Love your neighbour ... not

[Paper99]

Hi,

Just want some advice before I go down legal route. In a nutshell having issues with neighbours they have done alot of building work that pushs the limits of whats needed with planning permissions, gave them benefit of the doubt as didnt want to fall out but they have royally taken the p*ss.
Current issues I need advice on are,

1. The garden office they built (more like a bungalow) means they look directly into my lounge and kitchen as fence is only 4ft. The fence is on the deeds as there responsibilty though the previous owners of mine appear to have replaced it at some point. I want to extend the fence to 6ft so I get some privacy back but they are saying because the previous owners of mine replaced it Im responsible, is that true, its a large garden so talking around £500 to do ?

2. There rear extension the side that faces mine is a mess, roof tiles hanging over and the cementing really bad, asked them to sort it but there not bothered, can I legally ask them to sort it, see picture of it View media item 53372
thanks

 

[rjm2k]

I don't think that a previous owner changing the fence makes you responsible for it if the deeds say otherwise (do your neighbours have any proof who changed it, do they have a legal agreement changing ownership of the boundary?).

I don't think you can force them to change the fence though, unless they should have got planning for what they did but didn't do so in which case the whole lot needs looking at. Check your local council website for planning Permitted development limits and also your deeds to see if PD was removed when the houses were built (how old are they?).

These things can get very nasty and make life difficult living next to each other, you shouldn't have to, but if you can just live with it.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Its still their fence and you cannot lawfully touch it, or get them to extend it. You will have to either extend the fence at your own expense (and importantly only with their written consent) or build your own new fence within your boundary.

Unless the roof overhangs the boundary or it is an environmental health risk there's nowt you can do.

You can take a look at http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/permission/commonprojects/outbuildings/ to see if you think it is not built within the limits, chances are his house has full PD rights though you need to check. If its obviously too high or similar infringement then you can get the planners involved. Even then unless its mahoosive or in a conservation area or other oddity the planners will probably do little more than write some threatening letters. As mentioned its not right or fair sometimes but bear in mind that disputes lawfully need to be mentioned when you or they come to sell up.

 

[Paper99]

Thanks for replies.

Agreed I wanted to avoid the legal route but its got to the point where I feel my property has been devalued by them as a result of what they have done. I partly think they are doing this to make me move as I got the impression from early conversations with them the wanted other members of there family to live next door to them.

The picture of the roof tiles I uploaded, would you be happy with that, just wondering if Im being an*l , should it have been finished differently ?

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Its not the neatest and a bit of a bodge, if I was them I would be worried about it leaking. But really its not that much of an eysesore to me, don't think it would bug me.

 

[Paper99]

Its not the neatest and a bit of a bodge, if I was them I would be worried about it leaking. But really its not that much of an eysesore to me, don't think it would bug me.

Yeah when I spoke to them about it I came from the angle of it 'leaking' but still to no avial even sent them the pic. Seems their priority at the moment is getting there lawn laid, yes a new lawn being laid in December when the ground is frozen got to laugh.

 

[^woody^]

For the fence, responsibility to maintain a boundary, responsibility to maintain a fence, and ownership of a fence, are all distinct.

In cases like this, if someone erects a fence, then they will retain ownership and responsibility for it, and can't just delegate that responsibility just because the deeds say one person is responsible for the boundary.

However if the fence is built on the boundary with the neighbours consent, then it could be implied that they do assume responsibility for it. The fact that the fence was erected by a previous owner makes this more complex as you do not know the agreement made or the intent.

For the extension, you can not force them to do anything to it. The only duty a landowner has is to rectify any cause of damage or nuisance. Something that 'might' happen, or something that does not look nice don't count