Title: Our Neighbour’s Shocking Attempt to Claim Our Home: Seeking Guidance
This morning, I received a distressing call from my wife. As I was working miles away, she informed me that our neighbor had trespassed onto our property with yellow demolition equipment. In a startling turn of events, he demolished our garden shed, uprooted our hedge, and was advancing toward our garage and house.
At the moment of her call, I was at a rest stop, midway through a four-hour drive home to address the situation directly. In her panic, she contacted the police, but they classified this incident as a civil matter, leaving us feeling helpless.
We moved into our detached house two years ago, fully mortgaged with a reputable bank. Before we purchased the property, we were made aware of an application from the neighbor seeking permission to demolish our house to construct an annex for his residence. However, our solicitor at the time, who has since passed away and whose firm is now closed, confirmed to us that this was merely an application. The neighbor had expressed interest in buying our home but did not follow through with that plan.
While I have reached out to other solicitors for support, I am still awaiting their responses. Nevertheless, I am confident that the legal documents clearly indicate the ownership of our property in our name.
Our neighbor has made it clear that he believes his planning permission grants him the authority to demolish our house. In our conversations—yet complicated by language barriers—he remains adamant that this permission equates to ownership, showing little understanding that planning permission does not confer rights to one’s property.
Given these troubling circumstances, I am reaching out for guidance. What steps should we take to protect our home and our rights in this situation? Any advice or insights from those familiar with property law in England would be greatly appreciated as we navigate this alarming ordeal.
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