builders trespassing on your land without consent

excalabur245 · Aug 01, 2011 10:30 am

not sure if anyone has encountered this?

we own property in Victoria and have a house being constructed by G J Gardner homes on the adjacent property. We have just recently come back from an overseas holiday and inspected the property only to find that they have used it for storage and access. At no time have they asked for our consent to access our property or use it for storage. I have spoken to them in regards to this and given them a deadline to fix the property as 1/3 to 1/2 of the block has been damaged/chewed up by tire marks. They have not adheared to this and from what i can find this is trespassing but i am not sure what my options are? any advice would be appreciated. thanks

avion · Aug 01, 2011 10:39 am

This was our similar experience:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=39758

excalabur245 · Aug 01, 2011 11:05 am

thanks for your response, i am about to send them an email as they have been given over 1 1/2 weeks to get the matter resolved along with a couple of follow up calls. I have also contacted the local council and they are looking into it but cant enforce anything on our land only on council land. One thing i took out of your dealing was the threat to getting quotes and making them pay for it ..i found that to be a good tip...I am not sure whether you can get the police involved....the worst thing is that the property was in perfect order before we went away only to come back to this disaster.

avion · Aug 06, 2011 10:17 am

In our case, it was the Police who suggested that that because we had soil "stolen" that we could involve them. I'm so glad it didn't come to that.
The Police would have to witness a trespass, and even then could only have a strong word with the offender at the time. There would be dozens of different trades and deliveries using your block so bringing in the cops is not a solution. Only advice I can offer is to put everything in writing, take photos, and correspond with the most senior person you can find at the company.

Keep us posted with your progress.

Jeremyheyes · Aug 06, 2011 5:28 pm

You can use legal action against them if they are not adhered to your decisions. You can simply file a case against them and the authorities will either give you the compensation or corrected your property.

Linda232323 · Aug 06, 2011 6:25 pm

We also had a similar situation with our block, except they took over our whole block. We took photos of all damage and all their landscaping stuff, bricks and skip on our block. They also damaged all of the footpath as well.

We sent them an email with pictures and spoke to the ss. We gave them a week to clear and re level our land and our electrical box thing. Which they did.

We also got council involved as we didn't want to get blamed for the damage to council land. About 3-4 months later council finally pulled up the footpath as it was really damaged and unsafe, and we are still waiting for them to re pave it.

eyspy · Aug 06, 2011 7:45 pm

A good builder would have approached you before work started and asked permission. Some are that good that they will even offer some sort of renumeration for your kindness.

Unfortunately for you it seems you struck out. be careful though as even though the builder bears the ultimate responsibility, they do have lots of tradies working for them on a sub contract basis, and if the builder has given them NO specific instructions NOT to trespass, then they will park wherever they want. The builder can never be at all sites at all times to police things. I know in your case you have made contact and they snubbed you, so that deserves to be followed up for sure. It's just a pity that some people are like this to deal with.

just Erin · Aug 07, 2011 8:26 am

Was the builder aware the other block was also yours? What are your plans for the other block? It's not uncommon that trades will deliver materials in available space. The block would have appeared that it wasn't currently in use so they would have thought they weren't doing anything wrong. I'm sure if you ask them nicely to flatten the land they will. They may leave it until they do the final site scrape on your build side, and do them both at the same time.

kek · Aug 07, 2011 9:01 am

I don't see the problem if it's vacant land.

What damage can be done...?

Builders will often use vacant blocks for access or storage, as Erin pointed out. Unless you're about to start building and need the block clear, surely there isn't a problem?

The only thing I'd worry about is that they remove all rubbish once they're finished and take responsibility for any damage to council property (footpath, crossover, etc), so photos will be useful there.

eyspy · Aug 07, 2011 9:16 am

kek

I don't see the problem if it's vacant land.

What damage can be done...?

I was in a similar situation years ago and the damage is this:

They left large truck and tractor ruts in the soil, this in itself is no biggie, till the weeds have grown over the land and you come to slash it. The un even surface made the task impossible ! I kept getting the damm slasher stuck and damaged the blades. Once I had it slashed I then had to level the ground out again at great cost. There was a lot of clay so moving by hand was nigh on impossible, we had to hire a bobcat to come in and level costing us hundreds of dollars for something that was not our fault.

theanonyuser · Aug 07, 2011 1:36 pm

eyspy

kek

I don't see the problem if it's vacant land.

What damage can be done...? :th:

I was in a similar situation years ago and the damage is this:

They left large truck and tractor ruts in the soil, this in itself is no biggie, till the weeds have grown over the land and you come to slash it. The un even surface made the task impossible ! I kept getting the damm slasher stuck and damaged the blades. <cut>

Same situation, the builder next door was a major builder so once the photos were online on this forum they took action.
It happened a few more times after the complaint but when they did the final site-scrape, they scraped away most of their rubbish on my side as well (not all of it).

Cutting the grass is still difficult due to the ruts they created in my land.

What was extremely annoying is that they were working on a corner block, they could have driven in from the opposite side of the road

excalabur245 · Aug 09, 2011 1:01 pm

kek

I don't see the problem if it's vacant land.

What damage can be done...?

Builders will often use vacant blocks for access or storage, as Erin pointed out. Unless you're about to start building and need the block clear, surely there isn't a problem?

The only thing I'd worry about is that they remove all rubbish once they're finished and take responsibility for any damage to council property (footpath, crossover, etc), so photos will be useful there.

as stated previously by others..... it is a major hassle having to rectify damage caused by someone else for a project that doesn't concern us. I am assuming that by your response you have not encountered this before. I am talking about massive tire imprints covering a large portion of the block (approx 1/3 to 1/2) the disappointing aspect is that we spent substantial time clearing the block before going overseas to ensure that it was perfect as we had settled on it several weeks ago. Along with surface damage to the crossover and stones scattered over the land.

excalabur245 · Aug 09, 2011 1:06 pm

just Erin

Was the builder aware the other block was also yours? What are your plans for the other block? It's not uncommon that trades will deliver materials in available space. The block would have appeared that it wasn't currently in use so they would have thought they weren't doing anything wrong. I'm sure if you ask them nicely to flatten the land they will. They may leave it until they do the final site scrape on your build side, and do them both at the same time.

the sites are clearly pegged out and they had temporary fencing around there site so they were well aware of the boundaries. They have plenty of space within those boundaries and access from the block next door as well. they have since removed materials but left the site for me to clean

excalabur245 · Aug 09, 2011 1:16 pm

To further update......they have removed the materials but left me to my own devices for the remainder, to fix at my own expense...... which I am amazed with...even though I contacted the head office nothing has been satisfactorily rectified. They advised me that as it is a franchise that head office has nothing to do with it.

So I am going to spend more time on this matter along with being out of pocket to fix something that if it never went ahead it would never have affected me.

It just goes to show that the building industry needs a major revamp and procedures in place to ensure standards are met and adhered to. As opposed to the current situation of pass the buck and leave it for someone else to fix. Well looks like I will have to spend more money to take this matter to my solicitor to recover lost funds as it is classified as a civil matter.

excalabur245 · Aug 09, 2011 4:06 pm

just Erin

Was the builder aware the other block was also yours? What are your plans for the other block? It's not uncommon that trades will deliver materials in available space. The block would have appeared that it wasn't currently in use so they would have thought they weren't doing anything wrong. I'm sure if you ask them nicely to flatten the land they will. They may leave it until they do the final site scrape on your build side, and do them both at the same time.

just had to mention that they have not been employed by me........ they have been employed by our neighbours to build a house. We have not dealt with them prior to this

excalabur245 · Aug 27, 2011 8:29 am

just a quick update...I have sent the builder in question an invoice for my time and will be taking the matter further as it has not been rectified

Upnorth · Aug 27, 2011 9:03 am

Wouldn't the issue just be rectified when you start building and your site scrape takes place?

Tyre marks??? Is this just a battle based on principal rather than any sort of substantial damage?

eyspy · Aug 27, 2011 9:30 am

Upnorth

Wouldn't the issue just be rectified when you start building and your site scrape takes place?

Tyre marks??? Is this just a battle based on principal rather than any sort of substantial damage?

What if she has delays for a few years and the block needs constant mowing, should she have to do the impossible by mowing over a rutted block form builders tyre tracks ?

If you have ever tried to mow a block with hidden ruts under the grass you will soon realise that it is NOT just a small problem, and besides, why shouldn't the damm builder clean up after him, after all he WAS trespassing.

excalabur245 · Aug 27, 2011 2:39 pm

eyspy

Upnorth

Wouldn't the issue just be rectified when you start building and your site scrape takes place?

Tyre marks??? Is this just a battle based on principal rather than any sort of substantial damage?

What if she has delays for a few years and the block needs constant mowing, should she have to do the impossible by mowing over a rutted block form builders tyre tracks ?

If you have ever tried to mow a block with hidden ruts under the grass you will soon realise that it is NOT just a small problem, and besides, why shouldn't the damm builder clean up after him, after all he WAS trespassing.

we are holding off for a couple of years as we need to save a bigger deposit first before we can start the process it is more s safety risk now than anything as we will be out there to mow it in the next week or so.

excalabur245 · Aug 27, 2011 2:44 pm

Upnorth

Wouldn't the issue just be rectified when you start building and your site scrape takes place?

Tyre marks??? Is this just a battle based on principal rather than any sort of substantial damage?

on that particular side of the block there wont be any building going on as it will interfere with our waterviews...I wouldnt classify the damaged caused of tire marks as being minor either......as it turns out they have broken the summary offences act 1966 SECT 9 and dont want to rectify the damage that they or any ot there employees caused.

let me put it this way...if someone broke a window at your house would you persue it and make sure that they have it repaired or fixed at there expense as they damaged it through being careless? what if it was something minor such as a small hole?