Mandofred
Well-known member
And now they are building an extension.....
I'd heard that these can be nasty here. Our neighbour hasn't talked to us in several years since we wouldn't let him take some of our property/driveway. He has an extension going in, sometime Spring/Summer we think....the notice just got posted on the pole a few days ago. At this time the plans online look ok to us, but we don't trust him at all.....I actually don't think he's quite right in the head. They are building as close to our fence as possible. If he is outside and we say "good morning" to him he turns his head away from us....or runs back inside the house....I'm not kidding. If I meet him on the street he will literally turn around as soon as he sees me and goes the other way.
Every time we have tried to do something nice for this guy, we have always regretted it.
1. The property lines have been where they are (we assume) since the houses were built in the mid 80's. The photo's below show the line since at least 3 years before we moved in. Google street view from then https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.0...4!1s2WxpK1ops8j2H1wgNbD0wQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
Neighbour on the other side says nothing has changed....and he's been here since the houses were put in.
2. First mistake, taking out the brick wall extension that was between the properties as shown in the above google maps pic. We did it mostly because it made it easier for him to park. It brick square was a mess, so we either had to replace it or just remove it. We should have replaced it. As soon as we took it out....he started driving on our side....a lot.
3. First pic below shows after we took the brick extension out and replaced the dirt/bushes in-between with gravel. At some point we were going to fix up the drive.....just a matter of when.
4. Repeated requests to stop driving on our side was met with "part of that side is mine anyway"....and kept driving on it.
5. I have the plans for the fronts for all the properties in the area....ours is 11m, his is 7.5m. After measuring as well as I can, I figure he has about 4 inches more than he should. So he is a little over 7.5, and we are about the same under 11m, so it looks like he has a little of ours. We don't care. We were fine with where the boundaries were when we moved in. I asked him at least twice to measure his property....he never does.
6. After a couple of years of this we decide to put in a new drive. I notify him twice that we are doing so. He's fine with that....as long as I give him at least another 6 inches of our drive....I disagree. He says this could cost money in legal fees....I say "go ahead, I've got the money".
7. We put in the drive right up to the property line with nice big kerb blocks on the sides. He runs into them while they guy is putting them in....gets yelled at. Next 3 days or so he hits the bottom couple every day and looks like he's going to completely wreck the bottom of the drive.
8. We bring back driveway guy and he puts up a quickie fence for us....doesn't look very good. But we had hoped the bigger drive edge would keep him on his side.....nope. The fence does the job and keeps him on his side.
9. He spends the next year repeatedly running into the fence with his van as he backs in. Granted....not overly hard and mostly with his door handles so no real damage. I was tempted to line the fence with screws.....I resisted.
Now he is putting in an extension in-between the houses and around his back. It looks ok with the online plans. The only thing I can see is wanted him to put gutters on the part that is between our properties so the rain water doesn't fall on us.
No way we are removing our fence for the work. Luckily, one of us is almost always home. Nothing like good neighbours.
On the bright side.....he is fairly quite. Other than being a complete dick, it could be worse.
Any advice is appreciated.
I'd heard that these can be nasty here. Our neighbour hasn't talked to us in several years since we wouldn't let him take some of our property/driveway. He has an extension going in, sometime Spring/Summer we think....the notice just got posted on the pole a few days ago. At this time the plans online look ok to us, but we don't trust him at all.....I actually don't think he's quite right in the head. They are building as close to our fence as possible. If he is outside and we say "good morning" to him he turns his head away from us....or runs back inside the house....I'm not kidding. If I meet him on the street he will literally turn around as soon as he sees me and goes the other way.
Every time we have tried to do something nice for this guy, we have always regretted it.
1. The property lines have been where they are (we assume) since the houses were built in the mid 80's. The photo's below show the line since at least 3 years before we moved in. Google street view from then https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.0...4!1s2WxpK1ops8j2H1wgNbD0wQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
Neighbour on the other side says nothing has changed....and he's been here since the houses were put in.
2. First mistake, taking out the brick wall extension that was between the properties as shown in the above google maps pic. We did it mostly because it made it easier for him to park. It brick square was a mess, so we either had to replace it or just remove it. We should have replaced it. As soon as we took it out....he started driving on our side....a lot.
3. First pic below shows after we took the brick extension out and replaced the dirt/bushes in-between with gravel. At some point we were going to fix up the drive.....just a matter of when.
4. Repeated requests to stop driving on our side was met with "part of that side is mine anyway"....and kept driving on it.
5. I have the plans for the fronts for all the properties in the area....ours is 11m, his is 7.5m. After measuring as well as I can, I figure he has about 4 inches more than he should. So he is a little over 7.5, and we are about the same under 11m, so it looks like he has a little of ours. We don't care. We were fine with where the boundaries were when we moved in. I asked him at least twice to measure his property....he never does.
6. After a couple of years of this we decide to put in a new drive. I notify him twice that we are doing so. He's fine with that....as long as I give him at least another 6 inches of our drive....I disagree. He says this could cost money in legal fees....I say "go ahead, I've got the money".
7. We put in the drive right up to the property line with nice big kerb blocks on the sides. He runs into them while they guy is putting them in....gets yelled at. Next 3 days or so he hits the bottom couple every day and looks like he's going to completely wreck the bottom of the drive.
8. We bring back driveway guy and he puts up a quickie fence for us....doesn't look very good. But we had hoped the bigger drive edge would keep him on his side.....nope. The fence does the job and keeps him on his side.
9. He spends the next year repeatedly running into the fence with his van as he backs in. Granted....not overly hard and mostly with his door handles so no real damage. I was tempted to line the fence with screws.....I resisted.
Now he is putting in an extension in-between the houses and around his back. It looks ok with the online plans. The only thing I can see is wanted him to put gutters on the part that is between our properties so the rain water doesn't fall on us.
No way we are removing our fence for the work. Luckily, one of us is almost always home. Nothing like good neighbours.
On the bright side.....he is fairly quite. Other than being a complete dick, it could be worse.
Any advice is appreciated.
