is my neighbour trespassing

worried123

Can i begin by saying that i have major issues with one of my neighbours.  Huge problems where i have had to contact the police etc.  serious issues - and I do not want anything to do with this person and i do not want her near me.   It is hard to explain the set up of where i live....basically I am at the corner of my road and she is at the corner of her road (we actually live in different roads) and our houses kind of almost meet in the middle.  Our doors are at the sides of our properties and a shared communal area of grass in front.  So her front gate, front garden and path that leads to her place is round the corner from me in her road......she can however get to her front door by opening my front gate, going up my front path and front garden rather than walk round to her own gate and path in her road (it needs fencing right the way down to block her gaining any access to her house from my front gate and garden......
I have recently got security cameras and she is opening my front gate (with a temperamental latch that keeps being broken and now i know why as she has been in and out of it all day ....leaving it open so it bangs and breaks again...recently had to have a new gate and again the latch is broken - trivial i know but really annoying) and marching up my path and through my front garden to get to her front door instead of walking around the corner to her own gate, path and garden.
I will not confront this person as i have just got my car back having had £2,800 worth of bodywork repairs from accumulated keying damage - i cannot risk her keying my car again or anything else she might do.......its been very scary stuff to be honest and i do not want her near me and she is in my front garden every single day.
Legally is she trespassing???  I dont know where i stand.

many thanks ...apologies for lengthy explanation.

worried123

sorry...i am asking bearing in mind that anybody can use my front gate and path....visitors obviously, postman, deliveries etc...

comeandgo

Which country are you in, by that I mean England, Scotland, Wales?

benson1980

Trespass in itself isn't criminal, therefore your only option is civil/injunctions. Not my area of expertise but I would imagine it is rather cost prohibitive, if there were even grounds to pursue via the civil route.

Bendy_House

The damage to your car, did you recover the cost of this from the neighbour? Was the police involved? Did they have evidence to go on?

Anyway, to examine whether this lady is trespassing, you need to read your deeds - that should mention any RightOf Way anyone other that folk directly connected to you will have (as you say, posties, etc. and visitors to you, do, but anyone else do not. The laws on 'trespassing' are quite lax on their own, but this would be a pretty clear case of harassment, and/or nuisance, and/or trepass-property damage.

Without a fence being put up, it might be hard to define at what stage this person continues to trespass if they are inclined to keep on being intimidating. They could, for example, 'tend' their side of the boundary and 'accidentally' keep stepping on your side, and that sort of petty - but worrying - stuff.

What's the bigger picture here? What stage are you at with trying to have this person 'restrained' from their behaviour? I would suggest to you that you need to tackle this - properly. No quarter. No compromise.

What do the police say about the situation?

Do you have Legal Protection on your house insurance? 

worried123

Bendy_House said:

The damage to your car, did you recover the cost of this from the neighbour? Was the police involved? Did they have evidence to go on?

Anyway, to examine whether this lady is trespassing, you need to read your deeds - that should mention any RightOf Way anyone other that folk directly connected to you will have (as you say, posties, etc. and visitors to you, do, but anyone else do not. The laws on 'trespassing' are quite lax on their own, but this would be a pretty clear case of harassment, and/or nuisance, and/or trepass-property damage.

Without a fence being put up, it might be hard to define at what stage this person continues to trespass if they are inclined to keep on being intimidating. They could, for example, 'tend' their side of the boundary and 'accidentally' keep stepping on your side, and that sort of petty - but worrying - stuff.

What's the bigger picture here? What stage are you at with trying to have this person 'restrained' from their behaviour? I would suggest to you that you need to tackle this - properly. No quarter. No compromise.

What do the police say about the situation?

Do you have Legal Protection on your house insurance? 

Bendy House, Thank you.  Major issues here and an ongoing battle - she has mental health issues and i feel she is therefore tip toed around....the answer is to move and I do need to section off completely the side gardens where she would cut through to her own home so she has no access to my home or my property.  Complete disrespect and abuse from her for years despite the fact that i do not go near her, speak to her or acknowledge her.  She is not reasonable and should i perhaps drop a note asking her to use her own gate and path there would be terrible repercussions of the insane kind......
I like that you said properly, no quarter and no compromise.......it is tough getting help in these situations and in my heart I know that  eventually i will have to move.....
Things have quietened with her since the police became involved but i do not want her in my front garden every single day - that she has the audacity to do this after all she has done is astounding but she has no boundaries.

worried123

comeandgo said:

Which country are you in, by that I mean England, Scotland, Wales?

comeandgo said:

Which country are you in, by that I mean England, Scotland, Wales?

I live in England

IAMIAM

What a right set up. MOVE

Brie

I'd be thinking about putting in a fence with a lot of very thorny bushes along it (look for compassion rose - thorns up to an inch long, grows like anything, 12 foot spread from one plant and the most beautiful fragrant blooms possible from April to November.)

Bendy_House

worried123 said:

Bendy House, Thank you.  Major issues here and an ongoing battle - she has mental health issues and i feel she is therefore tip toed around....the answer is to move and I do need to section off completely the side gardens where she would cut through to her own home so she has no access to my home or my property.  Complete disrespect and abuse from her for years despite the fact that i do not go near her, speak to her or acknowledge her.  She is not reasonable and should i perhaps drop a note asking her to use her own gate and path there would be terrible repercussions of the insane kind......
I like that you said properly, no quarter and no compromise.......it is tough getting help in these situations and in my heart I know that  eventually i will have to move.....
Things have quietened with her since the police became involved but i do not want her in my front garden every single day - that she has the audacity to do this after all she has done is astounding but she has no boundaries.

It's a toughie, but - to be blunt - you have a RIGHT to a peaceful existence in your home.

Her behaviour might be explained by her having genuine mental health issues, but it is not excused. I say that because lots of the unneighbourly incidences mentioned on here seem to involve folk with sociopathic tendencies, or worse. Are they any more 'normal' than this lady? I'd say probably not - many have genuine personality disorders, deeply unpleasant ones, and they can impact severely on others. They think - believe - they are normal, and fair and reasonable.

The effect on others is very similar, but the sociopath will certainly not have any sympathy. And yet, the overall unpleasantness can be similar.

All the unfortunate recipient of this onslaught can do it record, evidence, record, evidence, and report. And chase it up. And demand a solution.

Both the police and the Local Authority have responsibilities for this sort of anti-social (that's putting it mildly) behaviour - make them work for it.

I do actually have more sympathy for clearly disturbed folk like your neighb, but still... 

GDB2222

I have a few questions:

You need to download the 'deeds' from the land registry, both for your property and the neighbours. It's not expensive. Do you know how to do this?

What is stopping you simply fencing off your garden? Or, you can put a lock on the gate, together with a sign telling delivery people to walk round and use scary lady's gate!

Do you have simply masses of money for legal fees to bring a trespass case?