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Original poster

Issue with neighbour and gate

29 replies

shufflestep · 04/04/2021 13:52

Our neighbour came round on Wednesday to complain about our side entrance, which is fixed on one side to the wall of our house. He asked DH to turn the gate round on the grounds that it was damaging his bricks (not the case). DH and one of our sons spent Friday morning turning the gate round and fixing a soft close mechanism on it, to prevent any banging. Neighbour has just come round again and said it shouldn't be attached to the wall of their house at all, he wants us to get a new gate and gatepost set in the ground now! Gate was put up with full permission from the then neighbours nine years ago, replacing another that was probably about thirty years old, also fixed in the same way. DH thinks that neighbour has no right to demand this as it is as he bought the house less than two years ago - we tried very hard to help, and think that should do. Can the neighbour take this further?

OP posts:

LST · 04/04/2021 14:00

If it isnt damaging his brickwork like you say then what could his problem be? Does it bang or rattle in the wind so that he can hear it in his house?

BillyIsMyBunny · 04/04/2021 14:03

Is it attached to your house wall or his house wall? I think if it’s attached to the wall of his house he’s reasonable to ask you to take it off, unless there is something historic in the deeds stating that you have a legal right to attach your gate to his house. What the previous owners did it didn’t mind is irrelevant as they no longer own the house, it’s his property now so of course it’s up to him whether he’s happy for you to make use of his wall. Totally reasonable to expect you to use a gatepost rather than his house wall.

Stickytreacle · 04/04/2021 14:03

I think that the neighbour is probably in the right in this instance, you can't attach the gate to his property. I'd put your own post in to prevent further issues.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 04/04/2021 14:06

Then put it back as it was and tell them to piss off!

Sometimes people don't want to be neighbourly. Leave them to it.

Workinghardeveryday · 04/04/2021 14:07

Way I see it is if it’s his house and he doesn’t want something attached to it then it’s up to him. However if he wants it moving then he should arrange the change of gate and post? Why should you pay for it!!
I think he’s being a bit of a dick

BlackAmericanoNoSugar · 04/04/2021 14:18

So, the gate has historically been attached in the way that it is, and it was like that when he bought it. I think it's fair enough to say that he should have considered that aspect before he bought the house and you have already accommodated his wishes in turning the gate the other way. Would you be willing to change it if he paid for a free-standing gate post to be built?

For what it's worth I life in a detached house of modern timber-framed, brick outer wall construction and we have a timber fence and door to the side entrance to the garden that connects to next door's fence and side entrance. When their gate/door slams we can hear it and even slightly feel it in our house, but if you have put a soft-close mechanism on your gate then that shouldn't be an issue. We just accept it anyway as part of suburban living, like barking dogs and ice-cream van music.

cabbageking · 04/04/2021 14:31

Put it back to how it was and leave it like that.

Original poster

shufflestep · 04/04/2021 14:46

It was attached on his side and latched on ours, we've now turned it the other way as requested. It's definitely always been this way - the previous neighbour who gave us permission pointed out that we were just replacing what had always been there (it had been her parents house since the 1940s). Just can't believe we did exactly what they requested, plus the soft closure because we thought banging may be the issue, for them to come up with another set of demands!

OP posts:

CuriousaboutSamphire · 04/04/2021 15:02

It would have been built like that. I've lived in a couple big similar houses. Nobody cared because it was normal.

These days people are a lot more bothered by such stuff. When we moved here a few people were horrified that next door have a limited right of way over our garden. Just as we have an everyday right if way over the driveway to the side of us.

It didn't occur to us to be bothered as both were clearly explained by our solicitor and had been in use for decades without any problems.

Elieza · 04/04/2021 15:14

Id suggest you would be happy to oblige if he shows you evidence of the damage being done to his property.

If there is dampness or something fair enough.

If not I’d be reluctant to do anything further, as you have already gone out if your way to accommodate him.

Bluntness100 · 04/04/2021 15:19

It’s his house his rules, you have no right to attach something to his property simoly because a previous owner said you could. If he says remove it, you remove it, it doesn’t matter if it’s causing no issues. It literally is his house his rules.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 04/04/2021 15:20

See what I mean? 😊

Original poster

shufflestep · 04/04/2021 18:10

@CuriousaboutSamphire absolutely! As far as our knowledge extends it's been this way for around for at least eighty years, and probably since the houses were built over a hundred years ago. The really frustrating bit is the money spent, and hours worked, to do exactly as the neighbour asked, only for him to then change his mind! That I think is unreasonable. It turns out they would also rather we leave our bins the other side of the house, not that side, but it's a shared passage between the houses, jointly owned, so I don't see why we shouldn't use it!

OP posts:

HandlebarLadyTash · 04/04/2021 18:39

Annoying they didn't mention the post earlier , I would put a post in & move on

PanamaPattie · 04/04/2021 18:50

I can see his point. You haven't got his permission to attach anything to his property.

Floralnomad · 04/04/2021 18:54

You shouldn’t have anything attached to his wall irrespective of whether it’s been there for 5 mins or 50 years and if it’s a shared passage then you can use it to get the bins in and out but your bins shouldn’t be actually stored there .

BerniesMittens · 04/04/2021 19:15

It's a shared passage, not a communal bin storage. Plus if it's a shared passage isn't it a shared gate?

CoraPirbright · 04/04/2021 19:18

If he didn’t want anything at all attached to his house then why on earth didn’t he say that in the first place instead of asking you to reorganise the way it opened? What a waste of everyone’s time and money. Is this neighbour usually a knob?

CheeseCakeSunflowers · 04/04/2021 19:18

If its a shared passage why is it just your gate, why is it not a shared gate?

Original poster

shufflestep · 04/04/2021 19:43

The side access leads to our gate into the garden and to a door into their house. It's pretty wide, nearly two metres across, and their bins are there too, so I don't think they can ask us not to use it if we do. DH is looking at what to do, but our main issue is the time and money spent improving it to their specifications, only for them to demand something different.

OP posts:

GameofPhones · 04/04/2021 20:05

Check your property layout in the deeds. I have a dick of a neighbour who has access through a side gate, across my property and into hers. I don't mind this, but she has gone on to demand (very unpleasantly) that I grit the path in winter in case ambulance men need to get in. (By the way she has another path directly into hers.) I checked the law, and it turns out that, though she has access onto my path, if she wants any changes made to it she has to arrange for it to be done herself.) If she hadn't been a dick I would have gritted the path, but since she has been a dick in other ways, I won't bother.

Brahumbug · 04/04/2021 21:42

There is some nonsense being said on this thread. If the support for your gate has been there for over 20 years then you have aquired an easement under the 1832 prescriptions act and he can not insist you remove it. Inform him of this in writing. Do you have evidence such as a statement from the previous owners? I would consider having the easement entered in your deeds at the land registry. His property is now the servient property to your easement.

Bluntness100 · 04/04/2021 22:16

@Brahumbug

I’m not sure it’s that simple. For the reason that they just need to apply a post, and they can have a gate, it doesn’t need to be attached to his property, in any way shape nor form. It’s not like they need a right of wat or something to access their property, it’s a gate, they can attach it to a post. And still have the same result.

What you’re suggesting could well end up in court. It could well be seen as unreasonable of the op to demand she shouldn’t have to put a post in.

Personally I’d put it in and not risk legal action and lengthy neighbour disputes,

Original poster

shufflestep · 05/04/2021 09:30

Thanks all, DH is planning to put a post in, but not for two or three weeks due to time - having spent half of one bank holiday doing this, he doesn't wish to waste today on it too. And we are busy following a family death over the next two or three weeks with things related to that, so we will do it but the neighbour will have to wait a bit longer. In answer to a previous question, yes the neighbour is generally a bit of a knob - he told us that his cellar was flooding due to our plumbing (which we had redone a few years ago) and didn't believe us when we explained that the cellar has always flooded, and will continue to do so when the water table is high unless he gets it tanked! This is really common round here.... there seems to be a pattern of blaming someone else for any issues with his house, despite it being an old house!

OP posts:

Kotatsu · 05/04/2021 09:41

He's being a bit of a wally if he wants a post, dug down into the ground right next to his wall presumably, rather than leaving the existing arrangement in my opinion.... I'd expect more problems from that than from a few screws, that are already there.

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