Neighbour disputes

Neighbour disputes can be amongst the most acrimonious (and expensive) type of legal proceedings. Needless to say they are of course best avoided. Sometimes a little planning and preparation before undertaking a course of action (for instance carrying out works, or even having a party or an event) can pay dividends in avoiding future difficulties.

From the legal point of view disputes often arise out of the following:-

• Works
• Noise
• Access
• Parking
• Rights contained (or not contained) in title documents such as leases
• Restrictive covenants
• ‘Nuisance’ – essentially things on one person’s property causing a legal ‘nuisance’ (which has a variety of legal meanings) to other property

With careful legal preparation some of these problems can be avoided or their potential effect neutralised.

For instance, if there appear to be legal problems with rights concerning your property the first port of call must be the title documents to establish the legal position. If this is unclear then sometimes an application for a declaration of the extent of the relevant rights from a court may be a more cost effective solution than waiting for problems to arise and then dealing with these over time, in a ‘drawn-out’ way that ultimately leads to proceedings.

Similarly, with leasehold properties lots of the problems that arise for both flat owners and landlords in practice could be avoided by a careful reading of the lease itself and making applications for permissions early on, or by investigating fully the extent of the available rights.

Even with freehold properties there can be restrictive covenants on the title which may prevent certain types of activity or development. Investigating the enforceability of these first can save certain headaches later on. After all no-one wants to demolish or reduce the size of an extension or addition to their property after it has been built.

The above of course says nothing of breaches of the myriad of statutory constraints applicable to works e.g. planning permissions, building regulations consents, noise control, electrical and gas safety, listed buildings and conservation areas.

Of course sometimes disputes cannot be avoided and in ‘emergency’ cases e.g. unauthorised works or, persistent breaches of your legal rights, very forceful measures (such as injunctions) may be required. Likewise, a proportionate but firm response to any actions which are causing problems will usually pay dividends in the longer term, particularly where the costs of proceedings themselves will later be decided by a court. Similarly, consideration should also be given to the question of whether mediation (or another form of less contentious dispute resolution process) might be appropriate.

In the unfortunate event that a dispute does arise, the first part of the solution is of course to find a team of advisors who understand the situation and can assist you in providing an appropriate and proportionate response.

The Dispute Resolution team at Bishop & Sewell LLP has put together a useful note about property disputes and how to avoid them which is based on their experience in successfully handling these sorts of issues. The note is free and can be obtained by emailing leasehold@bishopandsewell.co.uk.

If you would like to know more about any of the issues raised in this article by all means contact us.

Mark Chick

12.5.2010