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Hi. I am new here and hope that somebody on this forum could assist me with an issue that is causing much stress and anxiety to myself and my partner Deb. We purchased a new build house in 2020 and the front of our house backs on to another property. The neighbours there are two ladies in their 60s who have never been pleasant or friendly towards us. Anyway, it transpires that where our house has been built, there used to be land belonging to another homeowner and he chose to build two new builds, ours being one of them, on the land. It now transpires that when he was trying to erect the two houses, only one household objected stating that it was not in keeping with the other houses which are 1920s terraces. It was them! As a result, the builder has since told me he had a lot of aggro from them. Walking their dogs on his land and letting them do their business, blocking the site entrance etc. the upshot is that our house has had to have privacy glass at the upstairs front as they didn't want to be overlooked- no issues whatsoever with that. However.......
They also wanted a privet hedge to remain and a cherry tree planted that would grow to 25ft to provide them with privacy screening. They then, bizarrely, took the hedge out themselves and replaced it with a concrete fence. To avoid any hassle the builder let this go as he just wanted to get the house built. To make it more aesthetically pleasing, our builder then placed another fence, a much nicer wooden one, in front of it. The cherry tree was never planted incidentally but while the house was still being built they planted various plants like bamboo and buddleia and bushes between our two fences. These have obviously grown considerably over the last two years and they have consistently come onto our property to cut them without permission. They were regularly literally stood on our property which we found uncomfortable. I eventually wrote them a polite letter asking them not to trespass and that we would take care of cutting the bushes/ plants etc. We had no reply and assumed they were ok with that. However, when we employed a handyman to cut them back earlier this year, they came on to our property telling us that we couldn't touch their plants, that they were on their land and that they could even have our fence taken down. Furthermore, they then threatened to spray our workman with paint and in the end he stopped as it was getting too much. A few days later they were out again, on my land telling me they had photos of our workman, their deeds proved it was their land, they had a solicitor, knew a policeman and that I was a "dickhead"- one even tried to punch me which was comical! Anyway, the dust settled and my partner went out to just trim some back last week (we really need to take some height off too as they are getting way too big) and they started again- "you better not touch them"..."we have photos".. "its our land, we can take your fence down"...."we are watching you"... it's causing us a huge deal of stress. Furthermore, they also tipped a load of soil between the fences which worries me they are planning on planting more stuff!
I have spoken to South Ribble Borough Council who granted planning permission and they have at least confirmed that there is no requirement from them for me to retain these plants and trees and that they would not pursue me in any way if I did remove them or cut them back. However, they could not advise me on whether I COULD legally remove them or cut them back and so have suggested that I seek a solicitor's advice. The builder gave me his original marketing plan which has the measurements from the front of our house to their fence and this supposedly proves the boundary. If so, then anything in front of their fence is our land and therefore the plants are on our land. However, they say there was a "cock up" and that the boundary line is actually further forward and that our fence is on their land! Unfortunately, the land registry does not hold specific measurements and therefore we do not know where we stand. We don't want a civil suit and are actually happy to leave them there but want to be able to cut them back and take some off the tops but they are adamant we can't- particularly regarding cutting the tops (they obviously want them to grow as high as possible). I assume in a case like this one of us would have to employ a boundary solicitor and a court would have to decide where the specific boundary lied? Or does the marketing plan that was passed by the local council have enough weight with the measurements to prove their fence is indeed the boundary line and if so can we cut down / back or even remove somebody else's property that was planted on our land before we bought the house?
Any advice would be really appreciated as this is just too much at the moment- my partner is fearful of leaving the house if they are about.
They also wanted a privet hedge to remain and a cherry tree planted that would grow to 25ft to provide them with privacy screening. They then, bizarrely, took the hedge out themselves and replaced it with a concrete fence. To avoid any hassle the builder let this go as he just wanted to get the house built. To make it more aesthetically pleasing, our builder then placed another fence, a much nicer wooden one, in front of it. The cherry tree was never planted incidentally but while the house was still being built they planted various plants like bamboo and buddleia and bushes between our two fences. These have obviously grown considerably over the last two years and they have consistently come onto our property to cut them without permission. They were regularly literally stood on our property which we found uncomfortable. I eventually wrote them a polite letter asking them not to trespass and that we would take care of cutting the bushes/ plants etc. We had no reply and assumed they were ok with that. However, when we employed a handyman to cut them back earlier this year, they came on to our property telling us that we couldn't touch their plants, that they were on their land and that they could even have our fence taken down. Furthermore, they then threatened to spray our workman with paint and in the end he stopped as it was getting too much. A few days later they were out again, on my land telling me they had photos of our workman, their deeds proved it was their land, they had a solicitor, knew a policeman and that I was a "dickhead"- one even tried to punch me which was comical! Anyway, the dust settled and my partner went out to just trim some back last week (we really need to take some height off too as they are getting way too big) and they started again- "you better not touch them"..."we have photos".. "its our land, we can take your fence down"...."we are watching you"... it's causing us a huge deal of stress. Furthermore, they also tipped a load of soil between the fences which worries me they are planning on planting more stuff!
I have spoken to South Ribble Borough Council who granted planning permission and they have at least confirmed that there is no requirement from them for me to retain these plants and trees and that they would not pursue me in any way if I did remove them or cut them back. However, they could not advise me on whether I COULD legally remove them or cut them back and so have suggested that I seek a solicitor's advice. The builder gave me his original marketing plan which has the measurements from the front of our house to their fence and this supposedly proves the boundary. If so, then anything in front of their fence is our land and therefore the plants are on our land. However, they say there was a "cock up" and that the boundary line is actually further forward and that our fence is on their land! Unfortunately, the land registry does not hold specific measurements and therefore we do not know where we stand. We don't want a civil suit and are actually happy to leave them there but want to be able to cut them back and take some off the tops but they are adamant we can't- particularly regarding cutting the tops (they obviously want them to grow as high as possible). I assume in a case like this one of us would have to employ a boundary solicitor and a court would have to decide where the specific boundary lied? Or does the marketing plan that was passed by the local council have enough weight with the measurements to prove their fence is indeed the boundary line and if so can we cut down / back or even remove somebody else's property that was planted on our land before we bought the house?
Any advice would be really appreciated as this is just too much at the moment- my partner is fearful of leaving the house if they are about.
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