Land Registry to Determine the Exact Line of a Boundary. You will also be consulted by the LR and have to be in agreement with the boundary line. I doubt whether old Deep Pockets will spend that amount of money though, and you just cannot afford to. Personally, I would contact the Planning Department and ask for their Inspector to pay a visit to the site. If you want to 'live and let live' it is up to you but if this is making you and your husband ill, then I would take no prisoners and go for the kill which would probably mean all out warfare! It can't get any worse. However the decision is entirely yours to make and everyone else can only say what they would do. Good luck, Kathyx

Ring the Planning Dept today,TC, and make sure someone from there takes notice, once the extension is up it will take a lifetime to put it right + all the damage it may cause now. Heather

We applied to the Land Registry, they said it cant be done, they can only be accurate over much larger areas. So thats that. And the thing is, after 10 years of ownership, we would have possessory title anyway, even if we didnt have legal title (which we do have!). We are not people who like confrontation. Our neighbours the otherside of nfh will have the new conservatory their children/grandchildren put up for them totally blocked by the intended 'games room' their side. But they are in their eighties and obviously not up to all this aggro. However, as you say, can it get worse? The man is hateful and Ive no doubt he would drop us in it whenever he could. Its just it does go against the grain, doesnt it. Even my son who visited us a couple of months ago came in really up tight and asked 'Just who is that madman driving down the centre of the road - he nearly killed me'. This is the type of person he is - he wants, he takes. To think I posted a welcome card through the door when it was first sold - never received a response or thank you.

Yes Karen, its been a real eye opener for us. It seems the bad guy is always in the right. Well, look at all the travellers camps etc. It is just incredible that you live peacefully, law abiding lives yet when push comes to shove you have no support at all.

TC Have been following this for a while... and i think i've got to agree with someone else if this is making you ill then fight.. otherwise he'll keep walking all over you You stated he would have no problem dropping you in it if he felt you was in the wrong, so live by his rules.

TC, Just to make an official record ... I've mailed you privately about the Party Wall Act which applies to ground between properties as well as 'walls'. Good luck, Jane

It is making us ill. As some of you also know, I lost my little Lucy aswell and my dad is very frail now and all in all I feel absolutely out of control of my life. Hubby is dreadfully low, has taken several days off (luckily he is self employed) but is unable to sleep and the first words out of his mouth in the morning are to do with all this.

TC, You are obviously a nice person, but this man is a bully, and bullies have to be stood up to, otherwise as Shelli says - he will walk all over you. Try to stay strong and face up to him. Kathy

Gosh your Neighbour sounds like Carter the part Micheal Keaton played in Pacific Heights. Dx

Hi, dont know that film - how did it end? Ive just rung small claims court asking whether we should claim for replacement of the hedge after having paid for it or before. Todl 'Cant advise you on that, it is a legal question'. I said, no surely a procedural one. Cant advise you. Terrific isnt it. Everything you try to sort out. If we replace the hedge is he going to hack it down again? At the moment we cant even sit out in our garden with this big gap for dread of seeing his grinning face and anyway, the noise is so bad now. So, dont look like we can save money that way, by doing it ourself and getting the money first before we replace. I can half believe that if we do grass on him, that we will be told, oh, that will be ok. Nothing to do with us, its a civil matter. Honestly, isnt the law an ass?

TC, Have you tried Citizens' Advice Bureau for any avenues that might be open to you? They should have a broad view of ALL options - and they must have seen this situation a thousand times. You might also find that, if it comes to litigation, you might be entitled to Legal Aid - they seem to be reforming how this system works, so it might be worth looking at now and again. Stupid, stupid, stupid man! If he'd have talked to you properly about his plans and his needs, things could have been so different - for him, as well as you! Who knows, you might even have offered 'space' temporarily so's he could get his digger in. But then again, that's why there's a problem - because it didn't occur to him and he's not that kind of person. Go for the jugular, TC! Regs Jane

Pacific Heights was a film where Michael Keaton rented a room in a house and did loads of alterations without permission in trying to force owners out, but dont worry he got his comeuppence they ended up killing him lol! Davex