Mad neighbour

Jemima5317

Hi all,

Sorry to bother, since this is a site about saving money, rather than mad neighbours, but would be grateful for the benefit of advice...

I live in a Victorian terrace with shared access. The terrace was built c. 1897, and there are four in the terrace. There is a bigish detached house at (what we'll call for the sake of argument) the right of number 1 in the terrace, which has a built in tile stating "1897", which I would have thought makes it fairly safe to assume that was also built at that time. There is a gap of approximately 8 inches between the detached house and number 1 of my terrace, and there is shared access to the front from the back of terraces 1, 2 and 3 via number 4. The shared access, according to my deeds (and those of number 1 and 2 - thank heavens for land registry online) runs over the property of number 4 for me (number 3), numbers 3 and 4 for number 2, and over numbers 2, 3 and 4 for number 1. With me so far? All houses in the terrace have access over number 4, but it doesn't run both ways, so I (as number 3) don't have access over 1 or 2, number 2 doesn't have access over number 1, and number 4, most importantly, doesn't have access over any other house in the terrace, they just have to put up with the rest of us trundling over the walkway between the houses. Not the garden, the property, or anywhere else, just a simple walkway.

The problem is, number 4. It is inhabited by an elderly and frankly mad woman. If you do anything to annoy her, she goes completely ballistic, and threatens to cut off access. That's fine. The first time she did it, I was monumentally offended (the first time, I'd moved her wheelie bin off the shared access because I was having garden furniture delivered and her wheelie bin was in the way). The guy I'd bought the house off came round to pick up post a couple of weeks later and was chatting away, and because one of "my" (see later!) fence panels had come down, said "oh, I bet she went mental about that!" to which I said she hadn't (which she hadn't) but that she'd gone ballistic about her wheelie bin being moved because I was having something delivered etc etc, and he said (one of the most chilled out kindest people I've ever been acquainted with) that he'd dropped a handful of sand out of a wheelbarrow when he'd been building the patio, and she had such a go at him that he didn't speak to her for a year - and yet the next time she spoke to him, she acted like nothing had ever happened...

And now, my problem is... I have just had my front garden done. It was a bit nondescript before, but I've had a new path laid, a new wall built. I got her agreement to it beforehand (no cost to her, I paid for the lot) but it looks amazing. To be blunt about it, it makes her front garden (dug over mud, sprouting numerous weeds) look absolutely bloody appalling. Practically everyone in my small street has spoken to me to say how pleased they are that I've had it done, what an improvement it is, how great it looks etc. The only person that has a major problem is her. She had a massive go at my gardener (apparently - but he is a friend of a friend who the "friends" have known for over 20 years and say is the most laid back guy ever) saying she hated the new gatepost - says it's "appalling", offended him beyond belief (he called me to tell me about it). She is now refusing to speak to me, blocking access to the rear with her wheelie bin so I can't open my gate from my side etc. She is just a nightmare.

I appreciate that I'm the one writing this (as usual in a long winded fashion...) but I would be really grateful for any advice. When the fence came down at the back (see earlier if you have the patience!), I paid for complete reinstatement, even though according to the deeds it's a party fence, and she should have paid for half. She now claims the shared boundary at the front is "hers" (again, it's a party fence) and that she will shut off access because she can. I have the support of the other 2 people in the terrace - and again, I know it doesn't necessarily mean a great deal since I'm writing it and am hardly going to portray myself as wrong, but I am really fed up with this. This stupid old woman (yes, emotive and biased!) is not only wrong, but just plain damn annoying, because she won't listen to reason, or facts, but just shouts "I can shut off access, yes I can!". I know I might sound harsh, given that I'm the one writing the complaint, but I really do have really good relations with everyone else in my street, most particularly, my other neighbours in the terrace. This one person is not interested in listening, nor in the facts - I've offered to sit down and talk through the deeds with her, or to discuss her concerns - but given that I have paid for two party fences now, and all she does is threaten to cut off access, I am getting to the end of my tether. For what it's worth, the two houses opposite (both in residence in the street c. 20 years) have both said "she's not quite the ticket" or words to that effect.

I really don't want to end up in an awful neighbour dispute, but have just about reached the end of my tether with a woman who is not only unreasonable, but who doesn't have a clue about the facts, so who you can't have a reasoned discussion with - if she had the first idea what "covenants" meant, we might have a starting point, but as it is, she just shouts "I can shut off access!" to which I tried to respond "well, no, actually under the deeds..." only to get shouted down. I have full support from the other two houses in the terrace who share the access, so if push came to shove, I guess we could force the issue, but I would so much rather it didn't come to that. Has anyone got any ideas at all? (and please bear in mind that this woman comes from a viewpoint where she hates my new front garden, primarily because I shouldn't have had the 20 foot palm tree in my front garden cut down (a move unanimously hurrah'ed by all other neighbours) because a cat she had which died 10 years ago used to climb it...).

Thanks so much

Jemima

maninthestreet

How is she going to be able to cut off your access, and enforce that? Putting a wheelie bin in the way is not going to stop you, just move it out of the way. She's an old lady, she's hardly capable of physically preventing you from doing so.

Ulfar

She may be a mad old bat but I would put her straight in a polite way but firm way.

The deeds of all the houses grant access rights, no one neither her or anyone else can change that. If she doesn't like it tough.

Jemima5317

Know what you're saying, man in d street, but this woman is really not the ticket - a wheelie bin can be moved (I can get round from the front after all), but next thing you know, she'll be putting props against the fence, building walls etc. She isn't all there, but not so not all there that she won't be a pain in the rear. I know (from sad sad experience) that the minute I move her wheelie bin to get out, I will get a full on stand up one sided (her side!) shouty match. I don't mind so much, I am fairly rufty tufty as things go, but I just can't be arsed with the aggro, and the pointlessness of an argument when the person you're arguing just doesn't get it. I could literally rewrite my deeds here, and anyone who knows anything about property would know there is absolutely no contention (my solicitor did congratulate me on the purity and clarity of the title to my house when I bought it...) about what and where the boundaries are. That means absolutely jack sh*t when you're dealing with someone who knows nothing about such things, and who thinks the world is out to get them and owes them a living. To be fair, as well, "elderly" as a description of my neighbour - well, I was trying to make myself look worse. She's about 60, which is hardly elderly.

Hector-The-Inspector_2

You will never get through to a nutter! take her wheelie bin for a walk during the early hours and lose it.

pawpurrs

She is not allowed to block your access at all. But if she decides to do so properly, ie locking it, then its a civil matter, and would cost thousands to enforce. At the moment its just a wheelie bin so just keep moving it.

inmypocketnottheirs

A family member of ours had a very similar problem caused by a neighbour blocking a shared access that affected 3 properties. This dragged on with verbal abuse for around 5 years.

It just went to court this year, the neighbour was found in the wrong and a court order given in favour of my family and the other innocent parties. The neighbour now has a £40k legal bill and a court order against them.

Pssst

Just carry on using your legal right to access. If its blocked,photograph it then move it. Keep notes in a diary, be low key,dont make a big scene of it. If you see her in the street,push her over....sorry no,,shouldnt have said that.

ILW

Jemima5317 wrote: »

(my solicitor did congratulate me on the purity and clarity of the title to my house when I bought it...) .

Smooth talking [EMAIL="b@st@rd"]b@st@rd[/EMAIL]

Pssst

ILW wrote: »

Smooth talking b@st@rd

Presumably he charged less as there was less unpicking to do?

Icey77

Pssst wrote: »

Just carry on using your legal right to access. If its blocked,photograph it then move it. Keep notes in a diary, be low key,dont make a big scene of it. If you see her in the street,push her over....sorry no,,shouldnt have said that.

This sounds like a good idea - make it quite obvious what you're doing and if she askes you can tell her you are documenting her behaviour "just in case". It might be enough to get to stop.

Good luck!