Fence moved and concreted over our land?

[BankFodder]

You could use the legal cover but then you will be using a legal service which won't have any control over and they will start engaging in correspondence. It will start becoming delayed and eventually the legal service will be reluctant proceedings – but of course they will. They will still have to get a survey and they will commission it and you will probably find that the cost of that won't be included in the legal cover.

Frankly I think that you could manage this yourself. I don't think it's very difficult if you get the survey that supports what you say – then I don't see that there would be any difficulty in winning.

It's up to you.

You don't need to post any more photographs up here. It's up to you and your surveyor to make sure that you agree that there has been a trespass got the evidence. The survey will produce a report with accompanying photographs in a way which is easy to understand the judge. Need to be the surveyor can give evidence – although that probably wouldn't be necessary. However all of that would incur costs which wouldn't be covered anyway by your legal service – but on the basis that you win, you will get all of those back.

Once again I would suggest that you keep your neighbour informed of every step and the likely cost of anything so that he can't later on challenge costs that you have incurred without his knowledge. You should also invite him to carry out his own survey

I think that once you decide to take action then you should do it quickly in a brisk and businesslike manner without wasting any further time in order to reduce the amount of time there is for recrimination and provocation.

Once you have started the action you should probably let the authorities that have so far been involved in the harassment, know about this so that they understand what is happening and they can update their files.

I can't remember if I told you to contact them all and send them SARs – but you should do.

 

 

[NGEddie]

In this case I am happy to go with your advise and do it myself

 

I actually forgot to mention, when the fence was moved the idiot also has an electrical wire in a casing hanging over my side too. This is similar to hanging the light PIR and parasol over my side of the fence.

 

Ok I wont post any more photos, did the ones I sent to admin address make sense though, to yourself?

[BankFodder]

I didn't completely understand it – but that is not important. The important thing is that you get a surveyor to agree with you. If there is a hanging electrical wire over your space then make sure that the surveyor comments on that as well.

Get photographs of everything which are clear. Also ask the surveyor to make photographs and to reference them in the report.

I don't think we can do anything more until you have the report

[BankFodder]

I think it would be best if you sent your neighbour letter. Although it will exacerbate the bad relations between you, I think your interest will be best served if your neighbour is made aware that there is a possible legal action and that he has an opportunity to avoid it. Also I think it would be in your interests to alert your neighbour that he may be subject to your surveyor's fees if he fails to cooperate.

On that basis, I drafted the letter below. If you are happy to send it in to get over and correct anything you think is wrong. Let us know if you think there is anything missing.

Note that I said that you will be sending copies of this letter to the various agencies which have been involved in your disputes in the past. I think this is important to make sure everybody knows what's going on. So if you have had the police involved the local council – anyone, make sure they all get a copy of the letter with the appropriate reference number on top.

If you are prepared to send this letter then I suggest that you send it by recorded delivery. I suppose you could put a copy through his letterbox but it may not be a good idea for you to enter on his land to do that.

If you send it recorded delivery then make sure you keep a copy of any postal receipts et cetera.

 

However, find a surveyor who is prepared to do this for you first before you start firing off any letters. You need to be completely ready and when you set deadlines – seven days or 14 days all whatever, you need to stick by them rigidly. No mistakes.
 

Quote

Dear Mr XXX

I'm writing to you because for some time I have been aware that you have moved the boundary boundary and laid concrete on part of my land. I also recently realised that you have some kind of electrical cable overhanging my property as well.
Given the rather difficult relationship that we have, I think it is better to write to you about this and to let you know that I would like you to move the boundary back and to remove the concrete and electrical cable.
This encroachment on my land amounts to a trespass. This is not an accidental trespass. It is clear that this is deliberate and that you have spent some time and effort moving the boundary and laying the concrete.
Clearly this can't be allowed to continue.
I'm writing to let you know that unless I hear from you within seven days that you are prepared to bring this trespass to an end, but I shall be instructing a surveyor to prepare a formal report to confirm the trespass. I expect this report will cost some fees and I shall be asking you to reimburse me. I'm writing to you in advance so that you have an opportunity to avoid this expense.
Once I the from the surveyor then I shall be sending you a further letter giving you 14 days to address the situation after which I shall begin an action in the County Court trespass result in you paying a level of damages to me as well as being obliged to pay for the cost of restoring the proper land boundaries.
I'm sending a copy of this letter to the various authorities which have been contacted in respect of the problems between us as neighbours so that they are fully aware of everything that is going on. I think it's important to keep maximum transparency in any of these dealings because I suppose that this is going to lead to further problems between us which I'm very sorry about and I would prefer to avoid.
Please let me have a response within seven days or I shall be obliged to continue as outlined above.
Be grateful if you could keep all your communications in respect of this in writing.

Yours sincerely

[NGEddie]

Sorry for the radio silence, hectic times!

 

Thank you for drafting the letter.

 

I actually spoke to my nice (normal) neighbour the other side who said he would be prepared to make a statement if needed, confirming it was all grass before the concrete was done.

 

His wife works at a solicitors and asked a colleague who said if I enter into this it could cause issues if we wanted to sell. On the other hand my house insurance legal advice line said I could be liable years after if i sold and didn't tell the buyers about it  

 

I am happy to go with your guidance anyway. I recall years back a kind person on here helped with a default notice I was helping my Dad with. It was incorrectly worded and the crux of us winning the case. Before this I watched a solicitor read the same DN and say my Dad would have to pay and nothing could be done. 

 

I'm trying to source a surveyor asap 

[BankFodder]

Yes, it could cause issues but on the other hand if you get it resolved then that should reduce any problems. It's really a question of a potential buyer being wary about buying a property with a troublesome neighbour. Because you've already had all of these difficulties with the neighbour you would probably be obliged to disclose the problems anyway to a prospective buyer.

You would be best off dealing very transparently with any prospective purchaser. If your neighbour is prepared to give you a statement then I suggest that you get it as soon as possible. I should try to get it before the trouble starts. When this trouble around, sometimes people think twice about making statements. Persuade your neighbour that any statement they give will not be used or disclosed to anybody outside the court process. You should certainly not let your troublesome neighbour know that one of the neighbours has cooperated with you against him

[NGEddie]

Bit of an update...

 

I have been waiting on replies from surveyors and land surveyors it turns out are the ones. There is a concerning pattern with them all saying this could be very expensive, time consuming and stressful. I actually got the impression they really did not want to get involved. That aside, only one has quoted so far which is £800.00 plus VAT for a report. I actually managed to get a normal surveyor (friend of a friend) to have a look, who said the fence is so crooked they feel it would be difficult to go anywhere on it being moved a small amount it one place. My builder chap also had a look and said something similar.

 

To be honest, with the fence being in a place you wouldn't walk, make use of and is quite hidden, I don't think it is worth the effort/stress.

 

The concreting is black and white wrong though.

 

My new dilemma now is, we have seen another property for sale, yet to view but on paper it is good.

 

My builder chap said it is very easy and cheap to run a grinder through the concrete, lift it and replace with grass seeded soil (which I have spare) and would be job done.

 

I really don't want to start a letter/possible legal thing with this idiot if there is a chance I may be selling the property and it could affect things.

 

What are your thoughts if I go with the builder route and restore to how it should be?

 

Many thanks

[BankFodder]

Well certainly if you want a quick solution without risking a possible sale of your own property, then that would be the best thing to do.

[NGEddie]

When you mentioned being transparent with sellers I believe there is a form the solicitor has to complete anyway.

 

Wasn't sure how much I should be saying? There was a music/loud tv issue probably well over a year or so ago. Env health sent some letters and one visited when the music was on but said they couldn't do anything as was below abetment notice level. As no action happened, would that need disclosing?

Edited November 13, 2020 by NGEddie
Typo

[BankFodder]

Not able to advise on this sort of thing 

[NGEddie]

I have been waiting on another house news, but now decided to bite the bullet and send this letter as it needs resolving either way.

The draft is good and have edited a few bits. What I don’t want to do is pay out for the surveyor and then the neighbour restores the area to grass, so have mentioned the survey is something I would do if we go to court and the fact I would be claiming this expense as well as damage.

I called my insurance yesterday as want to know, if needed, if they would pay for the surveyor and court bits, as I have an excess to pay. They are going to call me. I am conscious of the fact you said if we let the insurance/legal team do it, we may not be able to dictate is as we wish.

This is not exactly something I want to be doing at all, but I know I need to address it.

Do you happen to know how quick these things move, if I had to start proceedings?