blocked access to communal back garden

[Turnbull2]

I have just moved into my flat in Glasgow and have a particularly unfriendly neighbour in my block of 6 flats. He has added his own additional door lock with padlock as pictured to the only door to the shared back garden of ~2000sq ft. He has used the whole garden, planting his vegetables with shallow trench beds of soil throughout the garden. It is supposed to be a shared garden, none of the other tenants care as they are students. What is the law that I could bring up and actions I can take if he continues to refuse to give me the keys to access to the shared garden?

The students are allowed to arse around out there, it's their garden. His radishes are in their way.

Hopefully your letter will make him see sense! I do love the idea of just removing the doors though!

The other flats may be quite happy to not have to pay fees for the upkeep of the garden - at minimum you'd need grass cutting. And getting the money out of every flat can be a pain.

Radishes and mowing lawns are irrelevant

IT'S A FIRE EXIT!!

Maybe contact the fire department? He is locking a fire exit this is a serious crime. People can die in case of fire.

We need an update!
has it all kicked off?

So has matey asked them if they're interested in using it and pitching in cost/effort wise to keep it basically maintained?

If they're not interested in using it, why the need for the padlock? And even if there were a justification for keeping the students out and deliberately and needlessly risking their lives in case of a fire, why has he not given OP a key - and made himself scarce when she's tried repeatedly to get hold of him?

It very much sounds to me like the determined garden grab was the primary goal and "but the students will probably trash it" was the weak excuse to try to justify it.

I don't know what these specific students are like, but I despise the lazy prejudiced assumption that all students are just good-for-nothing wasters and a general blight on the community.

Yes, most of them are young adults, living away from home for the first time - who might make some rash choices - but that's no justification whatsoever to demonise them as a drain on society - we've all been there at one point.

We wouldn't stand for a gross assumption that all old people (and I personally am much nearer that demographic than that of the students, fwiw) just go around complaining all the time, being generally a waste of space and getting in the way of the younger people who are still working for the good of society.

The OP has owned the flat for 5 years - and has not paid anything toward the upkeep of the garden in this time - I wonder how she thought it was being looked after?

OP has only just moved in, though. I don't know whether the garden was laid to waste before or just a bit untidy - or whether the idea was that ALL of the residents who wanted to use the garden would do their bit in keeping it at least minimally ticking over?

There would be nothing wrong at all with what the other man is doing if he wanted to set aside a fair portion of the garden for growing his veggies and tend to it; the issue is him taking the whole lot over and denying anybody else the chance to use the communal garden at all - let alone get to safety that way in the event of a fire.

I agree he needs to share - but moved in or not the OP has still had a responsibility for the flat! No one seems to have actually talked to the bloke yet. I would do that before I'd send solicitor letters. I'm sure he's hoping it just all goes away.

I think you'll find that @Turnbull2 has written to him and not received a reply.

Again it's irrelevant because it's a fire exit. Everyone in the block should have access in case of fire.

Has OP actually written and delivered the letter though. My reading of her posts was that that was what she was intending to do - but hadn’t actually done it yet.

She hasn't written to him, or hasn't when she started this thread. And she hasn't shown concern about the fire exit aspect, either now or for the last five years.

Id send a solicitors letter giving him 7 days to remove the padlock and stating your legal right to access . IF he doesnt remove Id cut padlock off and as suggested in thread replace with coded one giving him access to the code If all else fails its interdict time!

I am an English lawyer who deals with these sorts of dispute. I can't comment on the legal side as things are different in Scotland, but I would make a few general points.

1. I am not clear whether the locked door is officially a fire exit or not, but the issue is that all the flat owners are entitled to use the garden and they are being denied access.

1. Writing a polite letter to request keys is the right way to go. If he refuses or ignores the letter, you then have the paper trail if you have to take it to Court.

1. Get proper legal advice. As others have said, check your home insurance policy to see if it includes legal expenses insurance.

1. It may be worth contacting the owners of the other flats rented to students. They will be less bothered if they are not living there but it could affect the value of their property, so they may be willing to join you in taking action if necessary, and 5 against 1 are stronger than 1 against 1.

1. Self help such as cutting off the locks and replacing with your own may work, but equally it could prompt him to take retaliatory action or to involve the Police and accuse you of criminal damage or harassment. Neighbour disputes can escalate, and you will have your own feel for how much animosity you are willing to live with. Please take legal advice.

Wishing you all the best with this x

Did you not notice this when you viewed the flat? what has the estate agent said?

A pair of bolt cutters would work! What a jerk

She's owned the flat for 5 years. It's all in the thread.

It sounds like a legal issue, I'm sorry to say you'll need to talk to a solicitor.

I would un screw his locks and remove them or pay a lock smith to remove them. Hopefully he will then speak with you to come to an agreement. If he continues I would continue to remove the locks and see a solicitor.

Totally agree!
a communal garden will always be a bone of contention as people have different ideas of what it’s for.
Growing veg is a pretty selfish way of using it, as how can others use it for hanging washing, putting garden furniture or god forbid have their kids playing out there!
I know these scenarios aren’t relevant for OP but they could be!

I see him like the cranky farmer McGregor in Peter Rabbit. Selfishly guarding his crops - quite convinced he is “adding value to the community” or the environment, whatever. Ignoring you totally would ABSOLUTELY send me insane, which is why the extra padlocks are a genius idea. If he can’t get out -
NOBODY can. He can’t access his bloody cabbages and he will be forced to dialogue with you. When he does, you can advise him that he is entitled to only 1/4 (four flats?) of the available land and then accuse him of vandalizing yours. I would state very clearly that you want it returned to the state it was when you moved in at his cost. (Getting the other owners involved is a great idea also.)

At least Mr McGregor only used his own land to grow his veg on - it's not like Peter Rabbit or his pals had any legitimate claim to it!

. I would get advice from the solicitors who bought for you.it was misrepresented as accessible if its locked. You should be able to just take the padlock off and put new lock on but to avoid a revenge change back by him you could maybe suggest to him that you understand it’s horrible to have garden trashed by careless fly by nights and perhaps you can jointly manage who gets keys to new lock? So he needs to talk!

It's a tenement governed by Scots law. The shared garden is just that shared. That means all flat owners can use all the garden. It's not divided into quarters.

Shame there is no factor to sort it.

You may have to get the lock replaced with a new one and give keys to all the flats. He wont like it though and try not to damage it as the lock is his property.