Tearing down neighbours' gates

Helen1971

Like the airhorn suggestion!

Thanks for the responses. Yes, we know that neighbour disputes are horrible but believe me, we have tried everything to resolve it amicably. The neighbours shut the door in our faces when we attempted to talk to them (although they didn't attack us with a spade like Neverenough's neighbour!) and either ignored letters from us asking for a sensible discussion about a compromise or sent surprisingly aggressive replies (along the lines of, they will unilaterally decide when the gates should be open or closed and we can just get used to it).

There is a buzzer, which only works intermittently. We have remotes, which similarly only work intermittently. The gates malfunction often.

So you can see, I hope, that "moving on with our lives" as suggested by one respondent (i.e letting our neighbours do exactly as they please, even though they know it's causing us problems, and control access to our house) isn't an option. The gates have prevented us from leaving the house by car on several occasions, because they have malfunctioned and wouldn't open, and have caused me to miss trains a number of times since I couldn't get to the station by car. This isn't acceptable to us.

This isn't a question of why people might like electric gates. Clearly they are designed as a security measure, although we hardly live in Dodge city. It's about our neighbours deciding that they should unilaterally control access to our house and refusing to discuss a compromise.

Neverenough, thanks for your post. Pinkshoes, one of the issues I have explained in this thread is that the neighbours will not agree to keeping the gates open at agreed times and in fact refuse to even discuss a compromise. They want the gates to be closed all the time and have now altered the settings such that they can't be fixed open at all. But thanks for your contribution.

Youngsolicitor, thanks for explaining the county court option.

NeverEnough

Helen1971, I just have a sinking feeling you are going to have to go the legal route given the circumstances. Take care with it as it can get very expensive, try to get quotes etc first although solicitors notoriously do not like to commit to particular fees for matters like this and will want an hourly rate.

Get good photographs, keep a log of people who have attempted access and failed, also when you're unable to leave or enter your own property! Write a very detailed account of the whole saga in chronological order.

Keep copies of all correspondence you have sent to the neighbours and do absolutely all comms in writing, keeping it all in a file in chronological order.

This will help in setting it all out for solicitor and ultimately a court or arbitration panel.

Given that you are sometimes held against your will due to their faulty gates and cannot leave the property and are also denied access to your property unreasonably at times, I cannot see how the situation can simply be left as is.

You could also get a gate installer to quote for a reasonable system or do a report on what could be wrong or remedied, given your explanation and possibly visual inspection of how the gates operate or not, while you are attempting to use them, this will help build your case.

DiscoCat54

Helen1971, I really feel for you over the gate issue. Our rental property has electric gates and it's in our contract that we're not allowed to leave them open. It's a 5 min walk from house to gates with no buzzer only a remote and despite us having put-up a 'ring for access' sign with our number on no-one ever uses it. There is a style to the right of the gate but again, no-one will climb it. In my experience, no open gate = no deliveries!

sunflower_2

hi helen

no experienced advise to give you except - wouldnt it be better to let one of the residents sell up?
you may get some lovely neighbours who totally agree with your stance on the gates.

btw - i would LOVE to have elec gates at the end of my drive - keep the neighbourhood kids from peering in the window instead of using the door bell.

franklee

Helen1971, I notice several people on both your threads have suggested getting the gates fixed. Can you say why you aren't perusing the neighbour does this rather than your pushing for removal. Clearly the gates are faulty. If they worked would there be a problem?

I agree you should document every instance of gate failure, how long it took to let you in/out and the consequences of each, missed trains etc. I would write to the neighbours for each occasion. Can you bill them for what is costs you, new train tickets, cancellation of appointments, charges for redelivery or whatever.

Also if the gates fail how are you getting through? Does the neighbour come out to repair the gate or a gate engineer or what? Why can they make them work when you cannot?

Your previous thread said you purchased the property with the gates present. In which case why isn't getting them working the way to go?

breadlinebetty

Helen1971 wrote: »

Thanks Firefox, but read my original post. The neighbours have altered the gates, without our consent and without consulting us, such that they cannot be fixed open. They have refused several reasonable requests to discuss an amicable compromise. The gates often malfunction so that guests or delivery companies can't buzz us, or so that the remotes don't work and we can't get our car in or out. I'd call that unreasonable.

I'm perfectly calm, by the way; I find it surprising that you're so excited by the term "tear down". Rather than insights about "disputes [being] rarely one person's fault" I'd find practical advice from people who have actually experienced something similar or have something helpful to add more useful.

Fivetide, thanks. We suggested exactly what you proposed to the neighbours this summer, but they refused to discuss it.

If the gates functioned properly would you be OK with that? I personally don't mind electric gates, but I can see how some people would hate them, especially if they didn't work properly.

However, if you do start dismantling them wouldn't it look a bit of an eyesore?

Of course it's a nuisance if the gates don't work properly, and I would insist to the neighbours that until they have them repaired (they're clearly faulty) they must remain open. In fact, isn't there a law that states there must be access for emergency vehicles? Say you had a fire or needed an ambulance, and the gates wouldn't open - the consequences of that could be fatal. So therefore I would insist they keep the gates open until they're functioning as they should do.

I'm not sure whether removing just one gate would serve any purpose to be honest.

1886

I'm thinking that if 'you' want an electric gate that is open all of the time then it may as well not be there at all.

The whole point in having a gate is so that it can be closed, for security mainly

I don't see what the problem is with having an electric gate. You have a fob in your car so you can open it. You have a button in the house so that you can open it if somebody visits, some gates even just open and close when you pull up. Not ideal security though as anybody can just drive in..

Remove the gate if you really don't plan on using it

Pricivius

In response to the OP's request for similar stories...

My parents fought a neighbour dispute for 6 years, including the last two years through the county court. They tried everything - talking to the neighbour, getting friends to talk to the neighbour, offering mediation or arbitration etc... Nothing would give as neighbour was entirely unreasonable and intransigent.

We tried the injunction route suggested above but the county court was having none of it. In the end, we brought our claim for a boundary determination and removal of trespassing railings. It took over two years to get to final hearing and cost in the region of £20,000 and that's only because I did a lot of the work myself. We won the case and were awarded £15k in costs. We now have a charging order against the next door neighbour's house.

They hate us, we have a strong dislike of them. The true cost was the emotional one and it was huge - truth be told, my mum has still not recovered from the stress, even though she was totally vindicated by the court. Principles are expensive.

My advice to the OP would be to have a long hard think about whether this is quite as important and whether there isn't a compromise to be found - as someone ahs asked, would a perfectly functioning gate be acceptable? Another thought is that if the neighbours sell, it might not be two against one anymore. Consider all alternatives before embarking on the legal process which will be long, expensive, emotionally draining and may not end up in your favour.

NeverEnough

1886 wrote: »

I'm thinking that if 'you' want an electric gate that is open all of the time then it may as well not be there at all.

The whole point in having a gate is so that it can be closed, for security mainly

I don't see what the problem is with having an electric gate. You have a fob in your car so you can open it. You have a button in the house so that you can open it if somebody visits, some gates even just open and close when you pull up. Not ideal security though as anybody can just drive in..

Remove the gate if you really don't plan on using it

Perhaps read the OPs post properly before responding?

Problem has nothing to do with the use of a fob or wanting the gates or not- the gates belong to neighbours sharing the driveway, not the OP, and the fobs do not work properly, blocking access /leaving their home for OP. neighbours are hostile and refusing to repair gates.

NeverEnough

Pricivius wrote: »

In response to the OP's request for similar stories...

My parents fought a neighbour dispute for 6 years, including the last two years through the county court. They tried everything - talking to the neighbour, getting friends to talk to the neighbour, offering mediation or arbitration etc... Nothing would give as neighbour was entirely unreasonable and intransigent.

We tried the injunction route suggested above but the county court was having none of it. In the end, we brought our claim for a boundary determination and removal of trespassing railings. It took over two years to get to final hearing and cost in the region of £20,000 and that's only because I did a lot of the work myself. We won the case and were awarded £15k in costs. We now have a charging order against the next door neighbour's house.

They hate us, we have a strong dislike of them. The true cost was the emotional one and it was huge - truth be told, my mum has still not recovered from the stress, even though she was totally vindicated by the court. Principles are expensive.

My advice to the OP would be to have a long hard think about whether this is quite as important and whether there isn't a compromise to be found - as someone ahs asked, would a perfectly functioning gate be acceptable? Another thought is that if the neighbours sell, it might not be two against one anymore. Consider all alternatives before embarking on the legal process which will be long, expensive, emotionally draining and may not end up in your favour.

Absolutely agree. That has been our experience with a similar set of corcumstances, except it did not actually get to court and we were left out of pocket by around £20K. We have certainly suffered the consequences as well, particularly my partner, who has never recovered from it. And the driveway is a tense place still- the neighbours perpetuate the issue, sadly, - life is really too short to be consumed with hatred. We were more or less stuck -trapped by our inability to get a new mortgage due to our ages and changed work circumstances, although perfectly able to continue to service the mortgage.

These neighbour disputes almost always do not seem to have a happy ending unless the various parties actually move away, I often wish we could!