Caravan blocking light to our house

travelling_hat

Hi
I have had a look at a couple of threads on here regarding covernants on freehold properties. my property is freehold the covernant is mainly as stated in other threads for the original builder. We are semi detached, you have litteraly only space to get your wheelie bin between us and the house we are not attached to. Next door have put a caravan on their drive which affects the light coming into our house, the caravan never seems to move arriving last september and staying, we are trying to sell our house and you cant see the for sale board for the caravan. Strangely we have had no offers on our house. I have talked to next door asking them about if they could move it (in a very very nice way!)and they dont think its is a problem as its on their property. It is on their property and there are no covenants to cover it. Im now thinking of paying the fees for them to park their caravan some where, is that the only solution? No one will buy this house with the caravan so close.

PasturesNew

Paying their fees might be a solution. As they say, it's on their property - and they can't park it in the street so would have to pay to have it stored.

However, they might not be happy with it being somewhere else. Maybe they keep things in it that they might want access to, maybe it's handy for them there because once they know they're going away they can pop out over the 2 weeks before they go checking things and slowly packing bits and bobs away. It is possible that being stored away it might even get damaged. So they might not be keen on it even if you are offering to pay.

But offering to pay is pretty much the only chance you've got of it moving. You can, of course, hope that they can't really afford to keep or use it and will be flogging it within a month.

UK007BullDog

Have you checked with the council? It might be that the caravan is too big and a health and safety hazzard.

clutton_2

"""the caravan is too big and a health and safety hazzard. """ - like HOW ?????? its on their private land .....

travelling_hat

Its not a new caravan so it won't be on finance, though it not ugly its just big and putting our house quite litteraly in the shade. As its not costing them to keep it on the drive it wont be sold any time soon. I dont think any thing can be done about health and safety unless it blew onto our land and damaged our cars or house. The caravan is not huge, just the houses are small the drive only fit one cars length or indead one caravan. next door park the caravan so it shades our house and put their car infront of their front window so they dont have a caravan staring back at them when they open their curtains.

DKLS

How about waiting til they are away for a day or two, and freecycle the caravan.

meester

there are a lot of places where you really will wind up the neighbours by buying a caravan. Don't think I'd be too popular if I got one.

Ultimately there's little you can do about annoying neighbours, and remember a house will sell at the right price.

alan99_2

Some councils have rules about not letting caravans be parked in front gardens. Nothing to do with 'elf and safety . Just policy.


Otherwise maybe you can rent it off them ,move it and rent it out to homeless Bulgarian , Polish etc. workers :rotfl:

Alan

UK007BullDog

clutton wrote: »

"""the caravan is too big and a health and safety hazzard. """ - like HOW ?????? its on their private land .....

That may be so, but if the caravan is blocking access to the other property for a rescue vehicle than it is a health and safety issue.

But dont shoot the messenger, my OH told me this. Seems he knew someone who parked an oversize van on their property but only a mini could squeeze through to the property next door. But it all depends on the road and property layouts I guess. It would not harm to ask the council for advice. its only the cost of a call and they do work for us (we do pay enough council tax).

Ian_Griffiths_Halifax

travelling hat. How old is your property? On properties built within the last 10/15 years I have come across 'restrictive covenants' within clients deeds, that prohibit the parking of tradesmans vehicles on the drive and I can remember at least once that the restriction extended to mobile homes and caravans.

This is to try and keep the area attractive and sellable.

Have a look in your Building Insurance Polcy and you may have 'Legal Assistance' cover, which would provide you with access to a free Legal Help Line to answer some questions.

pinkshoes

I thought there were rules about blocking neighbour's light? I'm sure if a neighbour has a tree that is blocking light, then it must be removed/cut back appropriately, so perhaps there's something about caravans too?

After a quick google, there are "rights to light"...

http://northernireland.shelter.org.uk/advice/advice-4063.cfm#wipLive-12423-5

Rights to Light

You don't have an automatic right to prevent a neighbour blocking your light. However, if light has previously been enjoyed coming from across your neighbour's property for at least 20 years, you generally have a right to continue receiving that light. This right applies even if:

<LI class=bullet>you have lived there for less than 20 years, and
• the building has been unoccupied for part of that time.

Two exceptions to the 20 year rule are that:

<LI class=bullet>the right may be enjoyed by consent. This usually means that the owner of the window makes a nominal yearly payment and acquires the right to light immediately
• the title deeds may prevent a right to light being acquired. This is quite common in housing estates.

The right only applies to the light coming onto windows in buildings, for example, in the house or greenhouse. It does not apply to light coming onto land such as a garden. If your neighbour's extension prevents you from sunbathing nothing can be done.
There is no general right to:

<LI class=bullet>privacy, for example, if a neighbour builds an extension which overlooks the property owner's bedroom window; and/or
• protect the view, for example, if the neighbour's extension blocks the view.

However, you can object to a neighbour's plans for an extension through the planning permission procedure . Any overlooking or loss of view will be a relevant consideration in any planning decision. Any loss in value of your property will not be.