Neighbour trying to claim my land as hers!!

missm111

A new family have just moved in, in a row of terraces of which their back gardens face all the way up the side of our property. Our deeds show that we own the land (road and the patches of land up the side of our property too - which they face).

When they moved in we welcomed them, she said very sternly oh I'll be putting hanging baskets and things there, we said oh that's actually our property, her response was 'oh I thought it was free for all'!! We said no, its ours and we want to keep it as it is, we put flowers alongside it to make it nice for everyone facing it. Next thing, her daughter who can't drive, drove all over that patch of land killing all the flowers and plants. We asked what happened, she said oh must be someone up there, then later admitted it was her daughter. Then we find a few weeks later, she's watering the area! Then we see it's all died off, nothing, just yellow burnt looking dried up areas - obviously weed killer. Then we went round looked at it to see what we could get to protect it in future. She came out of her house, threatened that if we put stones down and it damages her daughters car, we will be liable!! then says you go away you, you own your garage not that bit! we said we own that land as per our deeds, stay away from it do not touch it and stick to your own property. she was screaming at me!!

Is she thick? seriously how can people be this aggressive when they're actually wrong and won't be told?! we have called the police. It seems some people just can't live in their means. has anyone else had this issue? What did you do?

stator

Get CCTV fitted. This is going to be a nightmare neighbour.

You could pay a solicitor to send her a letter, with a copy of your title plan attached. It might just trigger something in her brain. But maybe not.

Does anyone have rights over this piece of land?
If not, then I would just enclose it straight away. Any sort of cheap fence will do. Even a piece of string tied to bamboo sticks would do.
She might vandalise it, so get the CCTV up before hand. Then whatever she does, report it to the police and hopefully they will come around and have a word.

Don't try and be reasonable with her. Some people aren't reasonable, you could waste months trying to be nice to people like that and they will just make things more complicated for you in the long term

G_M

As Stator says above.


The sooner you get police involvement the better. I visit and quiet word from Plod can make a big difference. But for this you need proof that the damage you complain of was done by the neighbours.


So CCTV. Read up on the privacy rules - I believe you have to limit coverage to your own land (though given the number of cameras in the country it seems absurd!)

Davesnave

A PCSO visit would be good.

I'd also invest in a solicitor's letter, enclosing your title plan and the neighbour's, warning that the land is yours and private. If I could back this up with erecting a fence, I'd do that too.

CCTV may point at your property and include public space, but not directly at someone else's property, though how anyone can tell exactly where some cameras point is unclear. A non-issue, I think, considering how many dash-cams etc are around.

The woman wouldn't be doing damage and intimidating you if she didn't have designs on the land for herself. Head that off at the pass.

quantumlobster

Is there access from their garden directly onto this land? Or is Mrs Notnicebutdim going round from the front of her property to access yours?

Draw us a picture? I'm struggling to visualise it.

Norman_Castle

She came out of her house, threatened that if we put stones down and it damages her daughters car, we will be liable!!

Put some rocks there. Tell her her daughter will be liable if she damages your rocks.
Ask her how many arguments she had with her previous neighbours.


She's thick, treat her accordingly.

m0bov

Get a quote for return the flowers and garden area to as it was before then sue her for the cost. Dont get pushed around.

ACG

m0bov wrote: »

Get a quote for return the flowers and garden area to as it was before then sue her for the cost. Dont get pushed around.

How do you prove the neighbour caused the damage?

As others have said, block it off if you can. Get CCTV. And then see what her response is.

You could also ask to see her deeds and compare? You never know, there could be an overlap for some reason or another.

Davesnave

ACG wrote: »

You could also ask to see her deeds and compare? You never know, there could be an overlap for some reason or another.

That's why I suggested buying them first. There might be an anomaly; stranger things have happened at the Land Registry!

avacapri

her conveyance will show what she bought and so will yours send her a copy and ask her to refer to hers
- if you dont want to put a fence up dont it should not affect your rights as its your land, if she damages anything call the police,let them deal with it - people like that seem to think they can get what they want by shouting the loudest, she probably does not even understand where to look to know where her boundary is.

moneyistooshorttomention

It's a valid point the Land Registry might "just" have accidentally done a mix-up and put this bit of land on both Title Plans.

1. I'd send to Land Registry for a copy of her Title Plan (£7 if you do it the "paperwork" way, £3 online) and a copy of her Registry entry (£7 and £3 respectively).

Assuming there hadn't been a mix-up - and the land is quite clearly down with LR as yours only - then get a solicitor to send her a letter, saying words to effect of "Here is copy of your Title Plan and Register entry dear neighbour. Also enclosed copy of my clients Title Plan and Register entry. You will see quite clearly that the land is my clients. Now - cease and desist from touching it".

2. Take photos at every stage of anything happening to your land. Hopefully you have photos of how-it-normally-is. Take photos of how-it-currently-is.

Any time anything changes - take photos.

3. Keep a diary of events for yourself:
Time/date - such & such happened. Photo kept.

*****************

Hopefully this will do the trick and there is a genuine misunderstanding and your solicitor letter will do the trick and she realises it is indeed your land and will behave herself from here on in.

If she has had it made very plain to her that it's your land (by that solicitor letter/Title Plans/etc) and still carries on = then, at that point, it becomes clear she is trying to terrorise you to get off your own land and then you do things like cctv cameras/putting up a sturdy fence/etc to protect your property.

NB; I managed to stop my own neighbours trespassing on my garden with a combination of proving it clearly that it is mine - and casually leaving around a long hosepipe I'd had installed anyway and watering my garden when they could see me doing so (so that they would be aware of the "reach" of the water from my hosepipe). I never did have to "accidentally on purpose decide to water my garden when they were trespassing in it" in the event - as they could see clearly enough that I would have done so and they would have got a drenching.