complicated neighbour dispute

[esiotrot]

I will try to keep this short.
We have lived in our house for 10 years, nice neighbours, no problems. 18 months ago neighbour attached to our semi moved out to live with her partner. She let her house privately to a 'work colleague'. Problems started from day 1. New tenants teenage daughters and friends vandalised our car, they constantly throw rubbish in our garden and play loud music for hours on end. Next door has a flat roof extension and this has so much rubbish on it it blows into our garden, smells and is a breeding ground for flies in the hot weather. Spoke to the parent, who agreed to sort the problems out. Nothing has changed and things got worse when they got 2 dogs. The dogs chewed through the fence panels and despite constant requests the tenant says it isn't her responsibility to replace the fence. The dogs now run around our garden and foul it almost daily. Spoke to the landlord who says she gave them money off the rent to repair the fences but they didn't bother. Boundary is neighbours responsibility. Now the problem is that the ex neighbour didn't sort out a proper tenancy agreement and is having trouble getting her tenants to pay her rent. She is working to remove the tenants but in the meantime we are stuck with them and their anti social behaviour. The council say that as the dogs aren't 'loose' they won't send round the dog warden and there seems to be no progress in sorting out the fence, as each party is blaming the other. Landlord says it isn't her dogs that caused the problem, but anyway has already given them £500 to repair fences, tenant says it isn't her fence so she doesn't have to repair it. Meanwhile the dogs are running riot in our garden. What can we do to force the repairs of the fence? I am on a limited income and can't afford to replace the fence myself or I would.

[bednobs]

you don't need to repair the fence as such, but surely a bit of chipboard leant against it on your side would suffice to cover a hole?

[bednobs]

BTW, not that it matters but did you report the vandals to the police? What happened?

[craft1948]

Can you not open a gate so that the dogs can 'escape' from your garden.....

[esiotrot]

Hi Bednobs.
The problem with the fence is that it has been breached in several places and I don't see why I should have to go out and buy chipboard (which I can't afford and would just fall apart after it got wet, or the dogs would just chew through like they have the fence panels) to keep someone elses pets from our garden. The bigger of the two dogs spends most of it's time chewing the fence anyway, so even if they did replace it it would probably only be a short term solution. I have tried to place items in front of the holes and put things in the way to make coming through difficult, but it hasn't helped.
As for reporting the vandalism, we tried to do the neighbourly thing and spoke to the parent, rather than go straight to the police. We agreed that if she made the girls clean the car (they had smeared it with mud, eggs and gravel ~ god knows why as they had only moved in the day before and we hadn't even met them!) paid for a new aerial, to replace the one they had unscewed and thrown away and for a firm to polish out the scratches the gravel smearing had caused that we wouldn't take any further action. At first the girls said they hadn't done it, but the lady over the road (bit of a busybody ~ but thank god she is!!) had taken a photo of them doing it. It seems ever since then they have gone out of their way to be anti-social. The mother is never in, and the girls have friends round nearly every day, they throw rubbish out of their bedroom window onto their flat roof, play music so loud it drowns out our tv and radio, egg the dogs on to jump the fence or wriggle through into our garden, stand out in the garden shouting and screaming and swearing to each other to such an extent that we have stopped allowing our grandchildren in the garden. The music issue got so bad at one stage that the people in the house next door (not attached to our semi) complained to the enviromental health dept and there is a court case pending regarding noise nuisa

[esiotrot]

Craft ~ we have done this, but why should we have to leave our gate open and lose our privacy just because our neighbours can't control their animals? The problem is that our property has a longish driveway, so that means we have to leave the gates at the end open too, or the dogs just run about throughout the whole of our property. Also ~ doing this still doesn't stop them using our garden as a toilet!

[Charlie911]

You should complain to the local council about the rats climbing all over the place at night, and even during the days sometimes. (I realise you haven't mentioned rats but it would go on the councils file.... The more you can send the better. Also get other neighbours in your street to help out. Ask them to write to both the council and the local paper about the noise, waste etc.. And keep on and on and on and on and on and on and on on and and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on
and on and on on and and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on
and on and on on and and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on
to the council every 30 minutes........ Doi it NOW!!! Don't be forced to live in this hell hole.

[alavahalf]

''but why should we have to leave our gate open and lose our privacy''.....

Sounds to me like you dont exactly have much privacy at the moment.
As craft says ... open your gate and when the dogs are out... close it.
Then phone the dog warden and report them running loose.

[bednobs]

ok, so there seem some facts here
1) the neighbours are not going to repair the fence (either the landlady or tennants)
2) therefore the dogs will come through unless you put something in the way, or leave your gate open
3)The council don't seem like they are going to help you, so if you want to change things, only YOU are going to be able to do it.

I know you say "why should i have to ...." but it's either that or nothing gets done - up to you

[redcrx]

"we have stopped allowing our grandchildren in the garden."

as no-one is using the garden perhaps you could start storing some barbed wire there instead

ok that isnt a clever suggest, i know. i have to say i agree with bednobs, your only real option is to mend the fence and report any damage they cause to the police

[esiotrot]

Thanks to all that have taken the time to reply to this posting ~ I understand what you are saying about me having to do the work myself, but my original question was, what can we do to force the repairs to the fence? This is why I posted it in the law section. Apart from all the other issues with the antisocial lot next door, I want my garden to once again be a safe place for my grandchildren to play in, without the fear of them getting out into the road because the gates are left open, getting bitten or skidding along on a load of dog poo!
I can't get the council interested in fining them because the dogs haven't fouled a public footpath, I can't get the dog warden round because it's private property, so I'm asking for ideas / advice about my next move. Who do I complain to if the council aren't interested? If I take legal action through a solicitor, who do I direct attention to ~ the landlord, the tenants or both? If I have to resort to legal action can I claim back any costs from the other party? As a mortgage paying homeowner I have already been told by the CAB that I won't qualify for legal aid in a civil case, and they offered no practical advice on resolving this issue apart from gong to court and they didn't know if i could recover my costs. These are the type of questions I am seeking to get answered.

[bednobs]

sorry again for not answering your question, and i am not a law person. However, i would say that getting a repair/temp fix for the fence would be a lot cheaper than getting a solicitor if you are on a limited income, and will have a much more reliable and quick result than going to court

[bednobs]

a solicitors letter could cost you upwards of £150 yet temporarily fixing the fence (or for example putting a heavy big plant pot in front of the hole) might cost you less and could be done by this afternoon, leaving you to enjoy your garden once more

[redcrx]

you cant force them to do anything about a fence, unless there is provision in the deeds that says a boundary has to have a fence or wall on it.

They could take the whole fence down if they wanted as long as they didnt take posession of your land.

[esiotrot]

Hmm ~ OK Redcrx so let me get this straight. The provision of a fence isn't mandatory, but surely the act of allowing your dog to run riot all over someone else's property can't be legal? What would be the position if the dogs actually got into the house and bit someone or did damage? We have spent the summer with the doors shut because of the possibilty of the dogs coming in the house. As far as I'm concerned they have taken possession of our land as our garden is now a no-go zone whilst the dogs are out there. Is there no provision in law to stop irresponsible dog owners allowing their pets to continue pestering their neighbours?

[redcrx]

you could take private legal action i suppose, but that will no doubt cost more than a bit of fencing.

I understand what you are asking and i do sympathise but you stressed that what you wanted to know was the legal aspect regarding the fence and i aswered that, as had bednobs before me.

[trt]

You say that the people in the house next door (not attached to our semi) complained to the environmental health dept,
you should have done that from Day 1, that's what they are there for..

[tamborine]

Write to L'lord (registered post) giving them 2weeks to repair fence or you will initiate repairs & send them the bill.

Then you can claim for exes through small claims court.

[AlBags]

Get tough!
Take owner/landlord of that house to court. See a solicitor first for advice on what will stick.
Get a dog warden round on the premise that there are stray dogs in your garden. Get them taken away.
Good start.

[tigersam258]

could you not place some chicken wire along the fenceline. that would stop the dogs coming into the garden and as Bednobs said, it would be cheaper than a solicitors letter. I would also follow that up with a letter to the landlord stating what you had done and that any further cost would be sought via the small claims court.

[samuel23]

Let the dogs out into the street, then find a friendly local farmer, tell him the dogs have been worrying his sheep, stand back and watch him shoot them :-)