PROPERTY LAW
I APPOINTED my former solicitor as my ‘Lasting Power of Attorney’ but he has been sent to prison for fraud and I understand struck off as a result. Can he still act for me? I would prefer someone else, but have been advised it would be a costly matter to revoke his appointment. YOUR attorney should be someone in whom you have the utmost trust, so your current attorney would certainly not seem to be suitable given recent events. If you have mental capacity and have already registered your LPA with the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) you can easily revoke the LPA by filing a simple written statement. The OPG can provide you with further information and will not charge a fee for revoking your LPA. If you wish to appoint another attorney you will have to complete a new LPA, and incur a fee of £110 unless you are entitled to a fee remission or exemption. You should consider appointing more than one attorney, and name a replacement if one is unable to act. If necessary see a different solicitor about this. WE live in a semidetached bungalow, which has a shared driveway. Our neighbour regularly blocks access to our garage, which isn’t usually a problem. But although we own our property leasehold and theirs is freehold, am I right in thinking they are not actually entitled to do this? YOUR title deeds may contain rules about car parking and the like which you could enforce, if the worst came to the worst, via an injunction. Freehold or leasehold ownership won’t affect this. Take your deeds to a solicitor, or if you bought your property comparatively recently you may be able to inspect them online. I’m afraid however that this is a common problem where properties have shared access. You may just have to put up with the situation if you want to maintain a reasonable relationship with your neighbours. A dispute can make it difficult to sell your property. A BUILDER doing some structural alterations next door knocked through the dividing wall into our spare room while installing a girder. We were very angry about this, although he said he would repair the damage. THE builder owed you a duty of care when carrying out those works to exercise reasonable care and skill. If the builder has breached that duty he needs to compensate you for the damage suffered. This could include repairing all the damage (including, I hope, redecorating the room) if you are willing to let the builder do so and compensating you for any losses that you have suffered as a result of not being able to use the room or by having to be present whilst the repair works are being undertaken.
KEEPING US AWAKE
OUR new neighbours put their dog into their back yard every night. Its constant barking until midnight and beyond keeps us awake since we’re pensioners and retire early. Is there anything that can be done? THE easiest solution would be to try to persuade your neighbours not to put their dog out at night, or for you to switch to a different bedroom in your house if that’s possible. If they do not agree and the noise continues you could consider complaining to the council’s environmental services team. The council may serve a noise abatement order on your neighbour. If your neighbour breaches this order they could be fined up to £5,000. You should enlist the support of any other neighbours who may be affected. If none of this works, you could seek advice from a solicitor about the possibility of issuing court proceedings.
Call SAS Daniels LLP Solicitors on 0161 475 7676 or 01625 442 100. Visit www.sasdaniels. co.uk If you have any legal questions, write to Weekly Law and You, MEN Media, Mitchell Henry House, Hollinwood Avenue, Chadderton OL9 8EF, or email mail@lawQs. co.uk