Neighbours Q&A

Question - I live in a council flat and the flat above me almost every evening and all day at weekends has noise generated from it such as loud TV, adults shouting, banging, children running around, shouting, stamping and jumping and toilets flushing throughout the night All this is made by people that regularly visit the tenant and her child and stay over regularly.

Is this acceptable normal day to day noise and living? There are regularly 3 adults and 2 children there instead of 1 adult and 1 child. They won't listen to reason and the local authority who own the flat seem to be interested.

Answer - Whenever you have a dispute with your neighbour you should always try and speak to them first - it may be that they are not aware of the noise they are making and how it affects you.

If that does not help, you may need to contact your local authority who can investigate and deal with noise nuisance.  Before you do this, you should keep a diary of events for a period of time, setting out the disturbance, time, how long it went on for and how it affected you.

The local authority can monitor the noise and can service a notice on the tenant to force them to stop it.

Also, as you are a council tenant, you would check your tenancy agreement - normally there is a covenant given by the landlord that you will be able to enjoy your property peacefully - if they have control over the other tenant, they can take action under the terms of the tenancy.

If you feel that the local authority do not assist you then you can contact the Local Government Ombudsman who may award compensation if they believe the local authority has failed in its duty to you.

The guidance I have given is limited by the information I have and should not be treated as a substitute for taking full legal advice.

Question - Have noisy neighbours for over two and a half years now. They were recently "monitored" by NET, Noise Enforcement Team for the local Council. Last piece of "evidence" recorded them for 1 and a half hours.

They are Housing Association residents and they seem to be totally ineffective and uncaring re our ongoing situation! The HA hide behind a veil of not telling us whats has been happening nor informing us of waht steps they are taking apart from the usual - they have been spoken to!

We are now in the process of contacting the Scottish Public services Ombudsman re the HA. What Legal approaches do we have. I may add that the Residents "partner" is abusive and violent so when the Manager at the HA suggested mediation, we could not believe the suggestion as it made us think that she obviously hadnt read the case notes.

Answer - As you have stated that the neighbour is not only causing a noise nuisance, but is also abusive, a a local authority or a registered social landlord can apply for an anti-social behaviour order when the anti-social behaviour relates to one of its tenants. When an anti-social neighbour is a private tenant or an owner occupier, a local authority can apply for an anti-social behaviour order if requested to do so.

As you are in the process of referring to the Ombudsman, it is suggested that you continue with this course of action.   The only other option is to consider seeking your own injunction to stop the noise but you would need to instruct a solicitor to assist you with this.

The guidance I have given is limited by the information I have and should not be treated as a substitute for taking full legal advice.

Question - Because my neighbours are always arguing and have been for about 18/19 years we have not been able to invite friends for b/qs ect, and arguing resently developed into fighting with each other the Police have been called 4/5 times in the last few years. I now find that if I want to sell my house the fact that they are bad naighbours and the police have attended to stop them fighting would come up on a local search there by rendering my house virtualy worthless.

Is there any action I can take against them as to compensation as I live in a £135:000 house that I will not be able to sell.

Answer - In order to claim any loss of profit on your home against your neighbours you would have to show firstly, that the loss was due to their actions (I cannot confirm what information is obtained during searches but most buyers ask on an property information form if you have ever had a dispute with a neighbour) and secondly, have a cause of action in order to claim that loss.

I am however, having great difficulty in placing your situation within a cause of action.

The most usual cause of action that occurs in neighbour disputes is that of negligence.  To establish this there has to be a duty of care.  Although a neighbour owes a duty of care not to cause damage or harm to his neighbour, the duty has to be fair, just and reasonable.  I cannot see, as they have not caused actual damage, that your neighbours had a duty to care not to argue or cause a disturbance. Even if they did, you would have show that it was reasonable for them to know that their actions would cause your property re-sale price to fall - if not, the loss will be too remote and could not be claimed.

The second cause of action could be that of nuisance however, cases are rare and generally relate to damages for the loss of enjoyment of land.  If you were to seek damages for the devaluation of the property, again you would have to show that your neighbours knew or ought to have known that their actions would cause such a loss.

If you are not selling the house, you would have no loss to claim in any event.

The guidance I have given is limited by the information I have and should not be treated as a substitute for taking full legal advice

Question - I am trying to sell my flat but having a very noisy family with two children living next door has not helped. They are also dirty and there is rubbish piled up in the garden. The council has agreed it is a mess but until there are rats they won't do anything.

I have tried approaching these neighbours but they are from somalia so conversation is limited and difficult and no matter how polite I am, nothing has helped. They rent the flat but the landlord lives abroad and couldn't care less about the fact they are dirty and noisy and this is having a detrimental effect on trying to sell my flat. I am at my wits end.

Answer - The first thing you should be aware of is that, when selling your home you have to declare whether there is or has ever been any disputes with your neighbour. Therefore, you may wish to consider whether you want to take any action at all for the time being.

There are 2 issues here:

1. The garden.  Unfortunately, the local authority cannot take any action just because the garden is untidy.  They could only take action if as a result, it caused pests.

2. The noise.  Contact the local authority Environment Health Department who can take action against persons breaching anti-social legislation.  You may wish to start a diary in the first instance setting out the problem, the date, how it affected you before referring it to them, or they may ask you to do this on referral.

The guidance I have given is limited by the information I have and should not be treated as a substitute for taking full legal advice.

Question - I live next to a business that fixes taxis. They make a lot of noise from jet wash and vacuum cleaner. They have no planning for change of use for the offices they changed into a workshop.

They have not consulted at all with the residents before they moved in. Environmental Health have dragged their feet and have been reluctant to carry out enforcement. It took one year and a half to move a lean to where the jet wash was located following the installation of a noise measuring machine which showed a breach. It took a year and half before that, before the machine was even installed to measure the noise.

The business continues to make continuous noise every day except Sunday from 0830hrs. It has caused me great distress. Please can you advise me on how to proceed and what my rights are? I feel that the council are very reluctant to take this further despite plenty of evidence from me, the fact that I am willing to attend court and also that there is also a planning breach.

Answer - If you feel that the local authority are not acting quickly enough, or at all, then you should submit a formal complaint to them, setting out the issues to date, those still outstanding, and asking for a response within 28 days.

If you do not receive a satisfactory response then you can refer your complaint to The Local Government Ombudsman, who can award compensation if they feel the local authority has breached any of its' duties.

The guidance I have given is limited by the information I have and should not be treated as a substitute for taking full legal advice.

Question - We have had noise monitoring equipment installed by the council to monitor the neighbours dog barking. Whilst they agree that the dog barking at night is heard loud in our room they are saying it not enough to be deemed a nuisance!

The dog is allowed to bark until late at night, sometimes all night but it barks loudly for short periods at a the time it barks. For example over a period of 3 hours we can be woken 3 or 4 times by the dog barking but as it is not constant they are not deeming it as a nuisance.

I have given up going to bed before midnight because of this and I am up again at 6 with the kids for school. What can we do?

Answer - It can be very difficult to argue that something is, legally defined, a nuisance.

A nuisance occurs when someone uses their property in such a was as to cause unreasonable interference with a neighbour. Noise is generally the most common type of nuisance. However, if left the courts to decide whether a nuisance is sufficient to allow injunctive relief, they will look at how the neighbour is using their property, what is causing the nuisance, and how it affects you.  In other words, a balance has to be struck between conflicting interests. Cases of this type are rare, can be expensive, and I would not advise such action without seeking advice from an independent solicitor.

The other avenue is via the local authority, which you are pursing at present.  If you are not happy with their response you can refer a complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman.  If they do not uphold your complaint, your only option may be to consider legal proceedings.

The guidance I have given is limited by the information I have and should not be treated as a substitute for taking full legal advice.

Question - My neighbour insists that about 30 years ago a previous owner of my property took some of his land when he put up a fence. It is not clear how much my neighbour is claiming but it could not be much. He is threatening legal action. Even if he is right (the plans have a red boundary line which scales up to about a metre - much more than claimed) would I have the right of ownership as I have lived here 17 years?

Answer - Ithank you for your email but my advice will be limited as it relates to taking ownership of another's and.   It is possible, where you occupy land for long enough without interruption, to gain what is known as "adverse possession".  Adverse possession can occur after a period of 12 years if the land is registered land and under the Land Registration Act 2002 you could apply for the land to be registered.    

The guidance I have given is limited by the information I have and should not be treated as a substitute for taking full legal advice.

Question - My neighbour's children have damaged every panel of my fence by continuously kicking their football against it. They have promised to repair it since last summer but so far have failed to do so. They have refused to stop their children from kicking their balls into my garden stating that 'they refuse to stop their children from playing.' I risk personal injury when using the bottom of my garden. I was told by my neighbour that they will deal with that when and if I am injured.

Can you please tell me where I stand in law.

Answer - It is likely that you will have a claim against your neighbour for the cost of repairing the fence as, if they were aware of the problem and continued to allow their children to do it, they will be liable in negligence.

Also, as they are aware of the balls going into your garden, again, if you suffered any injury then you may be able to claim against them.

It is possible that the act of the ball coming into your garden constitutes a nuisance and/or trespass and you may be able to seek injunctive relief to stop this occurring if it is so regular as to stop you enjoying your property.  Cases like this are rare, expensive and generally would require advice and assistance from an independent solicitor.

The guidance I have given is limited by the information I have and should not be treated as a substitute for taking full legal advice.

Question - I live in lower floor flat. Upper floor flat has noisy floorbords a dog loud conversation and generally noisy. Have contacted enviromental health but they say its not their problem. What would be the next stage as my wife is on the verge of a nervous breakdown due to the constant noise.

Answer - Whenever you have a dispute with your neighbour you should always try and speak to them first - it may be that they are not aware of the noise they are making and how it affects you.

If that does not help, you may need to contact your local authority who can investigate and deal with noise nuisance.  Before you do this, you should keep a diary of events for a period of time, setting out the disturbance, time, how long it went on for and how it affected you.

The local authority can monitor the noise and can service a notice on the tenant to force them to stop it.

If you feel that the local authority are not helping then you can contact the Local Government Ombudsman who may award compensation if they believe the local authority has failed in its duty to you.

In extreme cases it is possible to seek an injunction from the courts but this would be a last step and you should seek advice from an independent solicitor before doing so.

The guidance I have given is limited by the information I have and should not be treated as a substitute for taking full legal advice.

Question - A wooden fence approximately 2m high and 20m long, seperates my garden from my neighbour's. He has rested loose breeze blocks against the fence, 3 blocks high, about 0.75m, and then raised the height of his garden by filling soil to the height of the breeze blocks.

At one place the fence is broken at the bottom and the breeze blocks are pushing through onto my garden. The rest of the fence is starting to lean over into my garden by a small amount. I fear that as the shrubs he has planted grow and the rain consolidates the soil the pressure on the fence will increase and eventually cause it to push over so far that it will need replacing, since it is unsuitable as a retaining wall. Replacing the fence would cause havoc to my mature border and flower bed. Also, I cannot get to repair the small damaged section which is pushing into my garden.

Late last year I told my neighbour of my concerns, and several times since, and he promises (sweetly) to dig out, remove the breeze blocks and lay proper foundations and build a proper retaining wall. But he has made no effort to start and his relatively newly laid out garden continues to mature.

Do I have to wait until the fence is destroyed before I have any leegal rights? Can I set about and repair the damage to the fence that is broken and bulging into my garden even if it means casting back anythign which falls through in consequence? I do not want him to repair anything of mine, he has poor skills. Thanks.

Answer - In order for me to be able to respond to your question I need to know how owns/is responsible for the fence?

Question - My neighbour has a plum tree that overhangs my garden and has told me he wants all of the plums returned that fall into my garden. Do I have to do this?

Answer - Even if the branches and fruit are overhanging your garden, they still belong to your neighbour and your neighbour can ask you to return any fruit that you pick. If you cut the branches back to your boundary, which you are entitled to do, you would have to offer the branches and fruit to your neighbour. However, you are not under any obligation to return any branches or fruit that fall naturally onto your land.

Question - My neighbours have lived in their house for many years, and are very heavy smokers. The smell of acrid smoke comes through to our house, under floor boards and through all the cupboards, anywhere with any cracks/gaps. We have made attempts to lay insulation and hard board, in order to reduce the smell, at a huge cost to ourselves. Do we have any rights in this situation?

Answer - The problem you are experiencing could fall under 2 heads:

1) As smoke - most cases deal with bonfires and even then you have to show that the most is sufficiently serious to amount to an unreasonable interference with the enjoyment of your home. This would be weighed up with the neighbours right to enjoy their home.  Cases like this are very rare and legal action should not be considered lightly.

2) As fumes and smells - it may be possible for you to contact your local authority Environmental Health Office to see if they are willing to investigate/assist you.

The guidance I have given is limited by the information I have and should not be treated as a substitute for taking full legal advice.

Question - My neighbours rent out their property to a housing association and the tenants are very noisy (shouting, music and hanging around outside my front door late at night). I have complained to the housing association and they say they are taking action but refuse to give me details of their complaints procedures and the noise continues.

I've tired to go to the housing ombudsman but until the association give me their procedures they can't help. I am also now recording all the behaviour and noting when it takes place.

The council have also witnessed it on two occasions and just need to witness it once more to issue a noise abatement order. However, this is easier said than done as the noise is so sporadic. Can you help? What should I do next?

Answer -

I think you should point out to the local authority (LA) that they have 2 different sets of procedures they could use:

1) as the landlord if the housing association is given a licence to run as such or is part of the LA, and

2) under their powers regarding anti-social behaviour.

If they are not willing to inform you of what steps are being taken, submit a formal complaint to them in writing and tell them you require a full response within 28 days, failing which you will refer your complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO).

The LGO can investigate complaint of maladministration which cause suffering or hardship; this mean complaints about the way the LA has done something, not done something or failed to follow agreed policies and procedures, or failed to provide information.  Therefore it would be wrong of the LGO to say you had to have the organisations complaints procedure first.

The guidance I have given is limited by the information I have and should not be treated as a substitute for taking full legal advice.

Question - I have neighbours in the flat upstairs (they are tenants, but I have the leasehold of the ground floor). They keep throwing stuff into my garden - cigarette butts, cans, and occasionally glass bottles.

I've spoken to them about it but they keep doing it, and I've had problems with them before (they changed the locks on the communal front door) that were not easily sorted out by the managing estate agent. Who should I contact to get them to stop throwing stuff into my garden? Is it the estate agent, the freeholder, the council, someone else?

Answer - There are a couple of avenues you can take:

1. Contact the landlord via the estate agent.  As a leaseholder, you should have within your lease a covenant for quiet enjoyment given by the landlord/freeholder.  You can enforce that against the landlord/freeholder and they should have control about enforcing the covenant against the present tenant.

2.  Contact the local authority Environment Health Department who can take action against persons breaching anti-social legislation.  You may wish to start a diary in the first instance setting out the problem, the date, how it affected you before referring it to them, or they may ask you to do this on referral.

The guidance I have given is limited by the information I have and should not be treated as a substitute for taking full legal advice.

Question - septic tank in neighbours garden, am i allowed to go & strim the grass to keep it clear to see and to keep it clear of dedris Thankyou

Answer - You have no right to enter a neighbouring property to cut their grass without consent.

If it is a joint septic tank then you should check your deeds to see who has responsibility for it.

You should first of all have a talk with your neighbour as they may be more than happy for you to strim the grass.

The guidance I have given is limited by the information I have and should not be treated as a substitute for taking full legal advice.

Question - A privately owned wood backs onto my garden. I am worried that a large tree might fall and damage my property. What can I do to prevent this?

Answer - The first thing you should do is try to establish who owns the wood, and let the freeholder know of your concerns.

If you tell the freeholder why you are worried about the tree and they take no steps to secure it and it then falls and causes your garden/property any damage, you would be able to claim against them for that damage.  However, if they are not aware of the problem with the tree, it could be much harder to claim against them.

You may be able to establish who owns the land by contacting the local Land Registry (there may be a small fee for this).

If you wish to avoid damage and the freeholder is not willing to do anything, it is possible to take matters further by way of court proceedings but I would suggest this as the very last resort and you would need to instruct a solicitor.

The guidance I have given is limited by the information I have and should not be treated as a substitute for taking full legal advice.

Question - Our neighbouring property is owned by an Housing Association. Garden is neglected with huge sycamore tree in 40ft garden with countless large self seeded saplings growing around and on the boundary fence line and close to our house. How can we make them remove them and maintain the garden as we are worried about the roots affecting our property.

About 10 years ago we paid to have 2 large sycamore trees removed from their garden but the resident insisted on keeping one because she liked the birds. We have called the Housing Association but nothing ever happens. Grateful for any advice.

Answer - There is no legal basis to force any landowner to keep their garden tidy - a local authority will only take action if as a consequence of the rubbish in the garden there is pest infestation.

Nor is there any legal obligation on the housing association to prune or cut down the tree.  However, they would be liable to you for any damage caused to your property by the tree, its branches or roots, if you put them on notice of potential damage.

I would therefore write to the Housing Association stating that you are worried about the tree causing damage due to it's size and that, if they fail to act, or if their actions are not sufficient, you will look to them for all financial and consequential lost caused as a result.

The guidance I have given is limited by the information I have and should not be treated as a substitute for taking full legal advice.

Question - My property has been damaged by something that happened in my neighbour's house:

I live in a listed ground floor apartment dating from c1790. It is, or was, one of Abingdon's most beautiful buildings in a conservation area. While erecting a To Let sign next door the contractors have cut through the ancient & beautiful Virginia creeper that climbs over my front door and onto the next house thereby killing it. It continues to grow on the other side of the offending sign where it is rooted. I believe it was a negligent act (I spoke personally to the contractors at the time) & may well have adversely affected the value of my property. (I can send before & after photos if that helps. You would be shocked). The contractor did not attend a meeting this pm. with the relevant residents, conservation officers & agent.

What can I do about it? I would appreciate any advice.

Answer - A claim in negligence comes about when someone owes you a duty of care, breaches that duty and consequently causes you loss.

When the contractor was fitting the sign he would have had a duty to do that with reasonable care and skill, and without causing any damage to the property, or any plant thereon.  He therefore owed you a duty and has broken it.

As a result, you can look to the contractor for any reasonably foreseeable loss that you incur - in your case this could be difficult to assess as it may be the cost of buying a fairly mature plant to replace that which has been damaged.  If you could for any loss in property value it would only be at the time of sale.

However, if the root of the plant is not on your property, and it had only branched out onto your property, the plant will be deemed to be the property of the neighbour and therefore you cannot claim the replacement of the branches.

The guidance I have given is limited by the information I have and should not be treated as a substitute for taking full legal advice.

Question - Now that the warm weather is here my neighbour has a bar-b-q nearly every night and thick smoke bellows across my garden. Is there anything I can do?

Answer - Firstly you should try and talk to your neighbour to see if the bar-b-q can be moved so that the smoke does not blow across your garden. If that fails, it is possible to have a claim in nuisance against your neighbour depending upon the frequency of the bar-b-ques, whether smoke is always blown across the garden, how much smoke. In other words, you would have to establish that it is sufficiently interfering with your enjoyment of your garden on a regular basis. However, successful cases in these instances do not occur very often and you may be better trying to enlist the help of your local authority environmental department who may be able to serve an abatement notice if they believe the nuisance to be sufficiently serious.

Question - What is the best option for me if my neighbour who lives above me constantly making noise whilst they are walking,and whilst their children are playing.This is preventing me fom getting sleep.As a result of this I have become very ill.My housing assosiation has not been very heplful.The neighbours just igornes my cries.

Answer - Whenever you have a dispute with your neighbour you should always try and speak to them first - it may be that they are not aware of the noise they are making and how it affects you.

If that does not help, you may need to contact your local authority who can investigate and deal with noise nuisance.  Before you do this, you should keep a diary of events for a period of time, setting out the disturbance, time, how long it went on for and how it affected you.

The local authority can monitor the noise and can service a notice on the tenant to force them to stop it.

However, in order for the local authority to take steps, the noise has to constitute a nuisance - this means noting not just how the noise affects you, but whether the tenants are using the property in a normal and reasonable way (i.e is it more to do with soundproofing).

Also, if you are a council tenant, you should check your tenancy agreement - normally there is a covenant given by the landlord that you will be able to enjoy your property peacefully - if they have control over the other tenant, they can take action under the terms of the tenancy.

If you feel that the local authority do not assist you then you can contact the Local Government Ombudsman who may award compensation if they believe the local authority has failed in its duty to you.

The guidance I have given is limited by the information I have and should not be treated as a substitute for taking full legal advice.