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I want to change my front garden into a driveway. What's the correct procedure to do this? — by Conrad Murray — last modified 2008-08-27 08:06

I want to change my front garden into a driveway. What is the correct procedure to do this?

In a cul-de-sac, can you legally park in front of your neighbours house? — by Conrad Murray — last modified 2008-08-26 12:19

In a cul-de-sac, can you park legally in front of your neighbours house?

What time can I require my neighbour turns their music down as they play it day and night? — by Conrad Murray — last modified 2008-08-26 12:06

My neighbour blasts music day & night. Can you please tell me at what time of the day must a neighbour turn down their music to a level where I will not be upset from it?

I have a friend who would like to buy a holiday home in Scotland but another friend who tried to do this this some years ago says you do not own the land but only have a lease. Is she correct? — by Conrad Murray — last modified 2008-08-25 15:46

I have a friend who would like to buy a holiday home in Scotland but another friend who tried to do this this some years ago says you do not own the land but only have a lease. Is she correct?

We are trying to sell our house and two buyers pulled out, we are now on the third buyer. Our Solicitor is charging us for the buyers who pulled out, is this normal practice? — by Maria Mason — last modified 2008-08-21 13:05

We are trying to sell our house at present and are on the third buyer, the two previous buyers both messed us around and led us to believe they were in a position to buy. The first one fell out with his wife and the second one's husband did not have a permanent job, this was after six weeks of saying all was well and asking us to take the property off the market. This sale we hope will go well but the Solicitor has sent us all the paper work and added at the bottom that we have to pay for two parties puling out of the sale but it didn't even get to contract stage. Is this normal practice?

My neighbours have caravans parked on their drive and back garden with people living in them. Is this legal? — by Maria Mason — last modified 2008-08-19 17:42

Can you advise if it is legal for my neighbours to use their drive and back garden to park caravans with at least one person living in each of them? As a caravan is a temporary dwelling, would somebody living in it permanently, change the status? Would there be council tax implications for the people living in those caravans?

When my neighbour uses the right of way around my property he looks in my windows. How can I stop him from doing this? — by Maria Mason — last modified 2008-08-12 11:50

My neighbour has right of way around my property, although he has absolutely no need to use it. I am informed there is nothing I can do about this. However, each time he walks around my property he looks in the windows. He does not stop to look but it is a most unnerving feeling and I consider it to be an invasion of privacy as he walks within a couple of feet from the windows and he laughs out loud as he goes by. Despite this, the police have said there is nothing I or they can do as he is doing nothing criminal. As far as I am aware, a right of way is to get from point A to point B and users cannot stop in this area. When I bought the property I was aware of the right of way issue, though the seller did not make me aware of any problems. When I first moved in, he did not use the right of way on a regular basis, but he now uses it on a daily basis - he also tells any visitors to his house to use it. I would very much appreciate your advice and if you know of any action I can take against him - such as an Injunction or ASBO?

During high winds my mother's neighbour's tree has fallen into her garden. Is it the neighbour's responsibility to remove the tree? — by Maria Mason — last modified 2008-08-12 11:37

During high winds my mother's neighbour's tree has fallen into her garden causing no real damage except to the washing line. Is it the neighbour's responsibility to remove this tree and can we ask him to have his other trees checked as they are very high and my mother is worried about sitting out in her garden in case it happens to the other trees. Please can you offer some advice as to what rights my mother has, also to make sure this doesn't happen again

Our neighbour has parked his caravan on his driveway despite there being restrictive covenants preventing this. How can we enforce the covenants? — by Maria Mason — last modified 2008-08-11 11:37

Despite there being restrictive covenants preventing caravans being parked on the properties on our privately owned estate our neighbour has parked one on his driveway for over three months now - what are we able to do to enforce this covenant?

I want to sign my house over to my two sons. How do I go about this? — by Maria Mason — last modified 2008-08-11 11:21

I want to sign my house over to my two sons who are over 18. The house is in my name only and I want them to own 50% each and for me to have no further claims on the property. How do I go about this?

I want to sell my house but I know there are dangerous electrical faults in the property. Will the buyer be able to hold me responsible in any way for the dangerous electrical installation? — by Maria Mason — last modified 2008-08-05 13:10

I am going to sell my house soon, but I know that there are a number of dangerous electrical faults in the property. As I understand it, I do not need to have an electrical report done as part of the Home Information Pack, but will the buyer be able to hold me responsible in any way for the dangerous electrical installation?

Who has right of way at the back of my terraced property? — by Maria Mason — last modified 2008-08-01 12:53

Who has right of way at the back of my terraced property? Is it the adjacent property owner or anyone who wishes to visit the adjoining property owners i.e. family and friends? Do I have rights of privacy by prohibiting access to anyone except for property owners? The terrace is a block of six houses and I live next to the end.

My daughter and I jointly own the flat where she lives. She is now able to afford a mortgage in her own right but if the mortgage is in her sole name should the Deeds be as well? — by Maria Mason — last modified 2008-08-01 12:36

Myself and my daughter are joint owners of the flat where she lives.She is now able to afford a mortgage in her own right. However, we have been told that if the mortgage is solely in her name then the Deeds must also be in her sole name. Is this correct as we would prefer the flat to remain jointly owned?

Can you tell me who is responsible for which fence between houses? — by Maria Mason — last modified 2008-07-29 12:28

Can you tell me who is responsible for which fence between houses? We are in a semi detached house and the fence between us is starting to show signs of needing replacement. We also have a fence down the other side of our house, which separates us from the owners of the detached house next door. Are we responsible for both sides?

I am selling and have exchanged contracts but the buyer now states he has no funds to complete. What is my position? — by Maria Mason — last modified 2008-07-23 19:02

I am selling my property and have exchanged contracts but the buyer now states that he hasn't got the required funds to complete. What is my position?

I have been using a strip of land at the back of my property for ten years. Can I now claim it as my own? — by Maria Mason — last modified 2008-07-07 14:16

I have lived in my property for ten years. At the back of the property is a strip of land which I have maintained and used as a garden and parking space. I have asked the Land Registry and they have confirmed that it is unadopted land. Can I now claim this land as my own?

How can I stop my neighbours' dog coming into my garden? — by Maria Mason — last modified 2008-07-07 13:46

My neighbours' dog keeps jumping over their wall and into our garden. What are the laws against this and how can I make them stop their dog doing this?

My neighbour keeps parking on our shared drive and restricting my access to my garage. How can I stop him from doing this? — by Maria Mason — last modified 2008-07-06 21:14

My neighbour keeps parking on our shared drive that runs between our houses. This is a pain for me as I cycle to work every morning and need to use the drive as access to my garage. I've spoken to him about it politely, but now he seems to do it more. I have even tried putting my dustbins in the drive so he can't get his car down there, but this results in him using his car to push them further down. How can I persuade him to not to park on our drive?

My neighbour has noisy cockatiels and his leylandii trees are blocking my light. What can I do? — by Maria Mason — last modified 2008-07-02 18:20

I am having trouble with my next door neighbour, first of all he has cockatiels that whistle from sun up to sun down and when I complained he just told me to get used to it. I tried the local Council but they will not do anything as they say it's not a statutory noise or nuisance, which I dispute. Secondly, approximately three years ago my neighbour planted leylandii trees close to our border fence, they are now about 13 feet high and block out sunlight to our garden. Can you help please?

How can we prevent drivers using our cul-de-sac to turn around? The Council refuse to do anything. — by Maria Mason — last modified 2008-07-01 17:04

Our very narrow cul-de-sac houses elderly residents only. The Council who own the road refuse to do anything about the daily traffic problems we have to endure. Drivers mount the one pavement to drive to the end of the cul-de-sac to do a tight turn around then drive back up the pavement. The noise from anti-social drivers detrimentally affects our daily lives. Our petition has fallen on deaf ears with the Council. Do we have any rights, and where can we go from here? The Housing Association who own our property say they can do nothing because they don't own the road. All the residents are over 60 and older some very ill.