I am at war with my neighbours

I'm sire the solicitors will rub their hands together. Seems a good group meeting a while back would have been useful. Sorry

Sorry to hear that....but be a little careful, as you can go from being in the right, to being in the wrong, very easily.

There must be something in the air.......We have a field that butts up against an access lane, and one of our neighbours brought in a JCB (early one weekend morning), removed some trees and a boundary hedge and replaced it with a wire fence widening the access lane (by eating into our property).

The police wouldn't stop the demolition, as nobody was being hurt. They have refused any amicable advances and solicitors letters, so it will most probably end up in court. 

You have my sympathy.........Jean - Paul Satre had it about right when he said "Hell is other people".

I don't know what to do, i am not happy with the situation, for what ever reason i am not prepared to live in a fenced garden with trellis's & spikes on top of the fences, it is not in keeping with the area, i don't feel personnaly threatend by anyone on the estate i keep myself to my self except by my next door neighbours.

I agree with Robin, communication is always the best way forward.

It sounds to me like your neighbour has had problems with people stealing from him/her, and they felt that they wanted the added security. They should have communicated this to you and the others in the block if this is the case, and then you could have raised your concerns.

So they are at fault initially, but instead of undoing there work, could you have not knocked on there door and told them that you are not happy with what they have done?

Re-painting fences at 3 in the morning is not the actions of a reasonable person, sorry, but it just isn't.

Talk to them Simon, or the only happy people at the end of the saga will be the solicitors.

BBB the real reason is that their are bored kids on the estate, these kids are aged 4/5/6 not 9/10/11 my neighbours feel threatend by 4/5/6 year olds that ring doorbells & run off & climb on fences, the fence is outside where i live & once a football was kicked into the garden & a dozen 5 year olds climbed on the fence, i opened my window & told them to climb over & get their ball back also a couple of kids heard a noise & climbed on the fence & said it was cats.

No way in any shape or form do i feel threatend by the kids on the estate, they can be naughty , cheeky but not threatning.

I suggest that you try talking to them - preferably with a smile on your face.

If you go around there acting angry you'll probably just make things worse. But if you go round there with the intention of having a friendly chat you may be able to find some sort of compromise that you're both happy with. Maybe they could remove the top of the trellis so that it only reaches to the top of the fence so that you won't be able to see it from your side?

The kids also climb on the fence to wind up & provoke a reaction  with the residents in the flats, these kids are five years old, i tend to ignore them but guess what the neighbours get wound up, 5 year olds 1, neighbours 0.

Why haven't you spoken to them yet??

I don't like face to face arguments or confrontation, i'm a bit shy.

Like i said earlier i don't want to live like this with trellis's & spikes on the fence, i've never lived like that before & i don't intend to live like a fortress now.

Simon what are the HA doing,is there a housing officer becouse they have a responsability to all their tenents,and to mediate in any disputes .Thats why they have tenency rules...it applies to everyone...at least thats how the HA i work for see's it.

GSB, i have contacted a solicitor who have contacted the h/a & someone came round today who took photo's (only because i saw him) so i can only assume or is it presume that the h/a are deciding what action to take, apart from that i am not sure what is going on.

I don't understand why you've contacted a solicitor without trying to talk to your neighbour first. If you feel shy maybe you could get a friend to accompany you when you go round to speak with them.

If you approach them in a positive and friendly manner they'll probably be accommodating and happy find a solution that suits everyone. They probably won't want confrontation any more than you do.

IMO using a solicitor should be a last resort. Why make an enemy when you can make a friend?

Forget paying a solicitor for advice,citizans advice or the like are as good,if not better.As a tenent you have a right to expect your association to sort this problem out,it is there duty to implement and inforce rules based on the common good of everyone,hopefully the correct departmant has now been informed.

In september when my neighbours put the spikes up on the fence i complained to the h/a who told me that me/them/we are not allowed to put things on the fence, which my neighbours were informed, my neighbours have decided to be awkward by putting the trellis up on the sunday the 13th of january.

as far as i'm concerned what people do in their own gardens is up to them, but i'm not having my neighbours telling me what i can or can not have on a h/a fence outside where i live that affects me.