Are neighbours taking advantage?

redzer_irl

Call over to your neighbour and to let them know that you ordered a fence for the area (much like your other neighbours) as soon as you signed the contract for the house and that it is being delivered next week.
See what the reaction is then.

Marcusm

gramar wrote: »

It's probably a good idea to have a chat with the auctioneer before doing anything else and make sure you're fully informed. Remember that you could be living beside these people for a long time so if you do speak to your neighbours about it then use a bit of tact. Being on bad terms regardless of who is to blame is never pleasant so bear that in mind before approaching them.

You must deal with a unique auctioneer/estate agent; most of the ones I've dealt with can generally inform me only of things they've made up in their head and have little true knowledge about most of the properties they're selling - certainly nothing about the boundaries, title or potential land disputes.

riclad

ask the neighbours 3 or 4 houses down ,is it council land etc
MAYBE wait a month see what your neighbours are like,
before you ask about the land .

every estate is different ,
SOME people never talk to there neighbours unless theres an emergency .
Don,t get off to a bad start ,you could be living there for 10 years .

DID you not notice the glasshouse before you bought the house.
Above all be polite and non agressive.
DO NOT accuse anyone of doing anything,
remember no one has ANY Right to use or take over council land.
YOU CAN get advice from free legal advice centre flac .
i think its wrong to build a shed behind your house ,
instead of behind theres,
or is it crossing over both boundarys .
You,ll have to a least say to your neighbour ,
i know its council land,
i do not wish ANY more building to go on behind my house ,
unless its done by order of the council .
the house boundarys should be described on your house deeds .
does the estate have a residents association.?

I,M not a lawyer ,you could probably go to the council and they, would remove any sheds
built on council land without planning permission.

az2wp0sye65487

Corkbah wrote: »

quiet word with the neighbour should sort it out.

Frank Black wrote: »

This thread is full of useless high-horsery comments and internet hereos.

The first step is to discuss the matter with your neighbours in a non-confrontational or accusatory manner. You will likely be living beside these people for years and it's best to keep things civil.
e.g you can say that you've noticed that many of the neighbours have taken the plots behind their property into their possession and that you are considering doing the same with the plot behind your house. No need to accuse them of 'grabbing your piece. You could initiate the discussion on the basis of asking them the history of the plots, how long some of the neighbours have had possession of them, if the Council have ever entered into any communication wet them - stuff like that.

If they point black refuse to 'move out' of the plot behind your house, that's a different matter, but I wouldn't worry about this initially. They will be just as keen as yourself to maintain good neighbourly relations I'd imagine.

Some sense being spoken at last!

I think most people here are jumping the gun with some of the presumptions and suggestions being made.

OP, why not just speak to your neighbours as a starting point. It may well be all sorted out over a cup of tea.

No point in considering other avenues yet. Wait to see how they react/respond to a conversation first. If they aren't agreeable to moving off the land, then you can look at other options.

runawaybishop

I'm not fully behind the suggestions that the OP shouldn't upset the neighbours as they have to live with them. The neighbours have already upset the OP who have an equal right to live in happiness.

Richard Dower

Put an alligator in the plot...that'll sort ém!

Frank Black

runawaybishop wrote: »

I'm not fully behind the suggestions that the OP shouldn't upset the neighbours as they have to live with them. The neighbours have already upset the OP who have an equal right to live in happiness.

You may wish to live your life constantly engaged in a series of escalating confrontations with your neighbours.

Most people just want to enjoy their home and maintain good neighbourly relations.

runawaybishop

Frank Black wrote: »

You may wish to live your life constantly engaged in a series of escalating confrontations with your neighbours.

Most people just want to enjoy their home and maintain good neighbourly relations.

The OPs neighbours have already initiated a conflict though and brought about bad relations.

Richard Dower

Frank Black wrote: »

You may wish to live your life constantly engaged in a series of escalating confrontations with your neighbours.

Most people just want to enjoy their home and maintain good neighbourly relations.

+1....its not good when yer neighbors hate the sight of you, if you went up in flames...who would save you?

laoisman11

Frank Black wrote: »

This thread is full of useless high-horsery comments and internet hereos.

The first step is to discuss the matter with your neighbours in a non-confrontational or accusatory manner. You will likely be living beside these people for years and it's best to keep things civil.
e.g you can say that you've noticed that many of the neighbours have taken the plots behind their property into their possession and that you are considering doing the same with the plot behind your house. No need to accuse them of 'grabbing your piece. You could initiate the discussion on the basis of asking them the history of the plots, how long some of the neighbours have had possession of them, if the Council have ever entered into any communication wet them - stuff like that.

If they point black refuse to 'move out' of the plot behind your house, that's a different matter, but I wouldn't worry about this initially. They will be just as keen as yourself to maintain good neighbourly relations I'd imagine.

Well said.

OP, you will have these people as neighbours for many years to come and if you followed most of the advice given here, the relationship with your neighbours will finish somewhere between mistrust and all-out war.

djimi

runawaybishop wrote: »

The OPs neighbours have already initiated a conflict though and brought about bad relations.

No they havent; they have seemingly acted with permission of the former owner of the property. From what we have been told, the OP has not broached the subject yet with the neighbour.

Starting a conflict with your next door neighbour is just about the last thing you would ever want to do, and especially over something as ridiculous as a dispute over a plot of land that neither party has any proper claim over and could lose in the morning if the council decide that they want it back.

runawaybishop

djimi wrote: »

No they havent;

Does the OP sound happy with the situation to you?

djimi

runawaybishop wrote: »

Does the OP sound happy with the situation to you?

How can you have a conflict when one party doesnt even know its happening?!! Until the OP speaks to the neighbours this entire "conflict" exists entirely inside their head.

runawaybishop

djimi wrote: »

How can you have a conflict when one party doesnt even know its happening?!! Until the OP speaks to the neighbours this entire "conflict" exists entirely inside their head.

I'm not against being civil, I just said they initiated it, not the op.

Balmed Out

Have you asked the council would they consider selling it?

djimi

runawaybishop wrote: »

I'm not against being civil, I just said they initiated it, not the op.

My point is that they didnt initiate anything with the OP; by the sounds of it an arrangement was come to with the previous owner. Its not a conflict (at the moemnt anyway).

Ray Palmer

I would just talk to them. Explain that if all the owners do it they are more likely to claim ownership from the council but if the boundaries are not equal it would be more difficult. From the description the neighbours garden shape must look very odd now.

Best to appeal to the person self interest and point out another threat rather than be the threat.

Wabbit Ears

The only conflict here exists in the OP's head.

The neighbours are not doing anything wrong, do not realise that they are in anyway, shape or form upsetting the OP nor are they doing anything thats beyond the norm in the area they are living in.

Playing devils advocate and looking form the neighbours side you are talking about someone who has just moved in and is already talking about how he disagrees about how they are doing things thats been the norm for years?

Thoie

Wabbit Ears wrote: »

The neighbours are not doing anything wrong, do not realise that they are in anyway, shape or form upsetting the OP nor are they doing anything thats beyond the norm in the area they are living in.

The norm seems to be claim the bit directly behind your own house, not a double parcel. They don't know that it's upsetting the OP, but they know they're not doing the norm.

Wabbit Ears wrote: »

Playing devils advocate and looking form the neighbours side you are talking about someone who has just moved in and is already talking about how he disagrees about how they are doing things thats been the norm for years?

It hasn't been the norm for years - they dashed in between the time the OP viewed the house, and the time he got the keys - a couple of months. There's an element of sneakiness there to dash in during a limited period, and construct a shed deliberately on the side that's behind the new people. Why not build the shed on the piece that was behind their own garden?

Scotty #

Wabbit Ears wrote: »

The only conflict here exists in the OP's head.

The neighbours are not doing anything wrong, do not realise that they are in anyway, shape or form upsetting the OP nor are they doing anything thats beyond the norm in the area they are living in.

Playing devils advocate and looking form the neighbours side you are talking about someone who has just moved in and is already talking about how he disagrees about how they are doing things thats been the norm for years?

For years? the op said it was council (i.e. Communal) land when they looked at buying the house. It only became part of their neighbours property AFTER the OP purchased.

Not doing anything wrong? They've taken communal land owned by the taxpayer for themselves!


OP (I think) legal title will eventually pass (8 years??) to your neighbours if you ignore this.

Wabbit Ears

Even if they did make a land grab in sneakiness (though I dont believe they did this with as much forthought and sneakiness as they are being assigned) its a fair grab. I dont believe there is any standard gentlemans agreement for such actions. Several people in our estate have moved their fence to encompase corners and end of roads thast technically council land. There was a noticible increase in this when the estate was being taken over by the council. Sure its cheeky in a way but if the council doesnt object then thats the end of it.

MarkR

A couple up the road from me did it. They applied for planning permission, and it was granted. Have you checked to see if they requested planning permission?

Teyla Emmagan

You don't own it, and they don't own it. But given that I presume they already have their own strip of land and have just colonised yours since the other people moved out, then they are just being completely opportunistic. They are counting on you being too much of a wuss to call them on it.

I have neighbours that do this sort of thing and it's NOTHING but brass neck. They are literally waiting you out until you give up on your 'right' to that land.

Adverse possession (squatting) comes into play after 11 years. Which means that if the council don't claim that laneway back in 11 years whoever has developed it will have the right to claim legal ownership of it (and 'developed it' means dumping a greenhouse on it). So that could be you if you act, or your neighbour if you don't. That strip of land will greatly increase the value of your property if you have the rights to it when you go to sell, or negatively impact on it if you don't as your garden is now overlooked.

They are totally chancing their arms here.

I would go round and claim that you bought the house because you planned on making use of the strip of land and that you want their stuff out of it asap. Everyone else has the strip behind their house and you intend on doing the same. Tell them you know well they've only had their junk there a few months. And that you'll be good enough to help them move it out.

You will be kicking yourself forever if you don't do something now.

the_syco

Sounds like the people in the OP's house may have asked their neighbours not to use the land until they moved out.

Or look on the flip side; the people in the OP's house said the neighbours couldn't use the land, but now that the house was sold, and the people are no longer there, the neighbour is staking their claim to the land?

Unless the OP asks the neighbour, they won't know which it is.

hardCopy

Wander into the communal greenhouse and eat all the tomatoes

JimsAlterEgo

approach council with a view to buying the land

zl1whqvjs75cdy

Never mind all these sensible suggestions, salt the ground, lets see how the ****ers get on with their garden conquest then.

gramar

Marcusm wrote: »

You must deal with a unique auctioneer/estate agent; most of the ones I've dealt with can generally inform me only of things they've made up in their head and have little true knowledge about most of the properties they're selling - certainly nothing about the boundaries, title or potential land disputes.

I've never dealt with an autioneer in my life but as the neighbours seem to have taken over the council land in the time that the house was viewed and bought then it's worth a shot. Nothing to lose and no harm trying to inform yourself as much as possible before you go to talk to the neighbours. The auctioneers might have sold other houses alond that road and may know something about it or like you say they might know nothing and even if they did would prefer not to get involved.

It does sound very cheeky to nab it between viewing the house and buying it.

I would go with a non confrontational approach asking what is the history of the plots at the back and go from there.

If they are like this at the start I would try to get this sorted sooner rather than later. Letting it drag on would only make the eventual resolution even harder.

Is there any reason why the person you bought the house from never took this land?

riclad

TO take over this land ,you,d need to build a fence on both sides,
if you are old or not a keen gardener ,
its hardly worth it ,

You could go look around dublin ,theres lots of small spaces
between houses ,buildings which are used by no one.
as many house s are not built in straight rows or rectangular blocks.