Areas of dispute with neighbouring house

[leechaorui 2]

Hi all, just to seek some views. 

My neighbour complained that my mangosteen tree in my land could infringe on him in the following ways:

(1) roots that grow into his land and damage his house foundation (Mangosteen trees are known to have weak roots systems especially lateral roots and are slow growing)

(2) potential dried fallen leaves that may be carried by the wind into his premises (This tree doesn't have much fallen leaves).

He also complaint that the flash light that was installed in my house that is shining into my field is too bright (the lights do not shine directly at his house and he is located at the side of my house)  

Views are welcome.

 

[snoozee 97]

i'm no botanist but is your neighbour's house constructed with wood with wooden foundation?

I think normally plants' roots will grow around obstructions. Unless your neighbour's house foundation already has problems then of cos this would be a concern since the tree roots may get into the problem areas and cause further damage. How far is your tree from their main building? You can gauge how far the roots of your tree had spread out by estimating the height of your tree.

Dried leaves flying over can't be controlled. Is your neighbour going to complain to NParks if the leaves from trees from outside his house fly into his house during windy days? One cannot control where the leaves are being blown to. I even had leaves from don't know where ended up on my attic balcony at times. My neighbour A has a huge tree at his backyard with leaves often dropping over to my side. I just pick up the leaves and throw into a corner of my garden as compost. There are also branches from the tree coming into the airspace on my side so once in a while my neighbour A will prune the branches. I have also seeked permission from him to prune away branches when they start growing too near to my upper storey bedroom windows. My other side neighbour B sharing a fence with me also has plants coming over to my side and my plants also sometimes grow over to their side. So leaves and flowers dropping is common and we just give and take. This neighbour B also grows bougainvillea on the other side of the house and the fallen leaves and bracts from the bougainvillea will sometimes  fly/drop over to the other side neighbour C. What neighbour B told my mum is that neighbour C will sweep up all these dead leaves and then throw it back over the neighbour B side.

for your light, is any part of the light beam shining over your neighbour side? If not, then I don't really see a problem and you neighbour is just being a PITA. Of cos you can try to adjust the light so that it shines further from your neighbour side or change the location of the light such that it is at the side of your house, meaning the backside of the light is facing your neighbour side so he cannot complain that the light is too bright. For my house, my garden lights are positioned in this manner such that they are casting the light towards my house and back of the lights are facing the neighbours.

Anyway, we are all living in a community in the same area so sometimes have to give and take.

[leechaorui 2]

Thanks Snooze, I also wish to be a good neighbour and avoid dispute through give and take. 

I bought this long time vacant semi detached house a few months ago and only started renovating recently.  The orientation of the house is rectangular with neighbours on all 3 sides (the two sides of the house and behind the house).  My neighbours beside me is another 2 storey concrete constructed semi detached house (with whom his plants will sometimes grow over to my side and I am ok with it, though he has given me the go ahead to trim them or I can asked him to come over to trim them).  The other side is a row of 4 neighbours (all are 3 storey/ 3.5 storey semi detached houses) whose backyard faces my side wall and they are on slightly higher ground.  They are not wood structure houses.

As I have quite a good size field behind my house, I bought 2 flash lights (I think it is either the 200w or 300w type) to shine onto the garden in the evening when it is dark. The lights are installed at the back of my house and aimed at my garden and it is quite bright, though it cannot reach the end of the back boundary wall.  As my neighbour is at the side, he told me that my lights are stadium lights and it affects him when I turned it on.  

On the other hand, the 2 neighbours at the side of my house have extended their kitchen/ room all the way from their backyard with covered roof and windows to the boundary wall.  I think they felt that the lights were bright partly because of the extension to use their backyard setback entirely.  The other 2 neighbours kept to their setbacks and have no complaints about my lights.

About a week ago, the extension roof drain of my neighbour's house collapsed into my garden.  I helped to clear up the debris and informed him about it when he returned from overseas.  I also used this opportunity to alert my 2 neighbours with illegal extension that they have built their extension too close to my house.  One of them is agreeable to renovate and build up a wall to provide privacy while the other is upset and started complaining about leaves falling into his house, the roots of my tree possibly damaging his foundation and my lights shining at my field are too bright.

On the tree, I think it is about 4 metres tall and the stem of the tree to the boundary wall is about 2 to 2.5 metres away from my neighbour's house.  I have also got a gardener to prune the tree such that none of the branches touches my neighbour's boundary.

My contractor has urged me to lodge a complaint to get them to dismantle their illegal extension but I am reluctant to do it as I can understand that they are used to having the space and there will be cost and inconvenience to them if they were to totally demolish their illegal extension.  At the same time, one of the neighbours has refused to wall up his extension and keep his drainage pipe to his side of the house such that he can do the servicing without coming over to my place and remove the risk of his drainage pipe falling into my house, should there be an accident. 

[AWS 6]

As some of your neighbor houses were built before the envelop control law was implemented, the owners tend to do illegal extensions(illegal based on present envelope control guideline). Try to discuss with them nicely. If you approach URA and lodge a complain, they will advice you to talk and discuss with your neighbor first (playing taichi). Unless the house was built with envelop control regulation, you can take pictures and submit and ask URA to look at the submitted plan in their archive and reference to your picture. Then URA will take action and ask your neighbor to remove. 
What snooze mentioned about the leaves falling through the air and then blown by wind and landed in your plot, at present there is no law regulating this. However, if the branches encroach into your boundary, it’s a different matter all together. You can talk to the affected neighbor nicely to ask them to trim the branches. A lot of people nowadays don’t have a sense of responsibility. They want to plant trees but don’t want to maintain it. If all talk fails, then you can apply to Community Mediation Center (CMC) for a mediated session with a mediator together with the neighbor since talks has already broke down and there is no agreeable solution. Don’t apply straight to Community Dispute Resolution Tribunal(CDRT) as they will still ask you to go to the base level of CMC and escalate higher to CDRT if the mediation session has no outcome. 
Difference between CMC and CDRT is during the CMC, the mediator is just a professionally trained mediator from different profession assigned by Ministry of Law. But during CDRT, there will be a judge involved during the session and the judge’s decision at the end of the session will be final and bound by the law. 
You can go to the CDRT website and there is some write about lights shining into your neighbor window. It’s ok as long as not excessive. But then again, how excessive is excessive? Personally, I feel that every house should have night curtains installed in case such situation arises and one can block the light coming in. Same principle as hotel rooms. Almost all has night curtains. People who complain light shining in when no curtain was installed are mostly self-entitled. 
On the issue if the tree has damaged the neighbor foundation, there is no way to verify. If he is nasty in the first place, ask him to excavate and submit a report and pictures on the tree root damaging the foundation. As long as there is no proof, there is no case just by assuming. Crack lines on his house could be just due to settlement or just concrete aging crack lines. Because you told him your concern of his illegal extension, he is in defence mode by finding possible fault that may be caused by you. 
In conclusion, 2 ways to solve an issue. Talk over it nicely or do it legally with supporting documentation. 
Best of luck on your resolution. 

[leechaorui 2]

Hi AWS, you are right that he is just finding fault when I spoke with him about his extension.

Difficult to talk to him as he is very aggressive.  Not sure if his building is within envelop control.  I think his house is built during the 1990s or 2000.  The other 2 neighbours have left the setback as it is but the last 2 neighbours have actually built up the setback.  The design is not modern but still considered properly built up.

For the tree roots damaging his foundation, it is very unlikely as this tree is known to have weak lateral roots and there were no damage to the boundary wall besides the tree.

 

 

  

[AWS 6]

10 hours ago, leechaorui said:

Hi all, just to seek some views. 

My neighbour complained that my mangosteen tree in my land could infringe on him in the following ways:

(1) roots that grow into his land and damage his house foundation (Mangosteen trees are known to have weak roots systems especially lateral roots and are slow growing)

(2) potential dried fallen leaves that may be carried by the wind into his premises (This tree doesn't have much fallen leaves).

He also complaint that the flash light that was installed in my house that is shining into my field is too bright (the lights do not shine directly at his house and he is located at the side of my house)  

Views are welcome.

 

Hi leechaorui

As per your post, 

Point 1: You can ignore what he said unless he is willing to spend money to excavate and gather proof

Point 2: There is no law regarding leaves blown by wind ending up in his boundary except branches cannot encroach into his boundary

Regarding the light, he also has no case. Unless he go through the CMC and CDRT route and it is not 100% he will win as it is difficult to quantify what is excessive. It will entirely dependent on the judge’s decision if it finally escalate to CDRT.

Did his extension cause any inconvenience to you like rain water splashing to your house. As to what I know, It’s not the rain water issue but what the splashing water is carrying with it. Old houses has lots of dust/algae gathered on their sloping roof and once the rain water contact these algae, they will carry along with them a little bit of these algae and then ‘jump’ over to land in your plot. You will end up with constant washing to get rid of these algae. Did rain water runoff from the roof end up in your plot? This may cause flooding in your plot as the original design drainage may not cope. This can be a serious matter. So look at what the extension is causing inconvenience to you and work on it. 

[snoozee 97]

46 minutes ago, AWS said:

As some of your neighbor houses were built before the envelop control law was implemented, the owners tend to do illegal extensions(illegal based on present envelope control guideline). 

even before envelope control was introduced, there were clear guidelines on setbacks of the house. illegal is illegal, doesn't matter which set of regulations were in place during the time when the house was construction. Unless the house was built way before there was proper governance then it's another different story.

[snoozee 97]

@leechaorui I assume the neighbour you are having problems with is from the row of 4 houses on your side. Since you mentioned their houses are on higher ground, how much higher is their ground compared to your land? If it's more than 1.5m high, then I don't think there's any cause for concern over the roots. Also, plant roots usually go deeper to search for underground water. Since the neighbour had extended the backyard, most likely the backyard is already tiled up. With lack of water in their ground, the roots from your tree is unlikely to go upwards to get water from their land and damage their house in the process.

How high are your lights being installed? Also, what is the purpose for these lights? Don't get me wrong but I'm just trying to understand the rationale of these lights. If they are installed for your own security, then you have every right to provide a safe location for yourself and your family. But if it's for aesthetics reasons, would less bright lights perform the same function? Possible to relocate the lights? Or can use solar lights and place them around the land to brighten the area?

[leechaorui 2]

Yes, the 4 neighbours have their backyard facing me and their houses are built on ground that is at about 1m higher than my house (my estimate).  The lights installed are not for aesthetic reasons, they are placed directly on the second storey of my house shining onto my backyard garden.  The lights are meant to help me illuminate my backyard garden (estimated at about 25m from the placing of the lights. I do not plan to switch on the lights throughout the night but only switched it on when I am at the garden in the evening.  If I do not go to the backyard garden, the flood lights shining onto my garden will not be switched on.  Hence, the flood lights will not be switched on throughout the night.

I have not entered their house to know if the extension ground is covered by concrete.  From my second floor, a small view of it tells me that they are using it for dry kitchen and dining room.  Hence, it is likely that the ground for the extension is tiled up.  

 

  

Edited October 29, 2021 by leechaorui

[snoozee 97]

assuming your lights are installed at the ceiling level of your 2nd storey, it means the light is about 8m high from ground level. Since it's so high, the beam will spread wider. Would it be possible to shift the light downwards to reduce the width of the light beam? Or can you angle the light away from the side where the 4 houses are?

Of cos the other alternative is to put lights on the side wall and use these to illuminate your garden instead.

While you are only turning on the lights in the evening when you are in your garden and not throughout the night, I can imagine the "disturbance" which is felt by your neighbours when the light gets into their backyard especially when they are in the area. Personally, I would be irritated if I'm in their shoes. Imagine yourself sitting down in your backyard to relax in the evening and whenever your raise your head, you are blinded by the lights from your neighbour.

[leechaorui 2]

As my house is an old house, the lights is placed a the height of about 4m.  In addition, there is a tree to cover about 60% of the side light that illuminates my garden.  The nearest flood light location is about 5 m away from my neighbour's boundary wall and if considered diagonally, it would be about 7m away.

If my neighbour has adhered to the setback requirements, the distance from my light to his house would be even further.  I have not been to his house to know how much light is shining into his house.  Hence, cannot gauge.  Nonetheless, I will tilting the lights further away.

[petetherock 13]

Maybe you can run a cable and have garden lights instead ?

as others have said - such high level lights will definitely shine into their homes

give and take 👍 

Edited October 29, 2021 by petetherock

[snoozee 97]

1 hour ago, leechaorui said:

As my house is an old house, the lights is placed a the height of about 4m.  In addition, there is a tree to cover about 60% of the side light that illuminates my garden.  The nearest flood light location is about 5 m away from my neighbour's boundary wall and if considered diagonally, it would be about 7m away.

If my neighbour has adhered to the setback requirements, the distance from my light to his house would be even further.  I have not been to his house to know how much light is shining into his house.  Hence, cannot gauge.  Nonetheless, I will tilting the lights further away.

My guess is the line of sight that your neighbour sees the light which he is finding fault with. Even if he had stuck with the setback requirements, the line of sight to your flood light may still be there. It's like your rear neighbour look out of his house and see your bright light even though the light beam is not being cast into his house.

[leechaorui 2]

1 hour ago, snoozee said:

My guess is the line of sight that your neighbour sees the light which he is finding fault with. Even if he had stuck with the setback requirements, the line of sight to your flood light may still be there. It's like your rear neighbour look out of his house and see your bright light even though the light beam is not being cast into his house.

Yes, agree that there is line of sight of the light.  Similar to other lightings of houses next to each other where the light doesn't cast directly into each other house but there is light emitting out and one feels uncomfortable with the side light.  Not sure if this is something reasonable on line of sight of light from the side, not to mention that the lights are only switched on occasionally in the evening and there is a tree that block about 60% (my estimate) of the side light.

On the other hand, he behaves aggressively at the mention of his unlawful extension all the way to the entire setback where he could simply open the window at the back and look into my house, in addition that his roof drainage pipe can only be serviced from my premise and if it drops, it probably has no where to collapse into accept into my premises.  

 

[leechaorui 2]

2 hours ago, petetherock said:

Maybe you can run a cable and have garden lights instead ?

as others have said - such high level lights will definitely shine into their homes

give and take 👍 

Even if I run a cable across the field, he can still complain that the line of sight from the side light is not bearable.  In any case, I am not switching on the lights every night.  We probably switch on the lights when there are visitors and when we are doing gardening in the evening.