unreasonable neighbour - boundary lines

[Anonuser21]

Hi all not sure if this is right the topic but could use the advice

Some background
I brought a semi-detached house which belonged to my neighbour's mother who passed. Once everything was finalised I decided to rent out the property. Neighbour became very disappointed. We got along great up until that point, Not spoken to them since then. Without them, I never would have been able to purchase the property.

Issue
I have had to install a new boiler on the property which I moved from the airing cupboard to the garage to make the bathroom slightly bigger. The piping work comes out to my external wall, there is an alleyway separating both our houses - I have attached a photo to make it easier to understand.

Once the new boiler was installed neighbour sent me an email and was furious stating I exceeded boundary limits, have piping work removed as they encroach his property, and threatened legal action. I did consider this and looking at the map I had from my solicitor and as the alleyway is shared access I did not think it would cause any issues

I have yet to receive title deeds but solicitors confirmed the right of passage but no mention of any right to overhang onto the passage which I find ridiculous but did say the neighbour was being very unreasonable!!!

Anyone else had similar experiences with awkward neighbours?

in hindsight, I probably should have consulted with them before doing this work. I'm hoping to speak with him this week before this blows out of proportion.

thanks

Its your house, you are entitled to rent it out and it's nobody's business but your own. I am not sure why everyone has got such a bee in their bonnet about it. In terms of the pipes, check the deeds and if the thin line of bricks is yours then you should be ok (assuming building regs which I know nothing about). If not, then rerouting will be required I expect. I hope you get it sorted.

Did you lead him to believe you were going to live in the property yourself?

In a way yes, but buying this property and paying over asking price int he end I couldn't afford to stay in it. It was always a short term let.

No one is saying the OP signed a legal document to promise to live in the house. They're just saying she misled the family which seems obvious from the above.

Oh dear op. You owe him and apology and an offer to rectify this.

in his shoes I would force the removal of the pipe.

it looks pretty bad and totally encroaches into his land.

people really need to ensure their rights in respected if shared access - and who actually owns the land. It’s not you. So what you have done is incredibly cheeky.

The alley is his and you have a right of way over it, yes?

if so you are in the wrong sorry and should have sought permission from him.

(my job, I own a surveying company specialising in boundary disputes)

In that case, you need to remove it. It's his property and you have no right to impinge on it. A right of access just means you can walk down the alley, not encroach into it.

I know of a very similar case where a shop installed a small vent at second floor level which was into an adjoining property's land. He had the same "glib" attitude that it was only a vent. It went to court and he lost, not only did he have to pay the heating engineers to move it, he also had £10k of solicitors costs, court fees and compensation to pay.

The OP needs to get their heating engineer back asap to move it and apologise to the neighbour and tell them it's going to be moved. It'll be a very costly mistake if they ignore the neighbour, who appears to be entirely in the right from what's been said on here!

It doesnt look as if the pipes block access and they are on your wall. That said if the alleyway is his and you only have access then I would fix it OP. A good builder or plumber will offer a solution. Save the hassle and just fix it.

It's a tricky one because he actually came back to you and offered you the house as his other buyers fell through. He probably has an attachment to the property because it was his parents. Unfortunately as much as I hate to say it once you sell its up to the buyer what they do with it.

So they've got stuff sticking out of their wall but you're not allowed to?

Really strange attitude from them, tbf - neither look like they'd get om the way.

Because it's their land they can have whatever they like sticking out over it. The OP only has right if access which literally means she can use it to access her back garden. That's all.

Err, it's their land. The OP only has right of access. All explained in previous posts.

I've got a sofa in my living room and when my neighbour saw it they wanted to put their sofa in there too I said 'no, put it in your own living room.'

but they said that wasn't fair as my sofa was in there so why shouldn't theirs be?

Couldn't argue with that obviously.

So now my living room looks like a cinema.

This thread, and this kind of attitude, explains why such awful neighbour disputes start.

i am not sure if it is a lack of basic intelligence, or just a belief that rules don’t apply.

we all have pipes that come out of our houses onto our land. That doesn’t mean our neighbours can vent their boiler into our land.

OP has some access rights into this path. That doesn’t mean she can permanently put pipes out there. She owes her neighbour an apology for her misunderstanding and she has to remove the pipes. Like a decent neighbour

@MuffinMcLayLikeABundleOfHay 😂😂

Yabvu. You acknowledge the alleyway is his. You have a right of access (ie) to pass through. Not to install anything.

🤣🤣🤣🤣

Irrelevant. The alleyway belongs to the neighbours.

What a lot of experts we have on this subject !

Do you think you are allowed to install things that hang over your neighbour's land then?

What I think and what I know for sure are probably polar opposites luv

Thanks for your contribution 😂

And in inverse proportion

Perhaps the majority of posters simply know far more than you do? 🤷🏻‍♀️
I don't imagine that would be difficult.

🤣🤣🤣

I am an expert in this subject. It’s my job…..

right. Clearly you know nothing then.

luv. 🙄

The letting it out is a moot point - you cannot affix pipework over land which you do not own without consent.
even if he doesn’t legally challenge you, you won’t be able to sell your property like that.