Good afternoon
Apologies for the lengthy post but any help or advice on this tricky situation would be much appreciated.
We've recently moved into a G2 Listed cottage in a conservation area surrounded by similar properties. There was an old, low stone wall that formed the boundary with a neighbour's garden and what was then our cattle yard. The wall had fallen into a bit of disrepair and was covered in ivy but, with not much work, could have been built back up (any fallen stone was still at the bottom of it) and would have made a nice feature defining the boundary. Recently the owner of the neighbouring garden started clearing his land and said he'd like a decent boundary there. We got on well with him and we verbally agreed with him that, without anything in writing in the deeds of either house, we should assume a shared boundary of 50% to each property even though it's pretty clear historically that the wall was ours. We were discussing options on and off over the course of a couple of weeks as to what if anything could be done with the wall. Every time we discussed the issue, the neighbour had new ideas about what he wanted to do. Then one day we went out there and he'd removed the wall, said he had had permission to do so, and was using the stone to build other features in his garden. We asked the Conservation Officer if they could tell us what had been permitted and asked to treat the matter with delicacy because we wanted to maintain what were reasonable neighbour relations. The Conservation Officer then forwarded our email directly to the neighbour, apparently saying we'd complained (which we hadn't). The neighbour has since replaced the wall with badly planted straggly privet interspersed with laurel bushes.
When we approached the neighbour about it, he was defensive and hostile and laughed in my husband's face when he said that we'd wanted to keep the wall from the outset and that it was at the least a shared boundary wall. Apparently the wall was no longer a wall but a "pile of stones already on his land". We tried to remain calm but this led to a more heated discussion and our neighbour eventually stormed off and rang his solicitor and the land registry. The following day he came and apologised about the way he had reacted and about the position of the hedge he'd reinstated which was too close/over our boundary but no mention has been made of the wall since. The Conservation Officer has now said that no permission was needed for taking the wall down. I find this very hard to believe as to my understanding the listing of a building applies to all structures within it's curtilage, and the wall was a significant feature of the land.
The trouble is we now don't know what to do. The neighbour just doesn't seem to understand the concept of shared boundaries and we don't want this to escalate into a lengthy legal battle. It now seems that if we don't want to be cutting hedges for the rest of our time in this house, we'll have to rebuild the wall ourselves. Another neighbour told me this morning that as the wall has been removed, there's no longer anything there to replace so we'll have to get permission to put anything back. The neighbour can effectively steal our wall and use the stone without consequence but WE have to get permission before WE pay to put something back. Is this true and is there anything that can be done?
Thanks in advance
Apologies for the lengthy post but any help or advice on this tricky situation would be much appreciated.
We've recently moved into a G2 Listed cottage in a conservation area surrounded by similar properties. There was an old, low stone wall that formed the boundary with a neighbour's garden and what was then our cattle yard. The wall had fallen into a bit of disrepair and was covered in ivy but, with not much work, could have been built back up (any fallen stone was still at the bottom of it) and would have made a nice feature defining the boundary. Recently the owner of the neighbouring garden started clearing his land and said he'd like a decent boundary there. We got on well with him and we verbally agreed with him that, without anything in writing in the deeds of either house, we should assume a shared boundary of 50% to each property even though it's pretty clear historically that the wall was ours. We were discussing options on and off over the course of a couple of weeks as to what if anything could be done with the wall. Every time we discussed the issue, the neighbour had new ideas about what he wanted to do. Then one day we went out there and he'd removed the wall, said he had had permission to do so, and was using the stone to build other features in his garden. We asked the Conservation Officer if they could tell us what had been permitted and asked to treat the matter with delicacy because we wanted to maintain what were reasonable neighbour relations. The Conservation Officer then forwarded our email directly to the neighbour, apparently saying we'd complained (which we hadn't). The neighbour has since replaced the wall with badly planted straggly privet interspersed with laurel bushes.
When we approached the neighbour about it, he was defensive and hostile and laughed in my husband's face when he said that we'd wanted to keep the wall from the outset and that it was at the least a shared boundary wall. Apparently the wall was no longer a wall but a "pile of stones already on his land". We tried to remain calm but this led to a more heated discussion and our neighbour eventually stormed off and rang his solicitor and the land registry. The following day he came and apologised about the way he had reacted and about the position of the hedge he'd reinstated which was too close/over our boundary but no mention has been made of the wall since. The Conservation Officer has now said that no permission was needed for taking the wall down. I find this very hard to believe as to my understanding the listing of a building applies to all structures within it's curtilage, and the wall was a significant feature of the land.
The trouble is we now don't know what to do. The neighbour just doesn't seem to understand the concept of shared boundaries and we don't want this to escalate into a lengthy legal battle. It now seems that if we don't want to be cutting hedges for the rest of our time in this house, we'll have to rebuild the wall ourselves. Another neighbour told me this morning that as the wall has been removed, there's no longer anything there to replace so we'll have to get permission to put anything back. The neighbour can effectively steal our wall and use the stone without consequence but WE have to get permission before WE pay to put something back. Is this true and is there anything that can be done?
Thanks in advance
