mediumbuild Posted September 7, 2020 Share Posted September 7, 2020 We’re having a single storey extension to the rear of our property. All approved by planning and nothing very different to what a lot of people in our area have had done.......but our next door neighbours have literally thrown everything at us to try and stop it (which I won’t go in to now as it will take too long). Anyway, given where we are I’m pretty certain the next thing they will do is try to prevent any deliveries being made on the shared driveway. (Materials would be stored on our private drive but would have to do the drop off from the shared bit). We are the first house and so any delivery to us would block the other 2 houses in (I’m sure it would only be 10 mins but the title deeds say no obstructions.....) In any case tbh I’m concerned about delivery lorries damaging the shared driveway which obviously (and fair enough) would be down to me to repair. So I’d like some advice about how feasible it is to ask my builder to manage things from the road. The distance from the road to our private drive is about 10-12 metres down the shared access. Could deliveries be made on the road and mini forklifted down the drive? Are mini forklifts much heavier than standard cars (again thinking about damage). Skips though - I think we could get a permit and store on the road but is it reasonable / fair / safe to ask the builders to get the rubbish that extra 10-12 metres? Would carrying / wheel barrow be the only option or are there any other ideas? Thank you in advance. This build has turned into a nightmare and we’ve not even started yet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nod Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 This is probably more common than you think You would need to contact the merchant in advance to request a Moffet delivery Which is a three wheeled forklift which can bring the materials from the road Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vijay Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 (edited) Would a truck with hiab reach 10-12m? Edited September 8, 2020 by Vijay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterW Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 Hiab won’t reach that far but most merchants are good about putting pads down under jacks etc when they deliver to minimize any damage as they are liable for the damage not you. I would carry on regardless - a delivery takes 5-10 mins tops and they will be done. You’re not unreasonably obstructing the highway so nothing really the neighbour can do. A skip on the road needs a permit and is expensive (adds £55 round here) but they do have the ability to damage paving due to weight. And no, 10-12m with a barrow is nothing so tell the builder to have extra shredded wheat for breakfast and crack on !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Jimbo Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 I do feel for you. Neighbours can be fantastic, or a total nightmare. The distances quoted are not far, so should not be a problem for your builder. Just make sure you tell the builders in advance and make sure that he advises any sub-contractors that he might be using. Sparks, plumbers, etc.If the main highway gets blocked during deliveries, then there is not a lot your neighbour can do, except moan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToughButterCup Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 10 hours ago, mediumbuild said: ... This build has turned into a nightmare and we’ve not even started yet! This isn't a nightmare. Its normal. The problem you have has been faced by many tens of thousands of others in exactly similar circumstances. 10 hours ago, mediumbuild said: ... We are the first house and so any delivery to us would block the other 2 houses in (I’m sure it would only be 10 mins but the title deeds say no obstructions.....) A 20 minute off-load will inconvenience nobody who has normal blood pressure levels. Even @Russell griffiths couldn't object. Tell your eighbours when the delivery is scheduled (note throught the door) a week in advance 10 hours ago, mediumbuild said: .... Could deliveries be made on the road and mini forklifted down the drive?... Yes. They could also be wheel-barrowed, handballed, trailered, moffetted, mini forklifted, pneumatic pallete lifted, rolled over scaffold poles, craned, children can be bribed, prisoners chained and forced to ... But leave the wife out of it eh? .... Don't ask.... 10 hours ago, mediumbuild said: .... but is it reasonable / fair / safe to ask the builders to get the rubbish that extra 10-12 metres? safety ... is a matter for the builder (CDM 2015). Here is a recent thread for your consideration reasonable / fair ... you are new to this game aren't you? The fee will reflect the added difficulty. You are likely to face a series of greater challenges than this one. BuildHub will be there to support you, don't worry. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Declan52 Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 Could you create a temp hard standing wide enough to allow the lorry to pull in enough to allow a car to pass on the other side?? Remove a bit of hedge, fence etc and dump a load of hardcore sitting on some membrane. When your finished you can reuse the hardcore where ever is needed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 (edited) I just tried to google “how long can a delivery vehicle block a road” and did not get a definitive answer. If your drive is shared then you are entitled to use it. Do you have access to your deeds? Usage of the drive might be specified there. From your post you are only having a single story extension, not a whole house so not that much building stuff!, I would be firm but accommodating to your neighbour. If they want to be complete asses nothing you do will be good enough and that’s their problem to get over!!!!. Just warn the builder Edited September 8, 2020 by joe90 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 11 hours ago, mediumbuild said: any delivery to us would block the other 2 houses go see the other neighbours and have a chat with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterW Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 It would rely on the legal definition of reasonable. It would be reasonable to expect deliveries to a property and it would be reasonable to expect that they take a period of time to be undertaken. Where a deed of covenant has a reference to obstruction then it would be likely that it refers to a permanent obstruction of the driveway, such as installing gates or other structures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epsilonGreedy Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 I am not unfamiliar with this problem. Budget for 20 minutes per delivery including a few extra minutes for wiggling the waggon into a tight space, extending the stabilizer arms, raising the waggon onto the arms, lowering the sides, threading webbing straps through pallets, fine tuning the position of wooden pallets on the ground, finding the assorted small items the driver is adamant were not included in the load, signing the chit and then reversing some of those steps. In my experience builders put much effort into eliminating avoidable effort, hence they get creative in positioning deliveries as close as possible to the point of consumption. At the end of the day what can the neighbour do short of mounting a Tiananmen Square style body blocking protest? If the police are called they will lose interest and dismiss a squabble over a private drive as a civil matter. Have a copy of your deeds printed in large text with the section on rights of access highlighted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 (edited) You are entitled to unload on a Right of Way, but not obstruct it. That is what you probably have over his drive (and he, yours). See https://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=14611 If N starts playing silly-buggers with parking their car, or elephant if they have one, to obstruct your deliveries, remember that he is not allowed to obstruct *your* RoW. F Edited September 8, 2020 by Ferdinand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bozza Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 (edited) In advance of delivery dates, put polite notes through his door advising him of dates & times of deliveries. With apologies for any inconvenience and accepting responsibility for any mess damage etc.. Don’t make it formal eg it’s my right to do so. Just keep it informal and polite. Take a photo of you putting notes through his door in case he claims you never did and he phones police etc claiming obstruction if he’s that kind of person, or is looking for a bun fight. Also take photos and a walkthrough video of any existing damage in case he claims your deliveries did damage that was already there. He could In theory use that advance notice as an opportunity to create an obstruction, but if he did you’d have evidence for your side of things in case you needed to involve a solicitor or whatever for breach of deeds or whatever. Edited September 8, 2020 by Bozza 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToughButterCup Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 2 hours ago, Bozza said: ... in case he claims you never did and he phones police etc claiming obstruction .... That happened to us. Local glazier, finding our lane blocked, screamed blue murder at a 45 tonne piling rig: rang the police in front of us all. Poor bloke, he managed to make a real fool of himself in front of everyone. Especially when the super-helpful copper reminded him (he's a local) that our lane has two entrances or exits, and he could simply turn round and reach his customers by using the other entrance. The local copper popped in the other day.... we both giggled at the memory. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CC45 Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 went round to mine tonight & found the developer building behind us has blocked my driveway by parking a tarmacing machine across our drive. Took photos, did my work & left. Why rise to such a childish thing. More important things in life. His mobile phone contract must be very expensive if he can't afford to ring me on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mediumbuild Posted September 8, 2020 Author Share Posted September 8, 2020 Thank you everyone. I do agree that we should have a right of way and that should include brief deliveries.....but I think my neighbours are very irrational, unreasonable and litigious and I’d rather avoid the stress and so will try to do everything via the road. Thank you for the advice and ideas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterW Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 5 minutes ago, mediumbuild said: Thank you everyone. I do agree that we should have a right of way and that should include brief deliveries.....but I think my neighbours are very irrational, unreasonable and litigious and I’d rather avoid the stress and so will try to do everything via the road. Thank you for the advice and ideas Sorry about your neighbours but they have no basis for anything legal with you on this. Let them be irrational - last person that tried that with me got a warning for criminal damage and has been quiet as a mouse since. Delivery drivers are used to this sort of thing - as long as it’s 10-15 mins then they cannot complain and the drivers are well versed in being polite to people about how they will only be a few minutes. Why create stress - and additional cost - for yourself ..? You may find a delivery of bricks or blocks cannot be made to the roadside as you will need a good 2 hours to move 6 packs of bricks and blocks and that will obstruct the pavement and potentially cause a hazard to pedestrians. You need to take the Neighbours head on with this I suspect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Temp Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 I would just get on with it. If he tries to get his car out tell him you will move as soon as possible and do so. If he calls the police and they turn up (which I doubt) be exceptionally polite to the police and make sure they see you are rushing about trying to unload quickly. Apologise for them having to come out. Let the neighbour rant and rave. The police will soon understand who has the problem. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vijay Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 I would carry on with the delivery too, why make yours or your builders like any more work cos a neighbour doesn't like you doing, which is perfectly reasonable and what you're entitled to. That's his problem not yours. Why not knock on his door when the driver arrives and ask him if he needs to go out. If he then calls the police for any reason, you can show you were trying to make sure it didn't affect him (but personally I would just get on with it and let him rant - while you're phone is on record just in case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russell griffiths Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 If he called the police by the time they show up the delivery vehicle will be gone, they will look a bit silly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roundtuit Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 43 minutes ago, Vijay said: Why not knock on his door when the driver arrives and ask him if he needs to go out. Good call. Our last place had a shared access driveway (although we owned it), and whenever I was due a delivery that would block access, I let the neighbours know so they could move their cars out on to the road first if they wanted. My neighbour, on the other hand, had a load of logs dumped on the drive just before I needed to get my car out to go to an important meeting. Ar$ehole. Anyway; manage your deliveries as you'd like your neighbours to if the boot was on the other foot, and don't let them stop you doing what you need to do! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epsilonGreedy Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 10 hours ago, PeterW said: You need to take the Neighbours head on with this I suspect. Indeed. Some of the advice in this thread is good providing the neighbours are rational normal people in the first place. I sense from the first post that this is not the case and so different tactics should be employed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simplysimon Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 10 hours ago, epsilonGreedy said: Indeed. Some of the advice in this thread is good providing the neighbours are rational normal people in the first place. I sense from the first post that this is not the case and so different tactics should be employed. yup, quietly screw his doors shut the previous evening. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mediumbuild Posted September 9, 2020 Author Share Posted September 9, 2020 Yes I think this all relies on reasonableness - which has kind of gone out of the window. The clause in the title deeds which says ‘no obstructing’ the joint access is what they could take me to civil court over and get an injunction against me getting any deliveries at all. Police won’t be interested but solicitors and courts could be. Sounds extreme. Do I think they’d really go that far......who knows, but nothing would surprise me now. But it would be costly for all of us. They might do it just for the victory. I did ask a solicitor whether a clause like that would cover me for 15 min deliveries and she said she’d have to spend a couple of hours looking at the case law. I figure it might just be simpler to save that money and spend it on ‘at distance’ deliveries instead. Thanks for the suggestions (and sympathy) everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Temp Posted September 10, 2020 Share Posted September 10, 2020 I doubt that clause is worth worrying about.If it's a single track road then simply driving down it creates an obstruction. Pretty sure a temporary obstruction is allowed or things like bin lorries would have a problem. Covenants also have to be written to the benefit of some other piece of land. What's the exact wording of yours? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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