Can anyone offer some advice as to what to do about my grandmother's neighbour?

this will be a bit of a long post so bear with me.

My grandmother lives in a maisonette in totley. There are a total of 6 maisonettes in the yard.

5 years ago, they were given the opportunity to buy the freehold between them. They decided against it as it would have cost them each over £1000 and they only paid £25 a year in ground rent so, financally, it didn;t make sense.

A year later my grandad passed away, and a month after his death, one of the residents (lets call him Mr D) in the yard announced to my grandmother that he had bought the lease, so she better be prepared to pay more money:o (Mr D is a very underhand bully, who had already made my grandparents lives rather hellish by trying to take over the communal gardens as if they were his own, but anyone who meets him thinks he's a nice christian, church going man - he is quite the opposite!)

Anyway - we got a solicitor involved and the only way we could prove if he had illegally bought the freehold, was to take the matter to court - this would have resulted in huge fees, so we decided against it and thought we'd just have to get on with things.

A few months later, he started digging up his driveway and then built a huge log cabin at the head of his drive. This not only looks unsightly, but in the lease, it clearly states that the driveway can only be used for parking a vehicle, nothing else. Again, we got our solicitor involved, who wrote to mr D, making it categorically clear than even though he had bought the freehold, he is still bound by the covenants of the lease and therefore the log cobin on the driveway must be removed.

The response from his solicitor was rather rude - he sent a letter to all residents stating that his client (Mr D) feels he is a victim of a personal attack by my grandmother and that they desputed the fact that the log cabin is a breach of the deeds.

Our solicitor informed us that the only way to get the poblem sorted would be to take him to court. Again we didn;t want to do this as the costs would be enormous, and we'd already spent over £1000 in legal fees. so we decided to leave things as they were. (bear in mind this has now been going on for almost 4 years and my grandmother has angina)

Now yesterday, I popped round to visit my grndmother. As I was leaving, Mr D had got another car parked behind his which completely overlapped and blocked my grandmothers drive and garage. My blood was boiling - I couldn't believe that after everything that had happened, he would have the nerve to do that!

I knocked on his front door - his wife answered. I said (in a rather abrupt tone) "excuse me but you have parked across my grandmothers drive." she replied saying " ok, we'll move it" I said "can I ask why you thought it would be ok to block a pensioners driveway access?" she replied " well I've apologised and we'll move it!"

At which point I put my baby in the car. Then a man came out - angrily reversed his car out of the yard, then walked over to myself and my grandmother and said, "what was the problem" to which I replied, " you had clearly parked blocking my grandmothers drive"

He walked over to my grnadmother, pointed in her face and shouted, "you have an attitude problem" Now imagine how much that made my blood boil. "excuse me?" I said. He then continued, "well whoever came to the door has an attitide problem." "That was me" I replied. The man continued to shout at me saying I needed to learn some manners and that I had the attitude problem. As he walked back inside, Mr D came out. I sent my grandmother inside, I could see she was upset and shakey.

I spoke to Mr D rather calmley and explained about the issues. He said it was his drive and he could do as he wished, and it was my grandmother who was making everyones lives a living hell. I explained that if he wanted his payments for ground rent and communal insurance from my grandmother, then he will need to remove the shed. I put it as simply as saying - "you're breaching the lease covenants by having the log cabin there, so we'll breach the covenants and not pay you a penny. If you want to take us to court over it, fine, but then we'll take you to court over your log cabin!"

I'm so upset for my grandmother. She's all alone, frail, almost 80 and has this to deal with.

I feel like there's nothing else we can do, but put up with it all.

Can anyone suggest anything else to help:(

29 views and no advice.....? are you all still reading my huge post?

Honestly, I'm not sure what advice I can give but I do offer my sympathy to your grandmother - we have a horrible neighbour and I'm moving instead of dealing with the stress. Sorry I can't be any more help

I'm afraid I couldn't think of any advice. You and your grandma do have my sympathies. Have you tried the Council? Or maybe 101 (not a Police matter, but it's kind of harrassment - and I think it's still up and running at the moment?

29 views and no advice.....?

You've had all the advice you need, from a professional to boot. Either take it, and go to court, or don't, and leave things as they are.

Either way, stop whinging.

I would certainly have taken the man's attitude towards being asked to move the car as threatening behaviour and rung the police, especially if I had a child with me. Our neighbour used to repeatedly hammer on our door and go on about how we walked round 'too noisily' (this was usually after the cats had been running down the stairs!) and make threats and we have decided if it happens again the police will be called.

Leasehold law is a nightmare and it also sounds like it's a private road? Now owned by this bloke? Because you need planning permission for any structure, including fences over 3 feet tall, in between your house and the public highway.

However if the road itself is private then this is not the case and you can even be prevented entirely from getting onto it - unless there is something about 'rights of way' - and rights of way can NEVER be changed or blocked without the permission of the person who they are given to.

My aunt lives on a short private road and for years the strip of land opposite (about 9 feet wide) was just waste ground so the residents tidied it up and one weekend, even planted flowers there. The very next week, the farmer who owned this strip of land decided he was going to use it, plus begin using the road as field access, where he previously hadn't used it for 30 years! He then brought along a lot of scrap metal, broken machinery and oil drums and started to use this strip as his 'junkyard'. He was entitled to, as it was his land.

101 is up and running, as it's not an emergency but your grandma is obviously feeling violated by this man. Or go to the CAB and tell them how your grandma is being treated, lay it on thick about making her illness worse, shes a nervous wreck, scared to leave her home ect. Honestly, this man sounds like a C word. Just lay it all on thick and someone somewhere along the lines will be able to sort it out for you. I will go and take out all my hormones on him

You've had all the advice you need, from a professional to boot. Either take it, and go to court, or don't, and leave things as they are.

 

Either way, stop whinging.

As usual, Heyesey, you're all heart!

I'm not sure I can give any advice but you and your grandmother have my sympathy. About the huge log cabin - wouldn't he have needed planning permission for it? I'd definitely contact the council to find out.

does your grandma have any legal cover through her insurance?

this may be an option? unfortunately though, it does sound like legal action is the only way to go, especially if thats the advice youve already had.

i wish you and your grandma the best with this, you truly have my sympathy.

x

does your grandma have any legal cover through her insurance?

 

this may be an option? unfortunately though, it does sound like legal action is the only way to go, especially if thats the advice youve already had.

 

i wish you and your grandma the best with this, you truly have my sympathy.

 

 

x

This could be worth looking into

does your grandma have any legal cover through her insurance?

 

this may be an option? unfortunately though, it does sound like legal action is the only way to go, especially if thats the advice youve already had.

 

i wish you and your grandma the best with this, you truly have my sympathy.

 

 

x

afraid she doesn't have the legal cover - and if she takes it out now, it doesn't cover any pre-existing disputes.

Also enquired about legal aid, and they said that she wouldn;t be covered for this sort of thing. I dont understand what she's expected to do? I mean she just gets a single pension. Not enought to cover thousands of pounds in legal fees:(