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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Arghhh parking and annoying neighbour...

165 replies

ihearttc · 02/08/2017 20:57

We live on a new build estate (we it was new build when we moved in!) but we've been here 10 years. Our house is in a sort of cul de sac with 4 other houses. The gardens are all curved so our garden backs onto the driveway to the other houses...behind the fence there is a piece of land which originally had bushes etc on which have now died.With all the storms we had a few months ago our fence got damaged so we need to replace it. We looked at our deeds and according to them we own the land where the bushes are as well.
Bit of a long story but the fence panels are a strange shape so to try and make it slightly cheaper the fencing guy has suggested moving the fence out another 30cm which would create a better angle for the fence. Neighbour has gone absolutely mental at this. Have come home tonight and found her boyfriends car parked right across the back of our garden behind our fence.
Just wondered if anyone could look at this picture and tell me whether IABU with being very annoyed with them effectively trespassing on our property and if there is a huge issue with us moving the fence ever so slightly??

Arghhh parking and annoying neighbour...
OP posts:
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Original poster
ihearttc · 02/08/2017 22:21

Dragon...but the bit I want to put the fence into isn't in the hatched area. It's in the little area just before it...

Arghhh parking and annoying neighbour...
OP posts:
AppleJacques · 02/08/2017 22:21

I think from the first picture it's clear that the hatched road areas would have right of way for everyone. I would have thought the muddy part is your land however give your council a ring about it, a few people round here have moved their garden fences to the outer edge of their boundary but they had to get approval before they could.

nocake · 02/08/2017 22:24

The area marked with the black line is your land. The area marked with hatched lines is land where there is a right of access. That means you can't block it. However you are perfectly within your rights to put a fence round the rest of your land, unless there's anything in your deeds that says you can't. If they've parked on your land you either do the nice thing and have a quiet word, explaining that it's your land. Or you fence their car in.

I'd go for the first option.

Original poster
ihearttc · 02/08/2017 22:24

Definitely not going to do anything on the hatched area. It would only be a tiny way into the muddy area.

OP posts:
gunsandbanjos · 02/08/2017 22:25

Can't believe she's arguing over that little curve of land, just fence it and her car in and tell her to bugger off.

If she can't park properly that's her problem.

PurpleDragon76 · 02/08/2017 22:26

Right I understand now. Then yes, muddy bit is all yours to do as you wish I think. Sometimes developers get it wrong. I lived in my house a year until a neighbour realised a fence was about 3 foot out and they moved it, it involved landscaping to. The original fencers may have messed up, it does happen. Can't see how that bit of mud affects your neighbour unless they use it as an extra space or room to turn

Original poster
ihearttc · 02/08/2017 22:27

I can't see anything in the deeds that I have access to this evening...will get the rest of the documents out of the loft tomorrow and check. Will also call planning and then solicitors. I really don't want to annoy anyone and I want to make sure it's done properly!

OP posts:
Original poster
ihearttc · 02/08/2017 22:31

Purple-she says it's something to do with the angle she needs to swing in. I'd be tempted to try myself when she isn't there but she has installed cctv so I'd be caught.

OP posts:
PurpleDragon76 · 02/08/2017 22:33

Don't be scared to do what you are legally entitled to do. Neighbours may be pissed off for whatever reason but thats their problem.

minicheddars90 · 02/08/2017 22:34

We've just bought a house on a new build estate. Our solicitor talked us through our boundary lines, right of way etc etc. There's a strip of land directly outside our living room window, maybe a meter wide and 6 metres long that is within our boundary but we were told that we could never fence this land off (can't remember the reason) something to do with the estate planning laws.

Original poster
ihearttc · 02/08/2017 22:37

That's interesting minicheddar...I think the only way to find out for definite is to get some legal advice.

OP posts:
NewPapaGuinea · 02/08/2017 22:38

How does your neighbour know what you intend to do and why do they care?

Anyway, I'd build the fence as you wish and fill the spare area with plants, boulders, whatever.

Collaborate · 02/08/2017 22:39

I presume the hatching is a right of way your neighbours have to reach their drives. So they don't have a ROW over what you want to fence.

Show your neighbour your plans and ask them nicely to remove their car. But check - estates often have restrictive covenants in about fencing. Make sure your deeds don't mention this. You can download a copy of your deeds for £3 (£6 to include a plan) from the land registry website.

AcrossthePond55 · 02/08/2017 22:40

You're talking about that little muddy bit outside the fence in the picture from GE? I can see where it would affect the way she had to swing into her parking space to avoid hitting the fence once you 'bump' it out. But if it's your land that's not your problem.

I'd verify that the land did belong to me and that there wasn't some type of public easement. Then I'd see a solicitor to be sure I had the right of it. Then I'd have the solicitor send a legal notice to your neighbour advising them of your rights and then I'd bump out my fence. I'd rather spend a few hundred quid now in legal fees to be sure I was within the letter of the law than find myself up to my arse in some bullshit court case.

Alabasterangel6 · 02/08/2017 22:40

I deal with new build developments.

The hatched drive paved area is one of two things, legally. It's either a shared ownership driveway, meaning each person whose property accesses from it has a legal responsibility over it. Or, more likely from your deed outline, or is yours but the neighbours who need to cross it have a 'right to access in perpetuity' - so they can get to the bit that is theirs.

The fence was indeed probably built at that angle due to visibility splay. However I do believe it is technically yours to do with as you wish, as long as it's not the actual road part.

If you know the original developers you may be able to get a response from them to confirm the status and rights/ownership of the road? The council won't know; it isn't adopted land.

dollydee · 02/08/2017 22:41

I can't see how you reclaiming a foot of your land to enclose inside a fenced area would inconvenience her. Plus, if you had decided to reinstate the shrubbery in the muddy area, your neighbour couldn't or shouldn't, drive onto the area anyway.
Hope you get it resolved.
Ps, if you do manage to extend your fencing line, I would make sure you plant some prickly shrubbery in the rest of the muddy area, don't leave it empty.

MrJollyLivesNextDoor · 02/08/2017 22:42

She says she won't be able to drive onto her property if you extend your fence by 30cm

How on earth is she navigating her way around her boyfriends car? Hmm

Original poster
ihearttc · 02/08/2017 22:44

We initially thought we could just get the fence replaced as it was but when the fencing guy came round he explained that because of how they built it then it would cost much more to get custom made panel sizes. She happened to come home as we were outside talking so we spoke to her about it and she said it was fine to put it out a bit. The fencing guy has now ordered the panels and then she came round and said she's changed her mind and it would affect her parking too much and we'd all be prosecuted if we went ahead (I have no idea why though!!)

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youarenotkiddingme · 02/08/2017 22:44

IME of living in a 10yo new build estate the buildings and fencing are made to look good to attract potential buyers.

Over the past few years peoples back gardens have have shape as the pretty bushes have died - probably for the same reason as yours - people extend to boundary line for practicality!

Original poster
ihearttc · 02/08/2017 22:49

Yes I do know who the developers were...are they likely to have that information 10 years on? Definitely not the actual road part and it wouldn't even reach anywhere near the road. It's coming out more my side than hers but still not on the road.

OP posts:
MrJollyLivesNextDoor · 02/08/2017 22:50

Hmm agree with popping a few boulders on the muddy bit once you've sorted out your fence Wink

OR perhaps get a couple of those Swedish horse bollard things, they look quite fun

Original poster
ihearttc · 02/08/2017 22:51

I'm also quite bitter about the fact that out of 5 houses in the cul de sac we are the only one with a damn fence...all the others have brick wall which wouldn't cause so many problems!!

OP posts:
brokencuttlerydraw · 02/08/2017 22:53

Just download a title plan and register from the Land Registry online and check your boundary records and for any covenants about fencing. Costs £6. Any RICS firm of Chartered General Practise Surveyors can offer you advice on this, rather cheaper than instructing a solicitor. From RICS Web site:
RICS Consumer Helplines – UK

Need further advice on Boundary Disputes, Business Rates, Party Walls or Compulsory Purchase matters?
Our helplines can give you a free 30 minute initial consultation with an RICS member local to you in the UK. Lines are open Monday to Friday, 8.30am-5.30pm.
Please call the RICS
Consumer Helpline
+44 (0)24 7686 8555
or enquire online

iknowimcoming · 02/08/2017 22:55

In the transfer document there should be a key to the different bits of land, it may well be that that land is amenity space and it may specify that it cannot be incorporated into your garden, however if it doesn't I'd go ahead with the fencing and let her pay for a solicitor to argue the toss if she feels that strongly about it - most people shut up when they realise they'll have to put their money where their mouth is. Worst case scenario is you'd have to move the fence but that's still probably cheaper than faffing with planning applications and solicitors. As an aside I would bet the mysterious reason that both the plants the developers planted and the ones you subsequently planted died has something to do with that neighbour and some weed killer Angry

DropZoneOne · 02/08/2017 22:55

Check with your local planning office. House in our development had old brick wall and about a metre of land beyond it next to the path with rose bushes on. New owners removed the wall and put a fence in next to the path to make their garden bigger, the deeds showed this to be their land.
Neighbours (not us) took umbrage and contacted council. Council advised there had to be a metre between path and any boundary, owner had to redo fence and replant shrubbery.