Taking my Local Authority through the Small Claims Courts

GreatUncleBulgaria_2

Hi All

Around 4 years ago my L.A. decided to upgrade a public footpath behind my garden and in doing so widened the path and created a one foot high bank of soil against my wooden fence. Not only has this created a security problem for my property, the fence panels are now rotten and need replacing.

I contacted my LA at the time requesting the soil to be removed but heard nothing.

In October, I took the plunge and decided to have all the fencing panels replaced but was advised that the soil bank would need to be removed or the new fence would simply rot. I informed the L.A. of this and included costs and photographs of the area requiring attention and informed them that I would proceed with the work unless they removed the soil and replaced the fence. I heard nothing back.

In December the work was completed and sent the LA an invoice for the costs alongside supporting evidence that it was completed. I also threatened to begin legal proceeding against them to recover my costs if they didn't comply. I have given them until the end of January to respond other wise the legal proceeding would begin. Unsurprisingly they have now become interested and in December said wrote to me to say they would begin investigating my claim.

Has anyone else tried to reclaim costs through the small claims court against their LA? Any suggestions or tips on how I might proceed?

Thanks in advance!

BykerSands

Your concrete posts and gravel boards shouldn't rot. If you replaced them with wood knowing the ground conditions would cause further problems then good luck in court.

GreatUncleBulgaria_2

The real cost here was the removal of the soil bank - it took a team of two with a mini digger a whole day to remove this and cost £1200. If I get anything back on the fencing then its a bonus!

agrinnall

As to how to proceed....

https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome

Poppie68

When you went in and handed over pictures etc what did they say regarding timescales? Also remember it's not just a case of saying yes or no after a quick chat with you, they would of had to send a surveyor out and then the would be budget looked at...They could even come after you for damages now.

GreatUncleBulgaria_2

I forwarded the photo's to the department that were responsible for the widening of the path. I gave them 6 weeks to respond to my email that I was removing the soil but nobody responded. Don't quite understand why they would come after for damages? Theft of a soil bank?!

philatio

The soil was on their property not yours. You had no right to remove it.

bod1467

philatio wrote: »

The soil was on their property not yours. You had no right to remove it.

That's a reasonable presumption, but it's not necessarily fact ... OP's boundary may have actually included the soil bank (i.e. the fence was within the boundary line), but the council had right of access. If this is the case then the soil bank would have been "trespassing" (for want of a better term) on OP's land.

bris

They may be the ones charging you to replace the soil bank. You had no right to remove it whether you heard from them or not.

George_Michael

bris wrote: »

They may be the ones charging you to replace the soil bank. You had no right to remove it whether you heard from them or not.

And equally, the council would have had no right to pile up their soil against the OP property unless they had permission for this first.

hollydays

Would have not been useful to have spoken to your local councilor about this at the time?