If a neighbour (technically they are about 10 houses away round a corner but their garden backs onto ours) decides to cut an access route through to the end of your garden. then proceeed to partially cut 2 trees down (they left the trunks) on your land, and leave them where they fall? they expect to gain access to the river at the bottom through our land.

the land looks like rough land because we haven't got round to sorting it out yet, and looks like it beyond the end of our garden, but we will eventually make it nice when time and ££ allow.

I went round and queried what they though they were doing and then went back a 2nd time to show them the house deeds proving the land is ours.

Said I was being petty!!. Not sure what I can do now apart from put some kind of barrier/fence up stopping them getting past?

should this be reported to someone so there is a record incase they start encroaching in other ways or simply don't stay the hell off our garden?

:(

You need to fench it off. You don't want them to have free access through your land or to be able to find people who previously had that free access.

yep, fence it off now, you could also threaten them with a lawyer for cutting down your trees
________
Ducati 851 (http://www.cyclechaos.com/wiki/Ducati_851)

you can actually get a solicitor on the to send them a nasty letter and hopefully that should be enough unless there is a covenant or easement in yours and their deeds giving them access across your land then they are trespassing and you can prosecute theem.

I think that before any legal advice is sought, try approaching the offenders with a copy of the deeds for your property and have a friendly chat over a cuppa. Maybe take some digestive biscuits? We don't have to wade in with our size 11's which could ultimately result in a mexican standoff situation...
unless of course you are that way out (or indeed they are).

EDIT: just re-read your post - get the nuke detonators on charge and clear the airspace!

Sounds like you were already reasonable and they didn't listen.

Ask them politely again to stop trespassing and if they do it again send them a bill for the damages and put up a fence.

I have copy of the deeds to my house, but the scale is such that you cannot make an accurate measurement from them.
We have particularly obnoxious neighbour who is trying to accumulate bits of everyones gardens from them by saying the measurements are wrong and this bit here is his, and that bit there is is his. Even though for the last 170 year things have not changed. When I told him to clear off, he produced a map of the most astonishing accuracy (It proved him wrong but never mind)

The thing I asked him, and he refused to answer, was where did he get a map with all its dimensions in metres, regarding boundaries laid down in 1835?
And surely if it is genuine then we should all have one, as part of the deeds?

he prb got it from HM Land registry - you can do the same. to be honest the best thing to do is get a solicitor to write a letter for you - it'll prob cost £50 but it'll be worth it to scare them to stop being ignorant

The thing I asked him, and he refused to answer, was where did he get a map with all its dimensions in metres, regarding boundaries laid down in 1835?


Tell him that forgery is illegal - it cant be real surely !

he's trying to pull a fast one
________
Nevada medical marijuana dispensary (http://nevada.dispensaries.org/)

somebody gave me some useful advice earlier today.....

check your house insurance policy - you may find you have access to free legal cover in with the policy :thumbsup:

somebody gave me some useful advice earlier today.....

check your house insurance policy - you may find you have access to free legal cover in with the policy :thumbsup:


very true - halifax offer it free for 1st year then its just about £15 per year

Sounds like he's probably thinking of selling his garden to a builder or developer.

Check with the council if those trees had a preservation order on them.

He could be fined or even do time for that :thumbsup:

Actually I think it will even be classed as criminal damage under the 1971 boundaries act... read it once somewhere...

Needs sorting out and the sooner the better :nod:

Once they get used to the 'new way' they will think they are in the right.

Nip it in the bud in my opinion.

Another thing (may not be relevant) if someone encroaches onto your land and fences part of it off and you do not challenge it legally, within a certain amount of years that land is legally theirs.

Hmmm we had several issues with our neighbours - we wanted to demolish an outbuilding which, was clearly on our deeds, unfortunately at some stage the pre owner had allowed the next door neighbour to use the building. We couldn't build our extension without demolishing this building.

Our neighbour claimed it to be his - our solicitor said it was definately ours - HOWEVER, because they had been allowed to use it for so many years they did get to keep it - yes!

So you need to put a fence up straight away - you might also want to take some advice from a solicitor or citizens advice 'cause as far as i can see they have trespassed and may have committed a crime in the fact that they wrogfully chopped your trees down.

They can chop down branches that overhang onto their property but must first ask you if it's ok to do so and they must by law return the chopped branches to you - and it can only be the part of the tree that breaches their land - so if they hang over and chop off your bits i am sure that they are breaking the law. They can also get you to reduce trees- certain trees only i think though if they are too tall.

As for the fence that you put up - if its a boundary fence, your neighbour might have to pay half - another issue we have had - neither of our neighbours have paid for half the cost of boundary walls that we have erected. Check your deeds to see who is responsible for the boundary fence - although in your case i wouldnt bother, just put one up and maybe just inside the boundary, this way you might have a better chance of some sort of claim if they decide to damage the fence - tis on your property and not sharing the properties.

good luck

babs

This phpbb gardening forum (http://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=4&) has lots of similar threads & advice :thumbsup:

THANKYOU ALL for your advice and sharing the knowledge!! :)

The thing I asked him, and he refused to answer, was where did he get a map with all its dimensions in metres, regarding boundaries laid down in 1835?
And surely if it is genuine then we should all have one, as part of the deeds?

Strikes me that if it was genuine and 1835, the measurements wouldn't be in metres but feet and inches. This metric larks pretty recent.

let us know how you get on with this...

By cutting down trees that were on your property and therefore your trees they are guilty of criminal damage. A very similar thing happened to a friend of mine who got his solicitor to send a letter demanding recompense for the loss of the trees, because of their size the total came to several thousand pounds.

wasn't there a case on the news last year about someone being sent to jail for cutting down bushes/trees on a boundary between two properties?

Some trees are also protected by a preservation order and you need planning permission to chop them down. I don't know which trees are covered by this but if your trees are covered then your neighbour has committed a crime.......not to mention trespass. I would go with what others suggest......slap up a fence on your side of the boundary and check out if you have free legal advice with your house policy.