Neighbors rights - ripping out trees and land, building structures

[moribug]

Hello everyone, I've been in New Zealand for 3 years, coming from America and quite confused on 'neighbors' rights' at the moment.
We're only tenants, but our neighbors activities sure are affecting our lives as well as several other neighbors lives and property.

For the past few months the section below us has had several trees cut down, so we had an inkling they were considering using the land. We're one of 2-4 other houses that border on this side of the section. Earlier in the week, they cut down all trees/hedges/bush between us and them (also all of the 2-4 houses along). No notice. They're clearly landscaping the land and have begun to build a house. Over the phone, the local council has said this is all legal, and the building consent (but no resource consent) was approved 8 years ago. That's 4 years before this house was bought by our landlords.

They've claimed that half of our yard is on their boundary, but have refused to show us or the landlord the survey report. I have not found any boundary pegs. Today we received a letter saying that they'll be digging up the yard and putting in a fence. This was not a proper fencing notice outlined by the Fencing Act, it was just a notice saying 'we're digging up your yard on this date, and putting in a fence'. There is constant chainsaw/saw noise coming from their property, morning to night. It's clear they're trying to get this all done before anyone can do anything about it.

All of this has happened within 5 days.

The council says they do not get involved in private matters. Coming from the US I have no idea of boundary laws/building consent laws/etc. I'm going on Monday to the Citizens Advise Bureau and the Community Law Center, but wondering if anyone can give me any advice or point me in the right direction. The whole thing is happening so quickly and I would like to know what my rights and my landlords rights are. I have many many photos of the land before and through-out this process.

Thank you.

[RedVee]

Assuming you are still in the Dunedin area, the councils own website says building consents expire after two years, but can be extended. The website also says an AEE is needed (which covers many of your issues about noise, loss of vegetation, etc). You should also be able to go in and print off some property records, which should show the title of your (landlords) land, and the boundary. However, it is entirely possible that the people in the house prior have encroached the undeveloped land some time in the past. Fences of under 2m don't usually need consent. Hope that helps.

http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/services/...g-control/faqs

[Super_BQ]

I would be surprised if the owners doing the landscaping work would be so daft to ignore the boundary. Especially after you've approached them.

[batgirl1001]

As a tenant you don't really have a recourse to halt what your neighbour is doing, rather your landlord has to take quick and immediate action if he has the grounds to do so. When I went to the Citizens Advice Bureau in the past about fencing, they were very careful to word their advice accordingly and it does appear as if they do not take sides.

One issue they mentioned was that, in the past, people tend to 'guesstimate' where the boundary lines are rather than take accurate measurements and enact a fence accordingly. Hence we may have situations where the fencing is a few centimeters or a few feet off or in worst cases, even more. They may be right, the fence is in their property and hence belongs to them and they have to right to redefine the boundaries.

There are also occasions in the past where people enact fences based on cost and ease, for example if their property is on a slope, they may choose the easiest gradient to enact the fence not bothering whether it is on their property or their neighbours. Such things are of course not practiced now since we have surveyors marking boundaries with pegs but it was not quite so then.

Whatever the reason, if you find yourself greatly inconvenienced by this - whether the hostility of the neighbours, noise, pollution and rubbish etc, you can always choose to move. It is the landlord who is affected by this matter and in worst cases, it may affect his property value if the redefined boundaries are indeed changed. So I believe he should be the one to pursue this matter quickly and hopefully settle it soon.