Should I Allow Neighbour Access?

[kpdchudleigh]

I have long standing problems with a neighbour whose older house is above and to the side of my rear garden. It was fine until he moved in as the previous owners obviously tended their garden but I have had years of severe ingress of plants from next door reaching into my garden by as much as ten feet. Periodically he has chopped them down at the root on his side allowing the mass to drop into my garden below so I've had masses of ivy, climbing rose and other plants all falling down into my garden and he has refused to clear it up, becoming abusive and unpleasant. When his fence rotted he even put up another one on his side of it and left the rotten one for me to have to take down and dispose of, so moving the boundary in the process.

It has been a stressful few years and I have done all I can to avoid directly addressing his behaviour. Two years ago his garden began collapsing into mine and he came over several times demanding that I do something about it. I called my insurers and they sent a civil engineer who told me it was very much the neighbours problem to resolve, his fence, his plants.

Inevitably he came to my home a couple months ago wanting to know what steps I was taking and I told him it wasn't my problem but I was prepared to help where remedial action was concerned. So he has employed someone and a new wall and fence have been constructed along the side of his garden adjoining my own and I contributed a substantial amount of money while also allowing the work to be carried out from my side. Only a week later I now find the end of his garden is also subsiding and I let him know that his garden wall was hanging unsupported and dangerous as it has no foundation. He came around and was his usual bullying self telling me I needed to pay toward holding it up.

I have reached my tipping point. It has cost me around £2k sorting out his mess over the years and I'm done with him acting as if I owe him and he's doing me a favour. He proposes tipping concrete onto loose earth to hold up his wall - I'm no engineer but surely that is not a permanent and safe fix, so I have told him I want no part of it. He now asks will I allow him access to my garden so he can put the concrete in place. I want to tell him no. Am I being unreasonable?

Why did you pay towards the last work he had done?

YANBU. Call your insurers again and get an engineer out to see what really needs doing. You need to arm yourself with some facts. Your neighbour is a cf and a bully and won’t stop making demands until you establish firm boundaries.

I paid to be done with the stress and because I'm a nice person. I really need my peace restored in my garden.

My insurers won't come out again as they've already washed their hands of the matter. I have had other advice from professionals and their opinion is putting concrete on loose wet ground is a 'bodge'.

I think the neighbour may be looking to move on soon and am worried that if I don't draw a line this time I might be legally complicit should that wall collapse injuring anyone who doesn't realise the situation.

You should never have paid him.

YANBU to be done and don't give him access.

Don't be nice to bastards, they take it as an invitation to screw you over even more.

* When his fence rotted he even put up another one on his side of it and left the rotten one for me to have to take down and dispose of, so moving the boundary in the process.*

So he replaced his fence
Leaving you with the old one
Did you remove it?

I think you’ll be in a sticky spot if you don’t allow reasonable access as if it does collapse his argument is you wouldn’t allow repair. Allow him access but with a written agreement of a timeframe, your garden is to be left as he found it and you won’t incur any monetary loss

What did your £2k actually pay for?

I have to say I am baffled

How does a garden collapse in?

Sorry to read you are having such a difficult time with this neighbour. You are certainly not being unreasonable and I feel for you having to deal with his problem and attitude. If I had something as tricky and major as this, I would be get an expert such as a specialist surveyor or structural engineer as I would definitely not handle it on my own. And I wouldn't let him just pour in some concrete as a crude and possibly ineffective fix or bodge. Land slip or erosion is a serious thing in itself and there is the potential impact on your own property, now and in future, including on boundaries and the implications on value and ability to sell should you wish to sell, for example.
You might like to post about this on the Garden Law forum. It's a great source of knowledge and advice on things like this.

Im sorry you have been having such a difficult time.
I think you need to go to a solicitor and take advice.
Also contact your insurer's and find out the position if there is any damage to your property, I would think they would cover you and try and claim it back from him or his insurers, do you have legal protection as an add on to your insurance? not sure if this would help but worth looking into

I might be inclined to ask him to put any such requests in writing - for your (and your representatives) consideration.

That gives you time to consider, a paper trail, lets him know he can’t bully you, and that he has to be more respectful, if you want to give him access, he also has to ask you in writing and agree the dates.

Take photos - for future evidence

I did have to pay for his rotten fence to be removed. I couldn't stand looking at it any more. His house is about six foot above my garden and that's how it falls into mine - hard to visualise, I know.

I am confident having had a civil engineer in from my insurer and then when quotes were being done several reputable civil engineering companies assessments carried out. The main boundary now has a proper foundation with a wall and a fence but it ought to have carried around the end of his garden too and that is where the latest problem has occurred.

With his wall being above head height at my side and then loose earth beneath I see no valid reason for having to access my side, it would make sense if he wants concrete beneath it to do so from up in his garden? But I also don't believe that will be any kind of fix anyway, it will just be a lump of concrete that ultimately falls down along with his wall. If I thought a real solution was being offered I absolutely wouldn't hesitate to allow access as I've already done for the main stretch.

What's the history of the different ground levels? Presumably originally it was a slope and someone made a decision to level one garden (or both). So either the height at the boundary on your side is the original height and the end of neighbour's garden was built up, so it should be his responsibility to maintain the height (eg with a retaining wall), or otherwise the height on his side of the boundary is the original and your garden was lowered, in which case you should be responsible for shoring up his garden.

Was there already a retaining wall? Or just a fence? How big is the difference in ground level between the two gardens?

If there's a difference in height then it needs a proper retaining wall.

His house was originally situated adjacent to farm land, my house is newer and at a lower level. I contributed a large sum toward the construction of the new retaining wall for the main length of his garden but he chose not to take that solution around the end of his garden which is now slipping. Much of the price of the work was removing his flower beds, plants and replacing his fence so I wouldn't agree to a 50/50 split.

If and when the section in question does fall it won't directly affect me as falls into a dead space behind another neighbour's garage. The only reason I raised it with him was that I would like to know if my wall were in a dangerous state. I wouldn't want a small child to fall against it and drop six foot.