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Original poster

mil's new neighbours have concreted over their drive

104 replies

southeastastra · 25/07/2015 13:54

and have gone about a foot over the boundary into mils drive. what should we do? she is elderly so will need us to act on her behalf.

we have taken photos etc and the neighbours are out. the are tenents so not sure how I can contact landlord. I have left a note for then to call me etc.

I shall call council etc Monday is there something else I should do ? am Angry

OP posts:
Methe · 25/07/2015 22:20

That'll cause huge issues with damp I'd have thought :( it's looks bloody awful too.

EldonAve · 25/07/2015 22:21

If they don't do anything then I'd recommend hiring an www.hss.com/hire/p/breaker-medium-21kg-air and removing it yourself

MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 25/07/2015 22:24

What's underneath?

Original poster
southeastastra · 25/07/2015 22:31

Here is another pic, underneath was just a bog standard semi-paved garden, similar bricks used in mils (left) but not all over, it had plants and a path, it wasn't a drive at all

mil's new neighbours have concreted over their drive
OP posts:
Original poster
southeastastra · 25/07/2015 22:32

(left referring to mil's garden pictured in 22:08)

OP posts:
SavoyCabbage · 25/07/2015 22:37

There's two problems really.

The fact that they have taken over some of your MIL's land and the fact they have concreted over their whole garden and the damage that might do to her house and garden.

SouthWestmom · 25/07/2015 22:41

Your mils garden brickwork appears to have red bricks and then purple edging bricks - do you think they used those as a guide and not the centre of the two houses? What was on the extra bit they've accumulated?

Original poster
southeastastra · 25/07/2015 22:45

i think that's what they've used as a guide too, there was a small planting area to the right of mil's garden and they've obviously used that as a guide. shame we didn't just plant something there

i'ts just odd that they thought they could just take a bit of garden and concrete over it!

OP posts:
BikeRunSki · 25/07/2015 22:46

Still ting the council. What was there before the concrete? They have undoubtedly increased the surface water run off, which you're not allowed to do. This is on too of the whole boundary issue.

EnlightenedOwl · 25/07/2015 22:46

I would get the bit which encroaches smashed up and also inform the landlord.

Katymac · 25/07/2015 22:47

Aren't there rules about slope & drainage and stuff like that? I think the council (possibly Building regs rather than planning) will be quite interested

SouthWestmom · 25/07/2015 22:49

Twats, really. No permission from the LL and no idea of the boundary. Trouble is how can they be forced to put it right -

MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 25/07/2015 22:49

There could be a body under that.

Just saying.

Pipbin · 25/07/2015 23:08

Not a long term solution but could you put planters or some such on the bit of the concrete that is on her side of the boundary? It would make it clear that part belongs to her and hopefully stop them parking on her bit.

Original poster
southeastastra · 25/07/2015 23:27

yes i did suggest that pip

mil does not want to cause angst (she's 87) and we're near but a 20 min drive away

i just sometimes wish i could take her home with me :( and snuggle her up with us. i think we will soon

OP posts:
HowD · 25/07/2015 23:36

That's terrible, as has been said you could start by speaking to your local authority on Monday.

Icantbelieveitsnotbutter · 25/07/2015 23:49

Are they British? My neighbour did something similar, he also blocked up the back door and put in windows that didn't open.
Only the front door would be the escape route in case of a fire.
He's from Romania and he had no clue he wasn't supposed to do things like that.

He was pretty embarrassed tbh and sorted it straight away.

Original poster
southeastastra · 25/07/2015 23:52

no they're not british i cant that post is spot on

OP posts:
cuntycowfacemonkey · 25/07/2015 23:56

Good grief I think they sound bonkers! Shock I can't believe they have concreted right up to the house!

Ring the council, even if they remove the concrete from her part of the garden there could be future problems and if you ever need to sell her house it could be a nightmare

cuntycowfacemonkey · 25/07/2015 23:58

Hopefully in that case they are genuinely ignorant of what they can do and once they realise that it's not OK they will make amends without it causing problems.

AmazonsForEver · 26/07/2015 00:03

Ignorance of the law is no defence!
They will have to remove it all. The LL is going to flip when they find out.

gallicgirl · 26/07/2015 00:14

The planning dept at council will be able to find name of landlord.

Have you tried searching for the address on rightmove? You can sometimes find the agents details on the listing. If the tenants think its ok to concrete over the garden, i dread to think what else they'll do. I'd get in touch with the agent and nip it in the bud.

cuntycowfacemonkey · 26/07/2015 00:16

Not suggesting it is Amazon just saying that if that is the case then it won't necessarily turn unfriendly for the OP's MIL, which I think is the OP's main worry at this point.

HelloNewman · 26/07/2015 00:21

What a strange (and ugly) thing to do.

If they do not rectify this within a reasonable time frame, I would Kango away the encroachment. I would be concerned there is no provision for surface water drainage ie an aco drain. Where is it going to go?

Also have they breached the damp proof course?

Icantbelieveitsnotbutter · 26/07/2015 00:23

south I know exactly what your mil is going through.
Hopefully your neighbours will be as good as mine.

My neighbours had no clue at all. They didn't even know they needed planning permission for the extension they were building.

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