There are ways to eliminate niggles between neighbours before they become major issues.
Don’t alter your property in such a way that it changes the flow of water into your neighbour’s garden. For example, just because you live on a mountainside doesn’t mean that you can simply erect a retaining wall in an effort to give yourself a bit more lawn if such a structure is going to impact on how the water runs off your property and potentially adversely affects those living below you.
Smells. Legally speaking you can’t interfere with your neighbour’s right to clean air. In other words, burning refuse on a regular basis could cause unhappiness for those who live around you. However, it isn’t just smoke that could cause issues, piling dog faeces up near the boundary line is also bound to cause a fight.
Property owners should also consider how they fertilise their gardens. Remember, if chemical fertilisers run off into a neighbour’s gardens when it rains, this could be extremely distressing to an organic gardener who is totally against using any type of chemical in their garden.
Also read: Tips for maintaining a rental property
While lack of maintenance may not always impact on a neighbour’s property, there are things that could directly affect his enjoyment of life. Although you may not choose to keep bee hives on your property this doesn’t mean that they and other stinging insects such as wasps won’t move in. Swarms of stinging insects are a hazard and should be relocated before they become a major problem.
Noise is probably the most common complaint and no, we aren’t just talking about people playing their music too loudly.
Mowing your lawn before sunrise on a Sunday morning or practising your woodworking skills late on a Saturday night is going to eventually get on your neighbour’s nerves.
Perhaps the best way to look at noise is to ask yourself if you’d be happy if your neighbours made the same amount of noise at the same time of the day, week in and week out. If the answer is no, then it may be time to rethink the way you do things.
q Information courtesy of Private Property.
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