My neighbours are unbelievable

FrugalLina

Oh, this is going to be good (pulls up chair, grabs popcorn and waits)...

zartub

"So you need to remove it because it's law that all terraced houses have to share the heat"

This is the best news i have heard for a long time & i am now off to rewire my E7 heaters to my neighbours so we can share the heat at their cost !

debtfreewannabe321

you've just given me a good laugh. Thanks!:rotfl::rotfl:

I feel so sorry for you though, I used to live in a cul-de-sac, and my house was right in the corner. I parked my car on my drive way the first day I moved in, and had neighbours knocking on my door telling me to move my car, they needed access to my drive to do their 3 point turns :eek: !

When i refused they wrote a petition and got everyone on the street to sign it (they didn't like anyone new can you tell lol :rotfl:) but legally they didn't have a leg to stand on! In the petition they'd put something along the lines of 'we've always used her drive to perform our turns and now we have no where to do it. We want her car moved' :rotfl::rotfl:

midnight_express

Some people have more front than Brighton.

londonrugbyboy

Hi insulationwoes

I'm not a lawyer, but it sounds like the situation you've described (where your neighbour thinks he's entitled to grant his permission before you started the work) stems from the Party Wall etc Act 1996. As a new user to this blog, I'm apparently not allowed to post links but if you go to the communities.gov.uk website, and type in the Seach Box, "The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 explanatory booklet" (then click on the third link you see in the list), you can download a very useful guide which sets out what your rights are as a homeowner.

As I say, I'm not a lawyer but I too live in a mid-terrace Victorian house and have had major renovation work done on it over the past year (internal walls knocked down, a small extension built, bathroom moved upstairs etc.). The question of whether I needed to seek the permission of my neighbours before starting the work all depended on whether the planned work interfered with or threatened to damage the party-wall between our properties. In my case, I needed to seek permission - this was due to the extension and the need to dig foundations which, according to the law, might threaten to interfere with the party wall (NB. Note the word MIGHT - which was why I had to seek permission so that my neighbours were aware of the risk). However, all the other work that I had done (knocking down internal walls and installing structural beams etc.) did not in itself require me to get permission from my neighbours because the work did not require cutting into the party wall, and so did not threaten to damage or otherwise interfere with the party wall.

I sympathise with your situation. It can be very stressful dealing with neighbours. But here is what I learnt from my building experience (written with the caveat that I am not a lawyer):

Fundamentally, a homeowner has the right to do whatever he or she wants to their home without the permission of their neighbours, provided the following conditions are met:

1) that you are not erecting a building (such as an extension) that requires planning permission;

2) that your work does not threaten to damage or otherwise interfere with the party wall, in which case the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 applies.

Therefore, taking at face-value the grievances your neighbours have:

a) you are quite within your rights to install insulation without their permission provided that the installation does not damage their side of the party wall;

b) the anticipated noise and dust created by the work does not give your neighbour the right to demand that you obtain his or her permission before the work begins. If your neighbour has a genuine grievance about the noise created during the work, then he/she can apply for a Noise Abatement Order to be granted against you. (But, they'd have to prove to the court that their grievance is reasonable. So, in reality, unless the work was being carried out in the early hours of the morning or the noise was unreasonably prolonged over days or weeks, it would be highly unlikely that a Noise Abatement Order would be granted).

c) on the question of their heating loss, their grievance is so ridiculous that, if they took action against you on that basis, I suspect that it would be laughed out of court. Again, I'm not a lawyer but I suspect the court would sympathise with your right to heat your home efficiently rather than their right to benefit from unintended third-party heat-loss.

Hope this helps.

Abbafan1972

Loving the posts about the broadband and the driveway! :rotfl:

Hubby has just come back from going to the cashpoint. There is a row of shops and then the HSBC with the hole in the wall. People always park on the pavement by the shops to use the cashpoint, hubby was walking on the pavement making his way to the cashpoint and this driver had the nerve to beep his horn at hubby while driving his car along the pavement and hubby was in the way, on the pavement!

He said he was just waiting for the car to touch him and then there would've been trouble!

Some people seem to think they have the right to be on the pavement and pedestrians don't! :mad:

scaredy_cat

jonjamie1970 wrote: »

Oh and ring the environmental health line local to you with regard to the music etc.

and the benefit fraud hotline too...

insulationwoes

Hi everyone,

Again, thank you very much for your replies and it's nice (in a way) to know there are other people with similar infruriating neighbours!

Not a lot has happened since the threat of court, except more noise and shouting than before and a mysterious banging/knocking/drilling noise coming from their side. It almost sounds like they are drilling into the wall and knocking bits of it down which is hilarious if they think they can get to the insulation themselves (it's not a cavity wall - it's actually inside our property!). Or they are doing DIY, who knows

I am guessing "their" solicitor rung them back and told them they were being ridiculous. I have a mind to go round and ask them though with a secret camera and record the conversation...

I have also rung the benefit fraud helpline and given them lots of details as well :j

KONG

Thank you for my monday laugh! This must be one of the funniest "Neighbours" threads I read in a long long time.

I will suscribe to this thread and hope to hear more from ou about this case. And even about the benefit fraud helpline case you just opened against them. Will be good to see the future this case holds.

But I am totally behind you in the case, even though I dont live in UK.

redpete

insulationwoes wrote: »

Not a lot has happened since the threat of court, except more noise and shouting than before and a mysterious banging/knocking/drilling noise coming from their side.

Thanks for the update - I hadn't seen the original and it cheered up my lunchtime. Just one thing I wondered thiough - you changed username in case they came on the site but this new one is a clear reference to the problem you are having with them and the details would give even this family enough clues that it's you. Not sure your attempt to remain anonymous would have helped.