I will try to keep the story brief.
We have lived in our house for nearly 20 years. We have a tiny back garden- 12 feet wide.
New neighbours bought next door and said our garden was too wide by 8 inches. They wanted this 8 inch wide strip 'back'. They were planning an extension.
We did lots of research and told them that as we had had possession of this strip for so long it was ours, and it was difficult to prove either way, as Land Registry plans state they cannot be used to determine the boundary. After months of him threatening us with legal action ( delaying his extension because we wouldn't give in to him), sending threatening emails daily, awful pressure we said we would split the 8 inches with him. Our solicitor told us that we would be likely to win the case in court, but that a judge would probably not award us costs as they hate boundary disputes over such as small piece of land. Which seems very unfair to me. He said it could cost us 30k.
So we agreed he could build his wall 4 inches in from where the boundary was. This involved destroying a garden border filled with beautiful climbing plants. We thought we would be compensated for this, but he decided not to get a party wall agreement- which would have protected our interests. The only way we could have forced him to issue a party wall notice was to get an injunction. Again we were warned off doing this, as our 'loss' would have been minimal.
We agreed he would compensate us for the plants. He is now refusing to pay us, because I called him a bully! I feel we need to claim this money from him in the small claims court, but that drags it out even more. But if we don't, we will be out of pocket as well as having lost part of our garden.
He has bullied and harassed us for months. His 9 metre wide extension is 4 inches wider than it would have been, and I have lost my beloved plants. He lies to us. He now ignores our emails. He used to email us saying "if you don't reply by the end of today I will do x y z".
The layout of our gardens is complicated, but basically we cannot fence ourselves off from him. We will see him every day. He is having bi fold doors right up to the back boundary, and not putting a fence in front of them. We will be able to see him all the time!
Will I be able to stay here? Hate is not strong enough for how I feel. He has made me ill, my partner and I have had huge arguments, it's just been awful. The neighbour hates us, he seems to think we have wronged him in some way. The atmosphere is dreadful.
I love my house, and can't really afford to move, but am I kidding myself to think it will be possible to stay? The build is happening at the moment, will it be better when it's done? Thanks for reading the essay. Has anyone been through anything similar?
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AIBU?
To think I can stay living next door to this neighbour?
63 replies
hooliodancer · 13/05/2016 16:49
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