Neighbour attaching trellis to my wall (more detailed than it sounds)

baz8755

We have an already established unsociable neighbour who in the past has arranged for work to be done across our land without consent, parks across our drive blocking our cars and then when we complain he paints over our drive, as well as shouting abuse at my wife when she is in our garden

His latest exploit is that we own the wall bordering our 2 properties and on his side it has always had a hedge providing privacy, he has only lived there for 2 years whereas we have been here 30 years. A year or so ago he decided to cut down the hedge and given that his land is a couple of feet above ours he now stands head and shoulders above the wall.

At the time he cut the hedges down I made fence panels to put on top of the wall to take the height measured from our side up to the maximum permissible without planning permission. But as he has proven to be aggressive in the past I decided to wait to before putting them up.

A month or 2 ago he attached a trellis panel on top of his side of my wall due to its length it slightly overhangs into my my garden.

I went round to him pointing out that we already had panels to fit to our wall and hadn't put them up as not to cause a rift, we pointed out that his panel on our wall is preventing us from putting ours up and given that he is obviously happy to have something on the wall our solution is better.

He said he would be happy to remove his trellis but would need permission from his wife....

Sure enough he has not contacted us further or removed the panel, TBH I am not surprised.

We are fed up with this neighbour as he is always bullying us to get his way such that we're afraid to do anything for fear of retribution, we do feel however that on this issue we need to take a stand.

Unfortunately having looked into this issue it would appear that he is not permitted to attach things to our wall......but apparently we are not permitted to remove it either!!!!!!!

Advice on how to handle this situation would be greatly appreciated.

WIAWSNB

Do you have Legal Protection included on your house policy? If so, call them up for advice.

You mention a fence, and you also mention a wall - could you clarify what's going on?

Do you know - exactly - where the boundary lies? Are your houses terraced, semi or detached? 

If you consider the existing fence to be yours, does that mean you can demonstrate it sits on your side of the boundary line? 

baz8755

Do you have Legal Protection included on your house policy? If so, call them up for advice.
YES

You mention a fence, and you also mention a wall - could you clarify what's going on?
THE WALL IS ON THE BOUNDARY AND THE FENCE IS THE 1.5 FOOT EXTENSION I PLAN TO PLACE ON TOP TAKING IT TO THE MAX HEIGHT PERMITTED

Do you know - exactly - where the boundary lies? Are your houses terraced, semi or detached?
THE HOUSES ARE DETACHED AND IT IS A GARDEN WALL

If you consider the existing fence to be yours, does that mean you can demonstrate it sits on your side of the boundary line? 
I HAVE THE LAND REGISTRY ENTRY THAT SHOWS I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR THE WALL

m0bov

You need a solicitor to write a letter to them.

WIAWSNB

baz8755 said:

Do you have Legal Protection included on your house policy? If so, call them up for advice.
YES

You mention a fence, and you also mention a wall - could you clarify what's going on?
THE WALL IS ON THE BOUNDARY AND THE FENCE IS THE 1.5 FOOT EXTENSION I PLAN TO PLACE ON TOP TAKING IT TO THE MAX HEIGHT PERMITTED

Do you know - exactly - where the boundary lies? Are your houses terraced, semi or detached?
THE HOUSES ARE DETACHED AND IT IS A GARDEN WALL

If you consider the existing fence to be yours, does that mean you can demonstrate it sits on your side of the boundary line? 
I HAVE THE LAND REGISTRY ENTRY THAT SHOWS I AM RESPONSIBLE FOR THE WALL

Thanks.

It isn't quite that simple, tho'. The actual boundary is an invisible line, and unless there is some way to determine where, exactly, it is, then it can be open to conjecture. Evidence usually means either detailed measurements, or proof of where a fence or wall was at the time of build.

But, if you are confident that this wall is 'yours', coupled with the deeds saying it's 'your responsibility' - which usually means it should sit fully on your side - then let's assume the actual boundary line is just on the other side of this wall, touching it. I presume your neighbour doesn't question whose wall it is? Good. 

If the boundary line is therefore running on your neighbour's side of this wall, it means that your neighbour should not cross that line. So, if he places a trellis that goes even on top of your wall, it's trespassing. If it leans over your side, then absolute trespass. And since you have LegProt, you can oblige him to shift it - and he'd be very foolish to refuse.

So, get your factual ducks in a row, and call your LP. 

As for their other behaviour, you may wish to adopt a zero-tolerance approach, often being what it takes to stop such 'olery. Get CCTV cameras set up front and back, and this will capture any trespass, damage, or bad-mouthing. All unacceptable. Get some good examples recorded, and contact your Anti-soc dept at your council. If given enough evidence, they should act. Once they do, the neighb would be foolish to keep on being a git.

You may wish to set your cameras at just below fencetop level, so it cannot catch anything over your boundary. Your choice whether to have them overt or covert. Once they are up, do not be concerned about approaching or challenging (in a calm way, of course) this fellow - your camera will capture you being reasonable, and him being a twit - you add that to your file. If there is something you need to discuss with him, then do so. It may be that your LP will expect you to ask him to remove the trespass first, and then they'll act if he doesn't. 

Evidence evidence evidence. So get your cameras first.

(eg IMOU, £25 a pop on t'Bay).

(How high is the current wall?)

Bigphil1474

Alternatively, see if you can appeal to his humanity and try and get it sorted without involving solicitors or any other officialdom. I appreciate your neighbour sounds like a right a*** hole, but do you think getting solicitors involved will make things better or worse? 

Are you annoyed with his trellis, or are you annoyed that you can't put your panels up? Or does the trellis do the job that you wanted your panels to do? Personally, I'd pick my battles, and hope they move some time soon.

baz8755

Bigphil1474 said:

Alternatively, see if you can appeal to his humanity and try and get it sorted without involving solicitors or any other officialdom. I appreciate your neighbour sounds like a right a*** hole, but do you think getting solicitors involved will make things better or worse? 

Are you annoyed with his trellis, or are you annoyed that you can't put your panels up? Or does the trellis do the job that you wanted your panels to do? Personally, I'd pick my battles, and hope they move some time soon.

I totally agree with you however the fact I was purposely not legally putting my panels up so as not to stir things up (not that it should) and him using his wife as the excuse does not sit well. Although I do anything and everything to have a happy harmonious relationship with everyone this gentleman(?) has already taken many liberties and I have backed down to keep the peace and I now feel that if I don't make a stand he will just continue.

I will try and broach the subject with him again but if things escalate or he still does not accept our totally reasonable request I fear we may to use legal routes to fire a warning shot that we are not standing for his behaviour anymore.

WIAWSNB

baz8755 said:

Bigphil1474 said:

Alternatively, see if you can appeal to his humanity and try and get it sorted without involving solicitors or any other officialdom. I appreciate your neighbour sounds like a right a*** hole, but do you think getting solicitors involved will make things better or worse? 

Are you annoyed with his trellis, or are you annoyed that you can't put your panels up? Or does the trellis do the job that you wanted your panels to do? Personally, I'd pick my battles, and hope they move some time soon.

I totally agree with you however the fact I was purposely not legally putting my panels up so as not to stir things up (not that it should) and him using his wife as the excuse does not sit well. Although I do anything and everything to have a happy harmonious relationship with everyone this gentleman(?) has already taken many liberties and I have backed down to keep the peace and I now feel that if I don't make a stand he will just continue.

I will try and broach the subject with him again but if things escalate or he still does not accept our totally reasonable request I fear we may to use legal routes to fire a warning shot that we are not standing for his behaviour anymore.

It almost certainly won't get that far - it just won't need to. But do get your facts sorted, so do call up your LP since you've paid for it - this is exactly what it's for. Keep your info unemotive and factual and succinct. 

Armed with the legal facts - it's your wall, he mustn't encroach - then you can approach him in a calm and reasonable manner, knowing your LP has your back. If he acts unreasonably, then you tell him how unfortunate that is, and you'll have to call on your LegProt.

It really should be that simple.

Really, tho', since this guy is a regular anti-social git, you need to start covering yourself on the other issues, so you can act to contain him if needed. So, cameras. If you gather evidence, your LA will act. If you don't, they won't.

No excuse whatsoever for someone shouting abuse - zero. Don't take it personally if he does - he's a git - but you do still take action. 

As to another point you made - you can remove trespassing items, but you should first give notice for them to do so first. Then set a date; "I'll remove them if you don't do so by then, and cannot be held responsible for any damage caused." You return the items to his property. Again, you need to evidence this - so get yer bludy cameras up.

Or, you use your LP to force him to remove them. 

If this fellow's actions are affecting your quality of life, then tackle it. Evidence evidence and something else.

Grumpy_chap

It sounds to me as though just letting the trellis stay could be a pragmatic solutions.

The OP was concerned that the hedge being cut down reduced privacy.
Putting the trellis in will restore that privacy.

The stuff about fence panels that were never put up (for 2 years) seems like a distraction

baz8755

Grumpy_chap said:

It sounds to me as though just letting the trellis stay could be a pragmatic solutions.

The OP was concerned that the hedge being cut down reduced privacy.
Putting the trellis in will restore that privacy.

The stuff about fence panels that were never put up (for 2 years) seems like a distraction

Why is it a distraction?

It was not put up due to fears that it would provoke more aggression.

He knows I want to put it up and he will be enjoying the fact that he has yet again got his way which is yet again legally and morally wrong. I will approach him one more time but he needs to know his current and past behaviour will no longer be tolerated.

LightFlare

So you bought some panels to put up but didn’t so not to aggravate him.
He put trellis up and now you are annoyed because suddenly, now you decide you actually want to put your panels up.
How long were you going to wait to put your panels up as it seems odd that you decide to do so now of all times