WHEN it comes to your neighbours, they can be like Marmite – you often either love them, or hate them.

And when moving house it really is often luck of draw if you end up living in earshot of the world's noisiest dog or not.

Local authority councillor and property disputes lawyer for Meaby & Co Solicitors Pranav Bhanot has seen more than his fair share of neighbourly disputes.

Here he shares some of the issues he sees, from amorous couples keeping their poor neighbours awake all night to heated disputes over trees…

Noise disputes and overgrown trees

In his role as a councillor and solicitor, Pranav is regularly contacted by residents to remedy issues within the local area, including disputes between neighbours exacerbated by lockdown.

READ MORE FABULOUS FEATURES

I’m an interior designer – here’s how to maximise space even in a tiny house

I’m a cleaning pro – the 15min chores to ensure your home is ALWAYS spotless

He says: "During the pandemic, as people were spending more time in their homes, I was asked to mediate or help resolve property disputes between residents.

"Examples of the sorts of disputes I was asked to resolve included overgrown trees which are encroaching onto land, noise disputes, new building works without the relevant planning permissions and issues about fences being erected in the wrong place."

Loud lovers, harassment & tree troubles

The cause of neighbourly arguments can vary wildly.

Pranav says: "I once had a pensioner wishing to commence a claim regarding excessive noise due to loud lovers in the terraced property next door.

Most read in Fabulous

Tips and tricks to deal with difficult disputes

It’s not easy dealing with confrontational situations. Here, Pranav shares what to do if you find yourself in an awkward disagreements…

Try to engage early in some communication with the neighbour. Many disputes arise due to a breakdown in communication.

As far as possible, keep a written record of all the issues and dialogue with the neighbour. All this could be helpful if matters go to court.

Ensure you have all the paperwork relating to your property including conveyances, leases and land registry documents. These are likely to be very useful in a neighbour disputes.

Think about whether the issue you are aggrieved about really warrants a dispute. Is it something tolerable for the sake of keeping the peace with your neighbour.

Consider neighbour mediation before instructing lawyers to try and resolve disputes.

Reach out to your local authority and local councillors before spending money on legal teams and see if these parties can help you resolve the dispute.

Before spending money on lawyers consider whether those funds may be better spent on resolving the matter at hand. For example, clients end up spending thousands of disputes surrounding damaged fences. The funds spent on lawyers could have replaced all the fence panels and concluded the dispute.

"The noise was at the early hours of the morning and beyond the limits one may find reasonable.

"I've been asked to mediate between neighbours on a tree dispute.

"A tree was growing on the property of one neighbour and had become rather large.

"As a result the tree roots and leaves from the tree were encroaching onto their neighbour's land, which was causing a great deal of distress.

"Recently I had a neighbour who has been subjected to loud music, aggression and harassment by a neighbour.

"The atmosphere between the two neighbours was very hostile and my client felt very afraid to leave her home.

"We got involved in obtaining an injunction retraining the aggressive neighbour from coming near to my client and the local authority enforcement team took action against the neighbour for his loud music."

Recipe for disaster

So why do people end up rowing with their neighbours so frequently?

Pranav explains: "The close proximity to neighbours and the most valuable asset for many people being land is the perfect recipe for a dispute when things go wrong.

"The unique issue with neighbour disputes is that parties cannot escape the subject matter or their opposition. Therefore, generally the matter will need to be resolved.

"Further, where there is an ongoing dispute with a neighbour this needs to be declared when selling the property which could put potential purchasers off buying.

"Therefore, finding a way to resolve a neighbour dispute either out of court or within the courts may be vital if someone is looking to sell."

Common neighbour disputes

Boundary disputes – neighbours cannot agree where their property starts and ends.

Unauthorised construction work without the various planning consents or a failure to serve a Party Wall Notice – a letter to an adjoining-owner before starting any type of construction that may affect them – to a neighbour.

Noise complaints where one party has a total lack of consideration for their neighbour.

Trees and shrubs encroaching from the land of one owner or to the land of an alternative owner.

War of words

Generally, most disputes arise following a breakdown of communication between the parties, and in most cases it is resolvable.

Pranav says: "It is usually due to one party failing to respond to a letter or failing to discuss their plans with their neighbour.

Read More on The Sun

Brit fighters armed with WW2 machine guns join Ukraine’s troops in trenches

Baftas host Rebel Wilson addresses 5st weight loss & aims dig at Meghan

"We find many disputes manage to get resolved simply through lawyers opening up a channel of communication between the two parties.

"The vast majority of disputes between neighbours are a war of words via letters and emails and only a few turn aggressive."

Source: Read Full Article