Bit long but bare with me.
A few months ago my neighbour started to act in an unreasonably sad manner by placing her 2 wheelie bins in such a position on our open plan drive so as to make it very difficult for my wife and I to exit our car when opening the doors. Basically she would move the bins around to match the varying position in which I parked the car, it was a bit like a sad game of chess. If I were to accidentally touch or move her bins when opening the doors, she would sneak out after I had gone, and finely adjust their positions to make it more awkward on my return. Now my drive is fairly long and I could park my car in a different place but why should I? I’ve been parking my car there for over 10 years so why should I change now?
What also annoyed her was that I would have to step on her part of the drive to get into my car whilst opening the driver’s door. This was almost unavoidable due to the narrowness of the drives but she believed I was trespassing on her property and she repeatedly told me so.
Now, I must admit that I found it all rather amusing trying to out wit her attempts to inconvenience me. Being rather agile, I was able to enter and exit my car 95% of the time albeit rather awkwardly. I was always careful not to touch her precious bins and I’m sure that my success only added to her annoyance. On one occasion she placed the bins in just the right position, so I had to do a bit of thinking if I was going to get in without any interference. I had a brainwave: I opened the passenger door, slipped off the hand break and pushed the car back down the drive a small distance. This allowed me access to the driver’s side so I promptly got in.
She was watching all this from her bedroom window so you can imagine her disappointment at my success. She just couldn’t contain her anger so she opened the bedroom window and proceeded to give me mouth full of the most colourful language I have heard in a long while (and I can tell you I’ve heard plenty in my time). I wasn’t going to lower myself to her level so I just grinned at her and told her to go back to sleep!. I got in my car and started to reverse out of the drive, however by this time my lovely neighbour had run out of the house still dressed in her nightie, and started banging on the car roof shouting that if I ever set foot on her drive again she would have me in court for trespass. This didn’t upset me, in fact I gained a quiet satisfaction in knowing that I had really upset her and ruined her day.
A few days after this incident, the wheelie bins disappeared and the situation calmed down. I thought that was the end of it. How wrong I was.
A few months later on returning from our two week holiday in Spain, I was greeted by the ugly sight of a gaudy green railing fence which had been erected during our absence. It has been professionally installed between the two properties, but I believe it encroaches on our boundary and I have spent quite some time trying to prove this is the case. It has not been easy; I have spoken to several solicitors who all agree that I first have to define my boundary without question. On the advice of one solicitor, I have purchased plans from the land registry of the two properties, only to find that they are useless (the scale is far too large with very little detail being shown).
I have been put off purchasing a copy of my deeds as I have been told by another solicitor, that the detail on these would be even less than those from the land registry!
I tried the builder who built the house 10 years ago, only to be told that they destroy any plans of properties over 5 years old.
The local council were less than helpful and told me she has every right to erect a fence as long it is less than a metre high.
It’s beginning to look as if my neighbour has had the last laugh and there is nothing I can do about this ugly excuse of a fence. Unless of course you know differently. All help, advice and support would be greatly appreciated.
A few months ago my neighbour started to act in an unreasonably sad manner by placing her 2 wheelie bins in such a position on our open plan drive so as to make it very difficult for my wife and I to exit our car when opening the doors. Basically she would move the bins around to match the varying position in which I parked the car, it was a bit like a sad game of chess. If I were to accidentally touch or move her bins when opening the doors, she would sneak out after I had gone, and finely adjust their positions to make it more awkward on my return. Now my drive is fairly long and I could park my car in a different place but why should I? I’ve been parking my car there for over 10 years so why should I change now?
What also annoyed her was that I would have to step on her part of the drive to get into my car whilst opening the driver’s door. This was almost unavoidable due to the narrowness of the drives but she believed I was trespassing on her property and she repeatedly told me so.
Now, I must admit that I found it all rather amusing trying to out wit her attempts to inconvenience me. Being rather agile, I was able to enter and exit my car 95% of the time albeit rather awkwardly. I was always careful not to touch her precious bins and I’m sure that my success only added to her annoyance. On one occasion she placed the bins in just the right position, so I had to do a bit of thinking if I was going to get in without any interference. I had a brainwave: I opened the passenger door, slipped off the hand break and pushed the car back down the drive a small distance. This allowed me access to the driver’s side so I promptly got in.
She was watching all this from her bedroom window so you can imagine her disappointment at my success. She just couldn’t contain her anger so she opened the bedroom window and proceeded to give me mouth full of the most colourful language I have heard in a long while (and I can tell you I’ve heard plenty in my time). I wasn’t going to lower myself to her level so I just grinned at her and told her to go back to sleep!. I got in my car and started to reverse out of the drive, however by this time my lovely neighbour had run out of the house still dressed in her nightie, and started banging on the car roof shouting that if I ever set foot on her drive again she would have me in court for trespass. This didn’t upset me, in fact I gained a quiet satisfaction in knowing that I had really upset her and ruined her day.
A few days after this incident, the wheelie bins disappeared and the situation calmed down. I thought that was the end of it. How wrong I was.
A few months later on returning from our two week holiday in Spain, I was greeted by the ugly sight of a gaudy green railing fence which had been erected during our absence. It has been professionally installed between the two properties, but I believe it encroaches on our boundary and I have spent quite some time trying to prove this is the case. It has not been easy; I have spoken to several solicitors who all agree that I first have to define my boundary without question. On the advice of one solicitor, I have purchased plans from the land registry of the two properties, only to find that they are useless (the scale is far too large with very little detail being shown).
I have been put off purchasing a copy of my deeds as I have been told by another solicitor, that the detail on these would be even less than those from the land registry!
I tried the builder who built the house 10 years ago, only to be told that they destroy any plans of properties over 5 years old.
The local council were less than helpful and told me she has every right to erect a fence as long it is less than a metre high.
It’s beginning to look as if my neighbour has had the last laugh and there is nothing I can do about this ugly excuse of a fence. Unless of course you know differently. All help, advice and support would be greatly appreciated.
