Neighbours attached gate to our wall without permission *PICTURES ADDED*!

miss_independent

Hi, we live in a detached house but share a garden wall with our neighbours. We have lived here for 15 years and they have lived in their house for about ten. They haven't been the best neighbours and so we don't talk to them, one of the main reasons for this being that around 8 years ago they asked if they could attach a gate post and gate to one of the walls to our home (note NOT the garden wall, an actual exterior wall of our home) and we politely refused and they took offense.

Over the past two/three years, I noticed that there was a lot of noise coming from their back yard, waking me up in the night and at 5am. It was like a scraping and bumping coming from and along the exterior wall of our home (the room being my bedroom hence me being awakened) and this wall overlooks their back yard. For years there was a caravan parked in their drive blocking any view of their back yard and what was behind it, so basically we didn't know the following had happened.

Before Christmas, we had our fascias and sofits replaced. The workmen needed to go on to the neighbour's property to access the side wall of our house. Please imagine, garden wall shared by us runs half way up both our front gardens, then attaches to the wall off my home, then massive gap between our home and their home. Workman comes and says he can't get to our wall as their gate is locked and no one seems to be in, could we please leave a note saying leave gate unlocked tomorrow so we can access our wall. To which we replied - sorry? What gate? We then found out they have attached a gate post to our home and a great ugly wooden gate (obscured by the massive caravan) which is what I can hear scraping and bumping against my bedroom wall in the night. Trouble is, potentially it could have been there for years and we never knew - I thought it was their wheelie bins making the noise. They must have waited until we were on holiday to erect it. It makes me so mad that they did this after we refused permission years ago! Where do we stand?

[Deleted User]

tell the work men to take the gate down, don't damage it, just place it on your neighbours property, tell them you wont let them replace it.

then get a quote for any damage to your property and send it to your neighbour

cyberbob

ilikethesimpsons wrote: »

tell the work men to take the gate down, don't damage it, just place it on your neighbours property, tell them you wont let them replace it.

then get a quote for any damage to your property and send it to your neighbour

I'd maybe talk to your neighbours first. Doing this will only escalate the problem into a worse situation

gordikin

OP you want the gate taken away and you want your workman to have access to their property. Get the access first if you can and when the workman have finished then deal with the gate problem.

JodyBPM

If its been there for 2 or 3 years, and you haven't noticed it, is it really worth making a fuss over?

Not saying they were right to do what they did, but personally, I'd just ignore it. Having a major dispute with a neighbour is going to be MUCH more disruptive to your enjoyment of your property than a gate you haven't even been aware of for two or three years.

neilmcl

You need to speak to someone specialising in party wall legislation.

Sunnyday

If its fastened to your actual house wall make sure that it hasn`t caused any other problems, we had a gate post fastened to our outside wall when we moved in here. It had bridged the damp proof course and the huge screw holes had been drilled straight instead of angled upwards.

The wall has had damp in it as a result. Make sure that you look for any such problems as if they are discovered later you will have to foot the bill.

If you have legal protection on your house insurance it may be a good idea to ring your insurers for advice.

HTH

SD

Snakeeyes21

2-3 years and you didnt notice it?
do you not come out of your house?
It sounds like your just trying to score points
against a neighbour that you dont like

DVardysShadow

Snakeeyes21 wrote: »

2-3 years and you didnt notice it?
do you not come out of your house?
It sounds like your just trying to score points
against a neighbour that you dont like

Scrping noise? To be fair, I think it was noticed.

And it is certainly a breach of protocol over party walls which is statute based.

miss_independent

miss_independent wrote: »

Hi, we live in a detached house but share a garden wall with our neighbours. We have lived here for 15 years and they have lived in their house for about ten. They haven't been the best neighbours and so we don't talk to them, one of the main reasons for this being that around 8 years ago they asked if they could attach a gate post and gate to one of the walls to our home (note NOT the garden wall, an actual exterior wall of our home) and we politely refused and they took offense. Over the past two/three years, I noticed that there was a lot of noise coming from their back yard, waking me up in the night and at 5am. It was like a scraping and bumping coming from and along the exterior wall of our home (the room being my bedroom hence me being awakened) and this wall overlooks their back yard. For years there was a caravan parked in their drive blocking any view of their back yard and what was behind it, so basically we didn't know the following had happened.

Before Christmas, we had our fascias and sofits replaced. The workmen needed to go on to the neighbour's property to access the side wall of our house. Please imagine, garden wall shared by us runs half way up both our front gardens, then attaches to the wall off my home, then massive gap between our home and their home. Workman comes and says he can't get to our wall as their gate is locked and no one seems to be in, could we please leave a note saying leave gate unlocked tomorrow so we can access our wall. To which we replied - sorry? What gate? We then found out they have attached a gate post to our home and a great ugly wooden gate (obscured by the massive caravan) which is what I can hear scraping and bumping against my bedroom wall in the night. Trouble is, potentially it could have been there for years and we never knew - I thought it was their wheelie bins making the noise. They must have waited until we were on holiday to erect it. It makes me so mad that they did this after we refused permission years ago! Where do we stand?

Snakeeyes21 wrote: »

2-3 years and you didnt notice it?
do you not come out of your house?
It sounds like your just trying to score points
against a neighbour that you dont like

It is illegal to attach something to a detached property without the owner's permission. To be fair our main entrances to our houses are on different roads as we occupy a corner house and we couldn't see the gate due to the fact they parked a Winnebago (apparently that is the name for one of these huge caravans) in front of it. Its not about scoring points at all, if that was the case the police would be out at them all the time because they have caused alot of problems in the neighbourhood which is why we don't find them approachable. We ignore everything they do for a quiet life now, talking respectfully and politely doesn't help and we are not the type to be aggressive about things.

The problems with them have put me off about even saying anything now. We do have problems with damp making the brand new wallpaper peel off in the two rooms housed by the wall in question so perhaps we will get a surveyor to have a look and assess whether it is the gate causing this. If it is, we will have to think about what to do as we don't want trouble with these people. If it isn't, we will probably ignore it but needless to say we are not happy about it and if they ever sell the property perhaps we will manage to get the gatepost removed from our wall. Thanks for the advice and input everyone.

4743hudsonj

If it were causing any damage to my house i wouldnt give a second thought to reclaiming this off them. Might teach them a lesson. Worst case scenario is you get your way, have the gate removed, compensation for the wall (providing you can prove it) and you have disgruntled neighbours. But as far as i can see, your not exactly on best terms atm so what is there to lose?