Every Dog Has Its Day
I thought I would share with you a very funny story that happened several years ago. Our first house when we were first married was half of a large house that had been converted into two houses by the vendor and his son, who each occupied half of the property.
We bought the smaller semi and a local business bought the larger semi which came with a substantial out-house on the land. The gable end of the out-house was about 4 ft from the dividing wall that separated our two rear gardens. The purchaser of the property next door intended to extend and convert the out-house for business use and reside in the dwelling.
We moved in first and had already started to get our rear garden the way we wanted, and we had laid a raised flower bed along the dividing wall, with patio stones abutting the flower bed wall. We could only see that part of the garden from the window of a little used room.
We came home from work one evening and let our dog out into the rear garden, after a short period of time when he did not come charging back in, I went to see where he was. Imagine my horror — where we once had a dividing wall, there was no wall, where we once had a newly established raised flower bed there was a big trench, and where we once had a nice new patio, we had broken slabs, spades, buckets, muck, I think you will get the picture.
What was more distressing though was the fact that the dog had vanished, and I knew that once he was through the wall he could run straight out onto the main road that we lived on. I called him loudly, then ran back indoors to tell my other half. Just as we both rushed out again to go and find the dog, he appeared, looking pleased with himself with what he thought was “the newspaper” in his mouth. We took from him what he was holding and realised he had bought us the architect’s plans for the proposed extension next door, to this day we don’t know where he found them. We could see from the plans that the extension had clearly been drawn so that the footings to the building would be on our property by almost a foot.
The following day we put the necessary steps in place to seek an Injunction, but we were sure there was no real cause for us to worry as we had the proof we needed, thanks to the dog, to prove that the dimensions were incorrect. The architect admitted he had done his sums wrong, and the builders said they assumed that the two properties were owned by one person. We received an apology, our patio and flower border and garden wall were reinstated and our dog was rewarded with a huge bone.
If someone causes or threatens harm to you or your property you should always take immediate steps to protect your interests. Our problem was a boundary dispute, which is dealt with by the Civil Court, but if you feel that there is a threat of personal harm, or you are harmed in any way, or you feel that damage to your property was intentional you should always call the Police in the first instance. They may advise you to speak to your Local Authority, or your Housing Association if appropriate, or they may suggest that you seek an Injunction if they feel that the matter is or might be serious, but they do not have enough evidence to warrant a criminal prosecution. The Civil Court will award an Injunction if it decides there is a reasonable likelihood of harm. This has the effect of protecting you where no crime has yet been committed. An Injunction is an Order to a named person (The Respondent) not to contact the person seeking the Injunction (The Applicant) or to interfere with The Applicant’s property, as the case may be, and if the risk of harm is serious, the Injunction may be issued with a power of arrest if the Respondent ignores it.
The value of getting an Injunction with a power of arrest, if you are concerned about a threat of harm, is that whilst the police may not be able to help you in the absence of evidence that would meet the criminal test of “beyond reasonable doubt”, they will be able to help you if the Respondent ignores the Conditions of any Injunction which carries a power of arrest, the police will carry out the arrest.
If the Civil Court decides that a power of arrest is not necessary, and the Respondent ignores the Conditions of the Injunction, you can return to the Civil Court who will usually take action against the Respondent for Breach of a Court Order.
If you need an Injunction and would like to apply to the Court yourself, you can download the Court form here :
http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/HMCSCourtFinder/GetForm.do
You will also need an Affidavit to accompany the Application. The Affidavit is a Statement of the facts on which you are seeking an Injunction and a Request to the Court to grant an Injunction with the Conditions you seek, you will also need to include an explanation of why you think these Conditions are appropriate. The Affidavit must be Sworn, but it can be Sworn in front of an Officer of the Court if you take the Application along to the Court Office in person.
Filling in the Injunction Application form is very straightforward, but if you are not sure how to word your Affidavit, you might like to ask The Citizen’s Advice Bureau in the first instance. If they think the Application might be a bit complicated, they will refer you to a Solicitor. Remember always that if you seek an Injunction against someone and do not succeed in convincing the Court that you need an Injunction, you may be Ordered to pay your opponent’s costs in Responding to your Application.
Has anyone sought their own Injunction in person? If you did, and you would like to share your experience on this page, I would be very interested to hear how you got on.
Carol
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