Planned utilities.

[trigger_andy]

So Im having a discussion with my neighbour and some of you guys might be able to help.

 

My neighbour and I share a Driveway. I own part of it and he owns the rest. He was under the impression he owned all the Driveway but has accepted (after some legal advice) that he does not in fact own the section I have said all along is mine. Anyway, as he thought he owned my section of the Driveway, and the small strip of land on the other side of the drive closest to his property he planned on running utilities, ie Water and Electric from the Main Road up to the Barn Conversion he is doing along side the Driveway he now accepts is mine. He is still under the impression he is still running his utilities here but knows I have reservations. He only informed me he intended running his utilities over my land when he seen me digging a hole to install Gate posts. He said I cant install Gate posts there, there thats where he'll be running his utilities. 

 

The Brown section is my Drive (and strip of land) and the Blue Section is teh same drive, just his section of it. 

 

The strip of land he is planning on installing the Utilities (1 meter deep) is sandwiched between the Driveway and some tree's. These tree's are 2 meters away from the driveway. The Trees are a mix, including some Scots Pine and sycamore. The Scots Pine has to be 50-60 feet. As he thought the land was his he had no intention of informing me of this. But obviously now he has.

 

The Trees themselves are smack bang on the Boundary line. We've not even looked into ownership yet. 

 

My (long winded ) question is; Is there a danger in digging a 1 meter deep trench along a row of trees within 2 meters of them now or in the future? Would this cause the trees to be significantly weakened and have a real potential for them to blow over? Or die? If they fell they would easily fall on my house, and theirs depending on which way they went of course.  Basically he wants to sink his utilities roughly where that 8" Oak Post is now. 

 

In the plan below Ive drawn (badly) in Yellow where he plans on running the utilities. The Black dots are kinda where the trees are. 

[monkeybusiness]

Did you buy your place off him?

[trigger_andy]

2 hours ago, waterbuoy said:

Don't actually see why he needs to use your driveway at all.  Can you not close it off and thereby force him to access from the eastern part, or do the deeds allow him to use it? 

Forgot about this bit. Yes, the Deeds give them vehicular and pedestrian access to my section of the Drive. I told him he's not backing full sized lorrys up my drive anymore though. He can use his own. he was using my section of drive as the goods entrance and return.  He was not best pleased with that, I said he can get a 7.5t up and around the full length of the Drive. 

 

We agreed when they first moved in we're have a one way system for the Drive. In my entrance (no sniggering) and out his. It was their idea and one we had no issues with so just went with it. 

 

They very much wish to keep access to our drive, for ease of access to the Barn Conversion, which will be a Holiday Let and their home, and also her business (Artist) So there will be plenty of traffic coming up my drive, which I cant say Im overly enthusiastic about, having small kids and dogs etc. So my thinking was to install a set of Gates 6m in from the road and on my Entrance and where my section of Drive meets theirs. Would slow down the traffic somewhat but they are dead against that. Its still a maybe. 

[donnk]

If there is no other way to get utilities to the build  other than across your land then you have him by the balls and its squeezing time. Ransom strip is what you have. 

 

Id be looking at a bare min of £15k to allow it depending on how well you get on with them.

 

 

[trigger_andy]

47 minutes ago, Stubby said:

Don't let him do anything to/on/with your property that you are not happy with . Why the fuck should you be " dented " in any way when there is an alternative .  Ask him if he would let you have his wife 2 nights a week ?

I know, cheers.  

 

I'm open to compromise, but it really seems they want me to do all the compromising. Although he's taken on-board I dont want full sized Lorries backing up my Drive. He disagrees with me as he says he's always there when they come. I told him I dont know that and I have no warning its happening either. He has my number, he could give me a heads-up. He sarcastically told me the Lorries have mirrors. Very annoying.

 

Its good to get some feedback from here. Also good to have some actual facts and figures and docs I can point to as a valid reason why I'm choosing not to allow him access to run utilities. Also, if we do decide to run the utilities Id never be able to install the Gates I want.

[Stubby]

1 minute ago, trigger_andy said:

I know, cheers.  

 

I'm open to compromise, but it really seems they want me to do all the compromising. Although he's taken on-board I dont want full sized Lorries backing up my Drive. He disagrees with me as he says he's always there when they come. I told him I dont know that and I have no warning its happening either. He has my number, he could give me a heads-up. He sarcastically told me the Lorries have mirrors. Very annoying.

 

Its good to get some feedback from here. Also good to have some actual facts and figures and docs I can point to as a valid reason why I'm choosing not to allow him access to run utilities. Also, if we do decide to run the utilities Id never be able to install the Gates I want.

Phew !

[trigger_andy]

48 minutes ago, Stubby said:

I rest my case . Sounds like a bit of a 22 carat cunt to me . I am an easy going bloke and get on with everyone mostly but he seems to be someone who thinks he is something he is not . 

They where nice. just very particular about their land and how they utalised it was nothing to do with me. They never said as much but its certainly how it appears and we'd only know they've done something after the fact. Which if it was their land thats fine, but it was my land and they took the hump when I raised such a triviality as tidying up a wall.

 

Last year, till they stopped laying id drop off Chicken and Duck eggs regularly. Ive given his Oak for free to help with his barn Conversion and Ive offered him use of any and all my tools if he so needs. Just a bit of an odd couple really. 

[trigger_andy]

44 minutes ago, eggsarascal said:

At any rate, if he needs water and power he's going to have to dig two trenches, water and power can't go in the same trench, well, not down here it can't.

Interesting. Another useful bit of info. 

[donnk]

2 minutes ago, trigger_andy said:

Interesting. Another useful bit of info. 

nah it can. have to separate them a bit but its the norm to share a trench.

[Paul in the woods]

One thing I would add is don't forget the maintenance if you do allow them to use your land. If there's a leak in the future and you've perhaps widened your drive, do you want them to be able to dig it all up to repair their services? What if they sell up etc?

[eggsarascal]

11 minutes ago, donnk said:

nah it can. have to separate them a bit but its the norm to share a trench.

Ok, they can, I worded it badly, it's known as 'acceptable spacing'. But I've been turned down for trying it.