Boundary and party walls

reluctanthousewife

Not sure if I am posting this in the right place but here goes.

I have been having some issues with my neighbour recently...it feels like she can do what she likes and i have to put up and shut up....ie her ivy is out of control and just coming over the fence into my property and growing up my walls but if so much as one small branch of mine goes over into her garden she bends and breaks it back...and I get stroppy letters over anything she is not happy with.

Anyway.....the issue now is that she has stuck a post box up on the wall at the front. I think her thinking is the postie can post it from my property so they dont have to keep opening her gate...to get to her front door.

I can't decide if this wall is a party wall, boundary wall....or what and if she can stick it up. The deeds don't seem to make it clear. Anyone got any ideas?

My property is the one on the left. Those are her garage doors with her front door to the right.






Yes I know it is kind of petty but when you reach boiling point and have been patient up to now then something has to give.

rach_k

Yes it is petty but if you want to go that way, a simple inoffensive way of thwarting her evil plan to save the postie a few steps without getting into wall ownership technicalities would be to put a large plant in a pot at the corner of your house, next to the fence.

moneyistooshorttomention

I'm a bit confused.

Which house is yours?

If yours is the left-hand house - then that wall looks as if it is on your land and therefore the law does not allow a neighbour to fix anything to it.

Why on earth does she want a postbox anyway? She seems to be just "making a point" by putting one on your wall - when her letterbox would do perfectly well for leaving her post. If she wants a letterbox though - fine...but put it on her own wall.

Seconded that you could also just put a large (prickly) plant there - so the postman won't reach over anyway.

Silvertabby

Just read your post again - and can now see that your house is the one with the white door. So, the post box is on your neighbour's side - but fixed to the boundary wall. I'm afraid that as long as there's no damage on your side, I don't think you've got cause for complaint.

Doozergirl

Yes it is petty, ridiculously so.

If this postbox was inside the house, there wouldn't even be a question. do you have anything attached to the party wall inside? Shelves, kitchen cupboards, a shower rail, pictures, the TV? People are allowed to attach things to the party wall, of course they are.

If her foliage grows over your boundary, you can cut it back at the boundary. If your foliage grows over her side, she can do the same.

This isn't at all healthy. Is this the sort of thing you would really choose to focus on? Why?

If she wants to write letters, let her. The problems are hers not yours, but to behave in the same manner - or worse? That's your problem.

AnnieO1234

Rebuild the porch bit slightly into the boundary and stick a really prickly plant hedge down the boundary hedge...

TheCyclingProgrammer

From the photos it does look like the wall is yours and on your side of the boundary (conversely the fence would appear to be theirs as its on their drive) and as such I'm not sure she has an automatic right to attach things to it without asking but...I agree with the above that it all seems a bit petty.

What exactly are you concerned about? Damage? At best I'd ask them to make good the fixing holes with a bit of external repair filler if they ever remove it to ensure the bricks aren't damaged by water penetration and frost - a reasonable request.

Are you bothered by the postman walking across your garden to put things in the postbox? If this really bothers you then as somebody else said, put some potted plants there to make it clear to the postman its out of bounds.

If you're bothered by the ivy (and I agree that ivy can be a pain) then cut it back as soon as it crosses your boundary and offer the cuttings back to your neighbour.

Life's too short for petty disputes with neighbours, especially immediate ones.

david1951

Put your own postbox on the wall with ivy on it and tell the postman to post your post from her property instead!

Or just accept that she is petty and don't rise to it.

moneyistooshorttomention

Thinking further on this - and I am wondering if you haven't been keeping her ivy trim (presumably at the back of the house) and just letting it climb everywhere on your property?

Might be the best thing in these circumstances to keep her ivy trimmed back to not coming over your border and just leave her postbox be. She shouldnt have put it there and you are legally entitled to have it removed - but maybe it's best to just say nowt and just grin to yourself each time she has to nip outdoors to collect her post even when it's raining (when she could have just sat back in the dry inside and waited for it to be posted through her door). With that prickly plant in place by it for just long enough to "train" the postman not to walk across your garden to her postbox.

reluctanthousewife

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Thinking further on this - and I am wondering if you haven't been keeping her ivy trim (presumably at the back of the house) and just letting it climb everywhere on your property?

Might be the best thing in these circumstances to keep her ivy trimmed back to not coming over your border and just leave her postbox be. She shouldnt have put it there and you are legally entitled to have it removed - but maybe it's best to just say nowt and just grin to yourself each time she has to nip outdoors to collect her post even when it's raining (when she could have just sat back in the dry inside and waited for it to be posted through her door). With that prickly plant in place by it for just long enough to "train" the postman not to walk across your garden to her postbox.

Ive parked my car back on the gravel to make a point. Postman had to walk round it.

I cut her ivy once and she complained I wasn't doing it right and I had pulled it through from her side and damaged it....so she used to come do it...but now since relations have soured she hasn't bothered to come do it....and all this summer I have spent most of my time at my parents house due to my dad having liver damage and its gotten out of control. I hate that I have extra work now because she loves ivy!

I have let so much go with her that she is literally just walking all over us and doing what she wants. I am trying my best not to stoop to her level but she is making it so hard

Chanes

This is like one of those instances you read in the paper when something that is a niggle turns into a war and bankrupts one of the people in legal bills because it spirals out of control! For sanities sake, I think you both need to try to stop it getting worse and somehow make peace,