Neighbour's vines damaging our garage

[markyparky02]

Hi,

Our garage is at the bottom of our garden and forms part of the boundary between us and our neighbours from hell.

Back in 2010 the police finally got a backbone and arrested our neighbour for asb under the protection from harassment act.
Without going into detail the court was unable to view our cctv footage of our neighbour threatening us and causing damage to our property but they did issue a five-year restraining order on him - not to harass or cause damage.

We did catch him causing damage during that 5 years but the police did nothing. On one occasion we caught him drilling into the side of our garage and attaching wood to it. We caught him doing it and challenged him to which he apologised and removed the wood.

The issue over the past 12 months is that he has planted a large number of vines within cm of the side of our garage. He then attached wood again to the side of the garage and encouraged the vines to cover the whole side of the building which has then grown further to cover around 30% of the roof. The vines have now made their way into the inside of our garage so are clearly causing damage to the structure.

I sent him a letter 14 days ago stating that he should remove his plants/vines from the roof and side of our garage. I also attached copies of the land registry title plans for our home and his to show the boundary location and that the garage is ours. I stated in the letter that if he did not remove the vines within 14 days I would consider taking the following court action against him -


1. Make an application to the county court under the Access to Neighbouring Land Act 1992 for an Access Order to gain access to your property to allow repair works to be carried out to preserve the condition of my garage. This will include the removal of the ivy from my property. The court may consider a claim for damages or costs against you.

2. Apply to the county court for an injunction under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, for the ivy to be removed. Under section 3 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 damages may also be awarded against you.


He has now removed the ivy from the roof of our garage but has left the stuff growing on the side of the building (it covers the whole side). He still has wood attached to the side of our garage and the vines in effect are still being encouraged to cover the building, causing further damage.

I now need to send him a letter before action but I'm unsure where to go from here. Not fazed by taking this to court but I want to make sure the action is under the correct legislation

Any advice would be much appreciated.


Thank you.

[Sam101]

Why bother with another letter. You have notified him of the action you would take if he did not comply with your earlier letter.

Now is the time to act again and proceed directly with the Court action that you stated you would do. If you are unable to act yourself, then seek solicitors help.

[atticus]

I don't see this falling within harassment. Surely the vines were not planted or the trellis attached with the intention of causing you distress.

The usual advice is to avoid starting a war with your neighbours. Think carefully before taking court action - as dslippy often says, it is a good way of guaranteeing that you remain neighbours for life as you will each find it difficult to sell your properties.

That said, any court claim should (in my opinion) be for an order that the trellis and vines be removed and all damage caused by them made good, alternatively for the cost to you of doing all that.

[sandfordboy]

Absolutely agree with Atticus, be very careful,

[markyparky02]

Hi everyone,

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply.

Firstly our relationship with our neighbour turned bad many years ago. His relationship with alcohol & drugs is more important than his interaction with the rest of the world. We had many years of abuse from him and his family including damage to our car and home. The police were useless for many years but once a new inspector was in post they agreed to arrest and prosecute him.

I appreciate the only option left to me is to apply to the county court to have him remove the vines. Unfortunately, I am unsure of how to do this or what act to use to justify the action. Also would hope that as he has not stated in writing why he has only removed the vines from the roof of the garage and not the sides, I will be able to seek costs for the court action against him.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

[R0b]

If you genuinely believe legal action is your only option to achieve a final resolution on the dispute, then go ahead but make sure you go into it with your eyes wide open. Understand the costs involved, the time it takes to prepare your particulars of claim, witness statement and evidence etc. You work to the court deadlines and not your own so if you miss filing something, it could cost you.

Harassment is most definitely not the correct legal action to take against your neighbour for the vines causing damage, rather your claim would sit either as a nuisance or in negligence for failing to maintain the vines. There is also potentially an action for trespass to goods i.e. your garage but you would have to show there interference was deliberate which it sounds like there was some form of deliberate interference by attaching wood to your garage. If it was unintended then you sue for negligence instead but there is no harm in claiming for all 3 to give you the best opportunity of being successful.

[markyparky02]

If you genuinely believe legal action is your only option to achieve a final resolution on the dispute, then go ahead but make sure you go into it with your eyes wide open. Understand the costs involved, the time it takes to prepare your particulars of claim, witness statement and evidence etc. You work to the court deadlines and not your own so if you miss filing something, it could cost you.

Harassment is most definitely not the correct legal action to take against your neighbour for the vines causing damage, rather your claim would sit either as a nuisance or in negligence for failing to maintain the vines. There is also potentially an action for trespass to goods i.e. your garage but you would have to show there interference was deliberate which it sounds like there was some form of deliberate interference by attaching wood to your garage. If it was unintended then you sue for negligence instead but there is no harm in claiming for all 3 to give you the best opportunity of being successful.

Hi Rob,

Thank you for the advice.

Can you recommend any literature or website that would give me an idiots guide on what forms to fill in and the process I need to follow?

Thanks again.

[R0b]

Unless you are willing to spend a minor amount on a dedicated book, I would suggest you do some research on how to draft particulars of claim. Assuming you won't be claiming more than £10,000 it is likely the claim will be allocated to the small claims track, meaning there is limited costs that can be recovered if you win/lose but legal representative costs are not recoverable.

A good starting point is this guide: Small Claims Guide

There is a knack to drafting your particulars of claim as each is different depending on the facts of the case. If submit your claim via Money Claims Online service then you have to bear in mind that there is a limited number of characters in the box to explain your claim. There is an option to tick a box that says you will provide detailed particulars within 14 days of the claim form being served on your neighbour which means you provide a detailed version on separate paper. The key element, is to make sure the claim is succinct and enough detail to enable your neighbour to know the case against him.

Have a read of the small claims guide as a stating point and I would suggest that you would probably want to draft detailed particulars as I doubt you would be able to fit it in the limited box online. I will see if I have some basic examples of how to format a particulars of claim document a a guide and you can follow that - if you need feedback then just post up your draft and we can comment.

Highly recommend you do not rush in to this, as that's where mistakes often happen. Get everything prepared in advance to kickstat the claim and you should be fine.

[markyparky02]

Unless you are willing to spend a minor amount on a dedicated book, I would suggest you do some research on how to draft particulars of claim. Assuming you won't be claiming more than £10,000 it is likely the claim will be allocated to the small claims track, meaning there is limited costs that can be recovered if you win/lose but legal representative costs are not recoverable.

A good starting point is this guide: Small Claims Guide

There is a knack to drafting your particulars of claim as each is different depending on the facts of the case. If submit your claim via Money Claims Online service then you have to bear in mind that there is a limited number of characters in the box to explain your claim. There is an option to tick a box that says you will provide detailed particulars within 14 days of the claim form being served on your neighbour which means you provide a detailed version on separate paper. The key element, is to make sure the claim is succinct and enough detail to enable your neighbour to know the case against him.

Have a read of the small claims guide as a stating point and I would suggest that you would probably want to draft detailed particulars as I doubt you would be able to fit it in the limited box online. I will see if I have some basic examples of how to format a particulars of claim document a a guide and you can follow that - if you need feedback then just post up your draft and we can comment.

Highly recommend you do not rush in to this, as that's where mistakes often happen. Get everything prepared in advance to kickstat the claim and you should be fine.

Morning Rob,

Would I need to be able to quantify in money how much damage has been caused? This would be difficult to do without the vines being fully removed.

Am I able to just apply for a court order telling him to remove it?

Thanks again.

[R0b]

The MCOL service is intended to be used where fixed sums of compensation are being claimed, and the court fees payable will depend on how much you are claiming - this is what we call a specified claim. Where you do not know the the value of the claim, there is a fixed fee of £10,000 payable for the court to issue the claim (and this is an unspecified claim as you have to give a range of where your damages/loss will sit i.e. more than £5,000 but less than £15,000). Unless you have deep pockets or are willing to pay such an amount, a fixed sum might be the best option for you and you may have to enter a best guess for the damage/loss suffered.

I suppose one alternative would be to split your claim in two. First, make an application to the court for an order under the ANLA 1992 to remove the vines encroaching your land or an injunction to allow you to remove the vines (including by entering your neighbour's land if required). The purpose of the first application is to enable you to assess the damage caused to your property by the vines and the neighbour's failure to remove them and applications to the court for non-money claims are fixed at £355. You are then able to assess the damage or loss and then you can issue a claim against the neighbour for a fixed sum using the MCOL service.

If you make that initial application, there is a risk if you lose that you could be ordered to pay costs incurred by your neighbour because these kinds of applications are not allocated to the small claims track so you need to have covered all bases and acted reasonably before going down that path. I may have missed it but it's not clear if you have spoken to or corresponded with your neighbour since he removed some of the vines.

If not, it may be worth writing a further letter to him and thanking him for removing some of the vines but he there are vines remaining inside and/or on the outside of the garage and kindly ask him that he remove the remainder or to give permission for you to take steps to remove the vines yourself - make sure that permission is recorded in writing and if need be get him to sign the written permission just in case he claims permission was not given. If he intended to remove the vines, ask him to acknowledge and confirm within 7 days that he intends to do that and allow him a reasonable time like 28 days to take action. If he doesn't respond or refuses then explain you intend to follow through on your previous letter before action by making an application to the court for an order to take action yourself and have the vines removed.

Going down this route may mean things take longer but you have to understand the court will want to see all reasonable steps taken and opportunities allowed for the neighbour to take action. You can use that letter as evidence that the neighbour is refusing to engage or failing to do what he said he would do and therefore an order in your favour should be granted.

If you think you have sufficient evidence then you could try your luck by going to the court now and asking for that order but you may not get what you want if the court refuses or the court may make a different order to the above effect which means you have to wait anyway and then you might not get your costs of the application, for example if the court thinks you acted prematurely in making your application.

Happy to look over anything if you upload a draft on here whichever option you choose.

[markyparky02]

The MCOL service is intended to be used where fixed sums of compensation are being claimed, and the court fees payable will depend on how much you are claiming - this is what we call a specified claim. Where you do not know the the value of the claim, there is a fixed fee of £10,000 payable for the court to issue the claim (and this is an unspecified claim as you have to give a range of where your damages/loss will sit i.e. more than £5,000 but less than £15,000). Unless you have deep pockets or are willing to pay such an amount, a fixed sum might be the best option for you and you may have to enter a best guess for the damage/loss suffered.

I suppose one alternative would be to split your claim in two. First, make an application to the court for an order under the ANLA 1992 to remove the vines encroaching your land or an injunction to allow you to remove the vines (including by entering your neighbour's land if required). The purpose of the first application is to enable you to assess the damage caused to your property by the vines and the neighbour's failure to remove them and applications to the court for non-money claims are fixed at £355. You are then able to assess the damage or loss and then you can issue a claim against the neighbour for a fixed sum using the MCOL service.

If you make that initial application, there is a risk if you lose that you could be ordered to pay costs incurred by your neighbour because these kinds of applications are not allocated to the small claims track so you need to have covered all bases and acted reasonably before going down that path. I may have missed it but it's not clear if you have spoken to or corresponded with your neighbour since he removed some of the vines.

If not, it may be worth writing a further letter to him and thanking him for removing some of the vines but he there are vines remaining inside and/or on the outside of the garage and kindly ask him that he remove the remainder or to give permission for you to take steps to remove the vines yourself - make sure that permission is recorded in writing and if need be get him to sign the written permission just in case he claims permission was not given. If he intended to remove the vines, ask him to acknowledge and confirm within 7 days that he intends to do that and allow him a reasonable time like 28 days to take action. If he doesn't respond or refuses then explain you intend to follow through on your previous letter before action by making an application to the court for an order to take action yourself and have the vines removed.

Going down this route may mean things take longer but you have to understand the court will want to see all reasonable steps taken and opportunities allowed for the neighbour to take action. You can use that letter as evidence that the neighbour is refusing to engage or failing to do what he said he would do and therefore an order in your favour should be granted.

If you think you have sufficient evidence then you could try your luck by going to the court now and asking for that order but you may not get what you want if the court refuses or the court may make a different order to the above effect which means you have to wait anyway and then you might not get your costs of the application, for example if the court thinks you acted prematurely in making your application.

Happy to look over anything if you upload a draft on here whichever option you choose.

Hi Rob,

That sounds like great advice, thank you.

I agree another letter would be beneficial to show I have been reasonable in trying to seek a resolution.

Thanks again for your support.

[atticus]

The best way to quantify damage is to identify the cost of removal and repair.