PROPERTY LAW

DO I HAVE TO SELL? CHASING MY £2,000 FROM BUILDER

I HAVE been divorced nearly two years, and am coming under increasing pressure from my ex-wife to sell the house, which is in my sole name. Do I have to do this? Unless a court has ordered you to dispose of the property as part of a divorce settlement you don’t have to sell up just yet. The fact that the house is in your sole name may count in your favour, but there are no hard and fast rules and a court can divide up the family assets and property as it thinks fit. A large number of factors are taken into account. If your ex-wife has remarried without formally lodging a claim against any assets in your sole name she may well be precluded from doing so now. WHEN I was about to move house I paid a builder a deposit of £2,000 for materials, but a short time later I discovered he had declared himself bankrupt. I know his wife has just come into a large inheritance: they have a number of horses, more than one car and a mobile home, but the builder’s trustee in bankruptcy doesn’t seem to have uncovered any of this. If you paid your deposit to the builder as opposed to a builders’ merchants you may have lost your money. You should contact the builder’s trustee in bankruptcy and fill in the form to register as an unsecured creditor. Also, if you have information regarding specific assets which may be either jointly owned or which may have recently been transferred out of the builder’s estate, you may wish to contact the trustee’s offices and share that information. This could assist the trustee in recovering assets on behalf of the bankrupt builder’s estate.

BARRING THE WAY

MY daughter’s next door neighbour has put a padlocked gate across the access road at the back of her house which she bought from the council two years ago. The neighbour has given keys to the owners of the houses further down the lane who are directly affected, but it means workmen, window cleaners and the like can’t get through. If your daughter’s neighbour has bought her house it’s possible she has bought her part of the lane at the back as well. In this case she may be entitled to put up a gate as long as she provides access for the houses further down. Unless your daughter has a right of way over the whole lane she may not have a say in the matter: she should check her title deeds to see what the position is, or ask a solicitor to do so.

PAVEMENT CLUTTER

WHERE I live some shopkeepers have taken to placing advertising boards on the pavements, which are already cluttered with traffic signs and telegraph poles. It means pedestrians, including those with mobility problems, often have to go into the road to get round them. Isn’t it illegal to obstruct the highway like this? There are often local bylaws in place to tackle this problem, but in any case councils have powers to keep the pavements clear under section 137 of the Highways Act, under which anyone wilfully obstructing the highway (including pavements) can be fined. The council should send someone out to inspect the problem if you notify them and will take the matter further if they think your complaint is justified. The more people write in, the more likely the council is to take action. »»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