prob with neighbours help pls

Keeping_Positive

Pay but in your own time. You are being very reasonable. Be glad that you may be able to move away from them some point soon!

real1314

I wonder if a lot of these replies would be the same if the OP was saying

"my neighbour agreed to go halves on a £450 fence, said they'd pay me on 1st sept (after I had paid for all of the work) and now they are saying they can't afford it. what can I do?"

OP. The neighbour did the right thing - they discussed it with you. Then you both agreed a price. Then you said you'd pay on 1st Sept. Now you're telling them you haven't got the cash.
How do you think your neighbour feels? I wouldn't be surprised if they had a thread on here a few days back and were told (possibly by people who've advised you) that they could consider legal action.

All this talk of the neighbour ripping you off? and you not being responsible for the fence? The price and deal was agreed.
I think you should find the cash, or at least a very large part of it and hand it over. Minimum of £100, probably should be £200. And then pay the rest off asap.

Maybe they are overdrawn too?

movingforward2010

real1314 wrote: »

I wonder if a lot of these replies would be the same if the OP was saying

"my neighbour agreed to go halves on a £450 fence, said they'd pay me on 1st sept (after I had paid for all of the work) and now they are saying they can't afford it. what can I do?"

OP. The neighbour did the right thing - they discussed it with you. Then you both agreed a price. Then you said you'd pay on 1st Sept. Now you're telling them you haven't got the cash.
How do you think your neighbour feels? I wouldn't be surprised if they had a thread on here a few days back and were told (possibly by people who've advised you) that they could consider legal action.

i understand your point. I was going to pay them on the 1st sept, and if i hadnt of had to pay for my car i would of. should i be driving round without an MOT, tax or insurance?

i need my car for work

i am not being akward, i am not refusing to pay and have explained to them, and if it was the other way round i would of understood the situation and asked how much they could afford , rather than fueling the sitaution by going to the solicitors , if they are that desperate for cash why would they throw money away with expensive legal costs ?

we all hit hard times with cash now and again, it causes stress and sleepless nights, but by threating your neighbours and genrally causing a bad atmosphere helps noone.

i could let them take me to court and say i agreed to nothing and i came home from work one day and the frnce was there, and i knew nothing about it and they are harrasing me for money. I AM NOT going to do this but many would

robby-01

if you said you would pay half pay half.
Its not your fault that your car cost a few quid to get through its mot,but its not your neighbours either.
Look at it from their point of view your house is on the market and your being just a tad shy paying what you agreed.

I know what i would be thinking,you need to be careful you could find yourself in the small claims court, it doesnt cost that much and is relatively easy to sort out.Given that your moving they may be forced to act sooner rather than later.
The bottom line is if you couldnt afford the fence you shouldnt have agreed to pay half.
As to who owns the fence pay no attention to those who say you are only responsible for the left side.It is what is written down in the deeds to the property that counts not some urban myth .
For the record paying cash for something is not against any law that i know of neither is not obtaining a reciept.
If the installer chooses not to declare this work on his tax return that is nothing at all to do with you or your neighbour that is a matter for him his conscience and the taxman.

HugoSP

At the risk of making myself unpopular.....

Two points come to mind.

Firstly the OP seems a reasonable chap. He agreed to half of £450, being £225 by a certain date. He genuinely wants to pay.

Secondly the neighbour has paid the whole bill, on the understanding that the OP will stump up his share by a certain date. Indeed the OP actually acknowledges that he agreed to do this. That has not happened. The neighbours may be neighbours from Hell, but if that agreement has been reached then it should be honoured.

I run a small business, doing small property maintenance/improvements. Just as the neighbour has relied upon cashflow from the OP I rely on my customers paying their bills on time. 99% of the time there is no issue, but occasionally I have had to remind clients up to 3 times. I have ordered, taken delivery of materials and subcontract services on the basis that I will receive invoice payments to clear my financial obligations to my suppliers. On the odd occasion that a client has paid very late I have had to pay for materials before I receive payment for the job - despite having up to 2 months credit with the supplier. I find this unnaceptable, especially when the customer knows my terms of business (including immediate payment on receipt of invoice) when he engages me to do a job.

I am not a bank - and nor is the OPs neighbour.

I am also a BTL investor. I need my tenants to pay the rent so that I can clear the mortgage payments. I have genuinely been lucky with tenants but I have had the odd one that considers prompt payment of rent optional. I had the same issues with lodgers when I let rooms in a house I lived in several years ago.

Tenants' failure to pay their rent has the potential to put me in arrears with my mortgage. That is a situation that I will move heaven and earth to mitigate. The moment they are 2 months late I will take steps to remove them.

I usually got the rent, despite it being up to a month late on occasion.

My response to the tenants is that their financial position was of no concern of mine. I simply expected the correct rent payments on time. In practical terms there have been issues with banking errors etc that the tenant has done everything within his power to resolve, or housing benefit applications that I have had to help with etc, and their financial situation effectively enters my life only as much as it needs to.

To this end I would advise the OP to consider what reasonable steps he could take to honour his part of the agreement, then if he genuinely considers himself unable to pay all of the money straight away, then offer to pay a proportion.

Personally if I were in the OPs position I would consider arranging an overdraft to pay the neighbour and get a receipt. After all we know the OP has a job, so a £225 shouldn't normally be a problem. If however the OP cannot raise the money due to acute financial difficulties then the offer of part payments should be considered.

movingforward2010

robby-01 wrote: »

if you said you would pay half pay half.
Its not your fault that your car cost a few quid to get through its mot,but its not your neighbours either.
Look at it from their point of view your house is on the market and your being just a tad shy paying what you agreed.

I know what i would be thinking,you need to be careful you could find yourself in the small claims court, it doesnt cost that much and is relatively easy to sort out.Given that your moving they may be forced to act sooner rather than later.
The bottom line is if you couldnt afford the fence you shouldnt have agreed to pay half.
As to who owns the fence pay no attention to those who say you are only responsible for the left side.It is what is written down in the deeds to the property that counts not some urban myth .
For the record paying cash for something is not against any law that i know of neither is not obtaining a reciept.
If the installer chooses not to declare this work on his tax return that is nothing at all to do with you or your neighbour that is a matter for him his conscience and the taxman.

how could i end up in the small claims court??

i could afford at the the time but as i have said 30 times i didnt know my car was going to cost me that much.

everyone keeps saying ' pay up, u said you would pay half' are some people missing the point? i havent got the money if i had it i would pay!

robby-01

wxmlad wrote: »

how could i end up in the small claims court??

i could afford at the the time but as i have said 30 times i didnt know my car was going to cost me that much.

everyone keeps saying ' pay up, u said you would pay half' are some people missing the point? i havent got the money if i had it i would pay!

easy you owe them money they can take you to court to recover it.
Not having the money is not an excuse ,you can still end up in court.
Why should your neighbour be 225pounds out of pocket because YOUR car is a banger that failed its mot.
If i were them i would be halfway there now.I reckon they have been more than reasonable and it is you that is the problem.

movingforward2010

robby-01 wrote: »

easy you owe them money they can take you to court to recover it.
Not having the money is not an excuse ,you can still end up in court.
Why should your neighbour be 225pounds out of pocket because YOUR car is a banger that failed its mot.
If i were them i would be halfway there now.I reckon they have been more than reasonable and it is you that is the problem.

:rolleyes: as its been said already , i dont think they would get very far off a verbal agreement, they have no proof
im sorry my car is a 'banger' but its all i can afford.

maybe one day £225 will be a lot of money to you! i think 3 weeks with a reasonable explanation why i am having trouble coming up with the money is ok, i think taking me to court is a little ott tbh.

Poppy9

wxmlad wrote: »

i understand your point. I was going to pay them on the 1st sept, and if i hadnt of had to pay for my car i would of. should i be driving round without an MOT, tax or insurance?

i need my car for work

i am not being akward, i am not refusing to pay and have explained to them, and if it was the other way round i would of understood the situation would

Would you have understood if you had paid the £450 then your car needed all this work etc. and they wouldn't pay you your share and you were relying on getting their contribution to fix your car? I don't think so. I think you would be hopping mad that they had gone back on an agreement and left you in a difficult financial situation.

Get the money and pay them. Your financial situation is not their problem.

Agree it's a myth about owning fences to your left or right only. Check your deeds. T on boundarys show who is responsible but mostly they are joint and look like I. My neighbours on both sides tried this on with us when we moved in. The neighbour on the right said that we were responsible for the fence between us and the neighbour on the left said we were responsible for the fence between us. i.e. we were responsible for all boundaries. Checked our deeds with solicitor who told us they were party walls and responsibilty was joint. Casually mentioned to both neighbours that there seemed to be some confusion etc and they were actually jointly responsible and we've heard nothing since in 12 years:T

movingforward2010

Poppy9 wrote: »

Get the money and pay them.

yes, when i get paid