Question 1

Trespass

Accepted Answer

Q: On our estate (we own the land) there are two courtyards of garages, about half of which are owned by the residents. A non-resident owner has recently changed the door to an unused garage and dumped the old one on our land! We never see the owners. I have an address and phone numbers. The phone numbers are no longer operative! I intend to write to them. In my letter I want to ask them to remove the door within three weeks and then state that after this they will be sent a bill for the removal of the door. (The local council will not collect for free). Is this legally enforceable? What law are they breaking? Can I add an admin charge to the bill? If they ignore my correspondence and not pay, can I take them to a small claims court? It is possible they have moved from the address we have. FPRA Legal Adviser Nicholas Roberts replies: The law that the garage leaseholder is breaking is the law of trespass. This is a tort (= civil wrong) rather than a breach of the criminal law. Leaving something on land belonging to someone else is trespass to land, in that same way that it is trespass for a person to enter land without permission. One is entitled to resort to self-help to stop acts of trespass, though the problem is that would usually involve putting the offending items back on the offender’s land. That is not likely to be practicable here. It happens from time to time that someone (A) leaves property with someone else (B) with their agreement for some purpose (eg anything from a car or watch to be repaired, or clothes to be dry-cleaned, or an item of jewellery to be valued), and A does not then collect them. Even though B agreed to take them, the law is clear that, provided B takes appropriate steps to warn A what is proposed to do, B does not have to keep the goods indefinitely, but is, after giving a warning, entitled to sell them. You may ask what the relevance of this is to your situation, but it is this. If someone who is supposed to keep the goods can get out of that obligation, and sell or otherwise dispose of the goods, then you can clearly do so as well, as you did not agree to take them in the first place. I suggest that you do as you propose, and write to the owner at the last address that you have for them, and ask them to remove the door within three weeks, failing which you will take steps to have them it removed as rubbish and will hold them responsible for the cost. If the owner has moved, then they should have advised you as their ground landlord of their change of address, but, to be on the safe side, I would suggest that, besides posting a letter to them you also (a) put a copy of the letter under the door of their garage; and (b) also stick a copy of the letter in plastic envelope on the door that they have removed. If you do incur expenditure in getting the door removed, I can see no reason why you should not be able to sue in the County Court as a small claim for the cost of disposing of the door . You would also be entitled to sue for a nominal sum in respect of the trespass to your land – which began when it was left there, not when you write to the owner. Nominal damages for a single act of trespass are conventionally usually £10. I would hesitate to think that a court would go so far as to order damages at the rate of £10 per day, but you might ask for a larger sum: in practice it would probably be appropriate to sue for damages in such sum as, when the cost of disposal was added on, did not exceed the amount you can claim and still incur only the minimum County Court fee. For example, the minimum fee payable to the court is now £35, and that covers a claim of up to £300. [Submitted May 2017]

Question 2

Trespass

Accepted Answer

Q: On our estate (we own the land) there are two courtyards of garages, about half of which are owned by the residents. A non-resident owner has recently changed the door to an unused garage and dumped the old one on our land! We never see the owners. I have an address and phone numbers. The phone numbers are no longer operative! I intend to write to them. In my letter I want to ask them to remove the door within three weeks and then state that after this they will be sent a bill for the removal of the door. (The local council will not collect for free). Is this legally enforceable? What law are they breaking? Can I add an admin charge to the bill? If they ignore my correspondence and not pay, can I take them to a small claims court? It is possible they have moved from the address we have. FPRA Legal Adviser Nicholas Roberts replies: The law that the garage leaseholder is breaking is the law of trespass. This is a tort (= civil wrong) rather than a breach of the criminal law. Leaving something on land belonging to someone else is trespass to land, in that same way that it is trespass for a person to enter land without permission. One is entitled to resort to self-help to stop acts of trespass, though the problem is that would usually involve putting the offending items back on the offender’s land. That is not likely to be practicable here. It happens from time to time that someone (A) leaves property with someone else (B) with their agreement for some purpose (eg anything from a car or watch to be repaired, or clothes to be dry-cleaned, or an item of jewellery to be valued), and A does not then collect them. Even though B agreed to take them, the law is clear that, provided B takes appropriate steps to warn A what is proposed to do, B does not have to keep the goods indefinitely, but is, after giving a warning, entitled to sell them. You may ask what the relevance of this is to your situation, but it is this. If someone who is supposed to keep the goods can get out of that obligation, and sell or otherwise dispose of the goods, then you can clearly do so as well, as you did not agree to take them in the first place. I suggest that you do as you propose, and write to the owner at the last address that you have for them, and ask them to remove the door within three weeks, failing which you will take steps to have them it removed as rubbish and will hold them responsible for the cost. If the owner has moved, then they should have advised you as their ground landlord of their change of address, but, to be on the safe side, I would suggest that, besides posting a letter to them you also (a) put a copy of the letter under the door of their garage; and (b) also stick a copy of the letter in plastic envelope on the door that they have removed. If you do incur expenditure in getting the door removed, I can see no reason why you should not be able to sue in the County Court as a small claim for the cost of disposing of the door . You would also be entitled to sue for a nominal sum in respect of the trespass to your land – which began when it was left there, not when you write to the owner. Nominal damages for a single act of trespass are conventionally usually £10. I would hesitate to think that a court would go so far as to order damages at the rate of £10 per day, but you might ask for a larger sum: in practice it would probably be appropriate to sue for damages in such sum as, when the cost of disposal was added on, did not exceed the amount you can claim and still incur only the minimum County Court fee. For example, the minimum fee payable to the court is now £35, and that covers a claim of up to £300. [Submitted May 2017]

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