Anglian Home Improvements.

KEMYST

For the past year we have been in dispute with the next door neighbours regarding the construction of a conservatory they want built that will abut our tiny rear patio We have no garden. The neighbours have a right of way over our patio and the dispute is over what they can and can`t do. Anglian want to render our external land unusable for the period of time the conservatory is being built. We say they only have the right to pass and repass (which is the only thing written in the deeds). There have been letters between myself and their solicitor over the last year and they have been unable to substantiate any claim regarding their demand for extensive rights and boundaries. This week our neighbour gleefully informed us that they had sacked their solicitor and that Anglian`s legal department were taking over the case. She has been going around the nearby houses `gathering information` but making sure that we know that Anglian are `going to have us`. Can Anglian actually come into this dispute? Can they represent our neighbours? What can they take us to Court for when we have, in fact no legal issue with them? Is this just a frightener? We are both in our mid seventies and a little worried. The constant bullying has been very stressful. Than you for any input

Bendy_House

I recall your dispute, Kemyst.
Without going over old ground too much, I think your neighbour's expectation of their door swinging over your land is still unreasonable (and bludy outrageous). From what you said, it also appeared to folks on this forum that your neighbour had an alternative way to arrange their con., With the doors facing their garden, and a new exit from their garden positioned nearer the road, thereby by-passing most of your patio in the process?

Can you firm whether the above is still the case?
If so, then it would 'seem' to me that, if this case were to go further, a judge would the above into account. And also the manner in which your neighbour is behaving; gleeful threats ain't a good look. So I trust you are still noting everything down, and ideally recording the most contentious bits?
As to your rights, the answer is "I don't know", but surely someone on here does know about RoWs?
As to whether Anglian are prepared to become involved in a neighbourly dispute, I again don't know, but it smacks of desperation for a sale if they do! I *think* they'd be obliged to tell you if this were the case, so ASK THEM. By email. 
IF it turns out that the ARE, AND they still expect to open a door over your land, then can I suggest a call to your local free paper (or not free)? The former, in particular, LOVE such stories - ("Elderly couple being trampled on by huge National double-glazing company...") - and, if they report on this, I suspect it'll have more effect that any amount of litigation.

I come back to the original situation, tho' - your trump card is that you can allow the RoW, but you can literally move the goalposts, or 'gate' as it is here. I would suggest that this is done sooner rather than later, as if it's done afterwards to block their door, then they could claim a restricted access on their RoW. 
Are they still planning to open their door over your land?

Doozergirl

I'm do remember and I do have an opinion on doors opening onto your land but as far as allowing them to build at all goes, is this ongoing argument not more stressful than just letting them get on and build it with compromise? 

The Access to Neighbouring Property does exist and as a builder, I would agree that what they have built there does look like it needs renewing. 

https://www.cms-lawnow.com/ealerts/2002/05/statutory-rights-of-access-to-neighbouring-land?sc_lang=en

For the sake of a few weeks of hassle, this could have been done over winter when there was little chance of you using your outdoor space at all.  

This is feeling like an argument for the sake of it to me. All of this was there when your wife purchased the property.  Sometimes people need to work on their homes and so far, they haven't.  It's a conservatory, they're not rebuilding the Notre Dame next door.  It won't take long.  

Sometimes it's just easier to let people get on with it so the issue can stop living rent free in your head.  Mental health is far more important.  No one wins legal arguments like this, ever.  Someone does on paper, but the other person just ends up thinking that they're an ahole, and that is definitely not a win. 

Let them build it.  

Bendy_House

Can I ask your opinion of the door opening on to the OP's land, Doozer'?

Doozergirl

I gave it.  It shouldn't happen. There's no reason why it can't open inwards. 

There's room for compromise here.  OP gets their way on the door opening, neighbour gets to build and have proper access for it.  

It's fair.  Anything else is just spoiling for a fight imho.  Which is exhausting and expensive.   

KEMYST

I posted on here because of the problem with Anglian.
There comes a time when you just have to say no,
We said we would compromise on the issue of the boundary but that we wanted the boundary resolution entered into the deeds rather than just an agreement between us and them.....this would make the issue binding on both of us on future sales of the properties. Is this reasonable?
We said that Anglian could use the Right of Way  (By the way you do not have right of access for new builds - only maintenance. We agreed to the building of a new skylight) but only to bring in materiel but they want us to not use our patio for a significant amount of time and render it unusable and they want my wife`s plants gone `somewhere`. Is this reasonable?
They have the right to pass and repass which we have never denied but they deliberately pass back and fro within a few feet of us when we are eating. Is this fair?
They push personal washing out of the way when there is plenty of room to pass.
They used the right of way during lockdown and used no masks when passing within a few inches of our door. (I`m in the top sector for Covid fatalities)
They screamed and shouted at us when we had a measure up for a door/panel on our property.
They built a fence over 2m high between the properties without planning permission - we did not object.

What would you like me to do DG lie on my back and expose my throat ljke a good little pupp.? The neighbours have NEVER
asked for any compromise they just come around demand. I have written to their solicitor and said that this could have been sorted over a pint. And don`t tell the what I have written above is fair to us, please!
I would like someone`s opinion on what Anglian can do, please. The original issues are sorted it is only Anglian`s involvement that is the problem and, if you look online, in the best opinion I can muster is  that I can`t figure out how they stay in business

Bendy_House

At the moment, you don't know if what the neighbour has told you about Anglian is BS or true. I think you need to either wait until Anglian's representatives do contact you, or else you ask them - are they planning to take legal action against you?

If they say 'yes', tell them you'll go to the local papers.

Has your solicitor been able to inform you whether their conservatory door is effectively allowed to trespass over your land? Tbh, I think that's the only significant issue here - everything else is just a loose interpretation of RoWs and stuff; 'how' wide does the path need to be? Are your plants in the way? Can I hang my washing that close to the RoW? All that kind of stuff is a distraction, and no party will come out well from it.

The only concrete thing I can see here is - CAN their door swing out over your land? If the answer is 'no', then that's about the only thing you can determine and hold them to.

Rosa_Damascena

Doozergirl said:

I'm do remember and I do have an opinion on doors opening onto your land but as far as allowing them to build at all goes, is this ongoing argument not more stressful than just letting them get on and build it with compromise? 

Rolling over means the war is won by attrition and not based on the rights and wrongs of the matter. This is not about a Pyrrhic victory but one over selfish and entitled neighbours.

Doozergirl

You're making it personal.  

I do get that it definitely is for you, but the builders are not your neighbours and they will not be out there trying to wind you up, they will be getting on with their work.  

It's not strictly a new build either.  There is an existing structure already there that needs renewing and a decent neighbour will understand what they bought into and accommodate as much as they can.  I have been the neighbour with a right of way directly across the back of their house on two occasions.  

You either need to move or facilitate something because at the moment you are both antagonising each other.  Not wearing a mask outside whilst walking has never been a major risk for anyone.  

Both at work and at home, if I have a problem I usually think about how to work my way around a problem, so that I can stop it from happening.  At work it's introducing processes that reduce any risk of conflict happening again.    At home that might mean thinking about where I hang my washing - we did that in this house without there even being a problem, just thought that it wouldn't be a good idea to have it hanging between the door and the seating, so it goes to one side.  

I don't ever really think about anything as 'rolling over like a good little pup'.  I think about whether things are really worth fighting for and to what point.  

For example, I did object to a planning application next door and I represented all of my neighbours by speaking at the committee, but I also accepted when they got that permission and the developer told us that we had been the nicest of all the neighbours by far during the build.   None of the neighbours gained a thing from being obtuse about things, in fact, we managed to negotiate what has happened with the new fence line to our advantage because we picked our battles wisely and we were accommodating when it cost us nothing to be that way.  

Re: deeds.   I have been designing and building for 23 years, every time the houses have had neighbours and have never needed to enter anything into deeds at all.  I'm not sure what you want in them or why, but given my experience, you're
unusual in that respect.  Whether it's unreasonable is a different question because I don't know what you want putting in them.  

I think some reflection is in order because you're clearly angry and some of it really isn't worth the stress.  If you don't think about something, it can't worry you.  Some things are worth thinking about, others are not.  It doesn't make you a push over, it makes you pragmatic.  

As for Anglian, we don't know if they can do what your neighbour says because we don't know what they want.  If anything at all.  Talk is cheap.  

KEMYST

Your last sentences says everything.

plumb1_2

I think Anglian will send you a BS letter, (most probably not) why would they be prepared to pay the cost for using a Solitor . They most probably doing hundreds of jobs a week, straight forward and easy profits