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Fighting over the fence

A friend of mine spoke to me a while ago about some problems she was having with her neighbour.

According to her [and noting that as anyone who has seen “neighbours at war” will tell you there are always two sides to every story] the neighbour had come over the fence and cut her plants, twice, and then on another occasion had sprayed plant poison into another plant.

Was this lawful?

In short, no. This is a classic case of trespass. A trespass occurs when any person comes onto your land unlawfully and without consent. They don’t actually have to do anything – they just have to come onto the land. This case does go beyond that because there was damage being done to the land.

The first thing to do is to warn your neighbour to stay off your land. You can do this informally but really you should do it in writing – issue a trespass notice. Give the neighbour warning that that they are doing is a trespass and there are consequences if it keeps continuing.

Secondly, there should be some quantification of how much damage has been done. For example, if a tree was killed, you should get a quote for a replacement tree. The neighbour will be liable to repay you that cost. I know this can get complicated, but this is just the type of case that the disputes tribunal can resolve for neighbours if the other person just refuses to pay.

In bigger cases you may need to go to Court – the District Court can grant damages (money) to you if you have suffered damage over $15,000.00. If the damage to your property is serious it may well be much more than that.

There is another side to this story which does need to be considered. Is this a case for harassment as well as trespass? If the behaviour continues, then yes – certainly. The District Court is again the place to go – that Court will grant a restraining order if you can prove that 1) you have been harassed, and 2) the only way to stop the behaviour is with Court assistance. In many cases the police won’t help you. The police will tell you to get a restraining order first, and if there is a breach of a restraining order (ie: more harassment), then they will help.

In a future article I will cover harassment in more detail. It’s an area of law which lots of people don’t understand.

In the meantime if you need assistance with an unhelpful neighbour – either because of trespassing or harassment, I would be happy to help: call me (09)4077099 or email me Graham@lawnorth.co.nz

• Posted By: Graham Day on Thu, 18th Aug 2016 @ 07:54:25

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