Fence Dispute - Apparent Criminal Damage

AaronCurtis91

Hello. I’m asking for thoughts/advice on behalf of my parents.

This is the timeline.
1. Neighbour put up their own fence on their side of the property when they first moved in. This left a slight gap between the two fences.

2. 2 years ago my father attached some brackets to run electrical cable to his shed on the boundary fence (not on the fence the neighbour installed) in the gap between the two fences. 

3.Recently (2 years after the brackets were fitted) my parents were threatened with legal action and police for criminal damage to property. He did not state what the damage was.

4. My father thought it may have been these tiny brackets in between the two fences, so has now taken it down. Leaving 4 tiny screw holes on the boundary fence (shared).
 

5. He is still threatening legal action, police and saying they will pay his legal fees for 4 screw holes on a fence. 

Oh and on top of this he has implied he has cctv showing my father taking it down, proving he’s guilty. He didn’t know that was the problem, he guessed. Also can he record my parents without their knowledge or permission in their garden? 

Will any legal team take this seriously? What should my parents do? They have recently sold their house and seems like the neighbour is deliberately taking legal action to ruin their sale. My parents are elderly and any advice on whether they need to take this seriously would be appreciated. Again this is because of 4 tiny holes made by screws on a fence. 

anselld

Bonkers.  Ignore unless court papers arrive.
Does the letter actually say what should be done to remedy the situation?

AdrianC

AaronCurtis91 said:

...seems like the neighbour is deliberately taking legal action to ruin their sale.

Why would the neighbour do that?
Is he so fond of living next door to your parents that he wishes them to stay?

No, a couple of screw holes in a fence marking a shared boundary is not criminal damage. It may have been unwise to fit the brackets to the neighbour's side of the fence, however that's been rectified.

No, the police are not going to take this allegation seriously enough to consider a criminal prosecution. With or without CCTV "evidence".

AaronCurtis91

No. They have moved the brackets and the ‘damage’ is 4 screw holes. The neighbour has not stated what they want to rectify the problem, just that he is sending the police and is seeking legal action. 

Should they suggest getting someone to fill the holes to them? ( they are tiny and would disappear with a good sand of the wood).

My initial thought was to ignore them and don’t even respond to their emails. 

princeofpounds

AaronCurtis91 said:

Will any legal team take this seriously? What should my parents do? They have recently sold their house and seems like the neighbour is deliberately taking legal action to ruin their sale. My parents are elderly and any advice on whether they need to take this seriously would be appreciated. Again this is because of 4 tiny holes made by screws on a fence. 

No, no legal team will take this seriously. And certainly the police and the courts will not take it seriously. Unfortunately, it falls into a bit of a grey area between a valid civil dispute and harassment by the neighbour, so dealing with it is not clear-cut.

However, it has serious implications for the sale if it needs to be declared (and it probably does, although if selling is crucial due to age part of me is tempted to say allow the sale to proceed and deal with any claims afterwards).

Do your parents have legal protection on their house insurance? Have they exchanged contracts? Do you have any idea what the neighbour actually wants to achieve by interfering with the sale?

Also, you may wish to open a thread at gardenlaw forums who are a little bit more oriented to the legal disputes side of things. 

caprikid1

Bonkers, sounds like harassment to me. If it was my dad I would be popping round and telling the neighbor to stop harassing my father.

princeofpounds

AaronCurtis91 said:

Should they suggest getting someone to fill the holes to them? ( they are tiny and would disappear with a good sand of the wood).

My initial thought was to ignore them and don’t even respond to their emails. 

No, leave the fence alone. Screw holes are de minimis, and it's not even clear (if I understand you correctly) that the brackets were attached to a fence that the neighbour owns. Were they attached to the other side of the old fence, and the new fence was put up by the neighbour?

For now, yes ignore them and don't respond to the emails. Until and unless you have a solid plan for the way ahead, or something else happens (like court papers or a police visit) then there is no advantage to engaging. Apart from the sale process there is no specific time pressure.

moneysavinghero

Call your local mental health team. Your parents neighbour clearly has issues that requires professional help.

eddddy

Ideally, you want to diffuse the situation - perhaps using 'psychology' rather than anything more formal - so it doesn't escalate into a more serious dispute.

For example, even though your parents appear to have done nothing wrong...

...you (rather than your parents) could pop round to see the neighbours and ask if your 'daft old dad' has done something wrong, and if he has, you're sorry and what can you do to put it right? And maybe give them your contact details, for discussing any further concerns. 

Maybe giving them the opportunity to vent their anger at you, and you sympathising with them, will satisfy them.

And afterwards, if appropriate, I guess you could explain to your parents there was just a small misunderstanding which you have resolved. So that, to the best of their knowledge, there was no dispute.

bouicca21

So who actually owns the ‘damaged’ fence?  Presumably it was there before the neighbours moved in 2 years ago, so if OP’s parents claimed ownership of the fence, there is no way they could prove any different.   And if OP’s parents own the fence they can put brackets on it,

AaronCurtis91

eddddy said:

Ideally, you want to diffuse the situation - perhaps using 'psychology' rather than anything more formal - so it doesn't escalate into a more serious dispute.

For example, even though your parents appear to have done nothing wrong...

...you (rather than your parents) could pop round to see the neighbours and ask if your 'daft old dad' has done something wrong, and if he has, you're sorry and what can you do to put it right? And maybe give them your contact details, for discussing any further concerns. 

Maybe giving them the opportunity to vent their anger at you, and you sympathising with them, will satisfy them.

And afterwards, if appropriate, I guess you could explain to your parents there was just a small misunderstanding which you have resolved. So that, to the best of their knowledge, there was no dispute.

Unfortunately the neighbour will not communicate in person and will only do it by email.

Would it be appropriate for me to respond to his emails?