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When we bought our family home in Ealing, west London, 11 years ago, we were aware that the adjoining house to the right was council-owned. For the past seven years, that house has been vacant and boarded up. The property has fallen into disrepair, we have had to deal with rat infestations at a cost of £1,000, and the front and back gardens grow uncontrolled into ours.
We want to move and have put our home on the market at £50,000 below market value — and we still can’t find a buyer. What can we do? Can we sue the council?Lucy Barry
Check with the Land Registry that the house is still owned by the council because your remedies will be different if there is now a private owner. An option is to claim against them in nuisance. There is probably no claim solely where a property is unsightly or in poor condition, unless that condition is causing some physical damage to your land, but when the rats and encroaching vegetation are taken into account, it is possible that the whole situation could represent a nuisance. You could seek an injunction (requiring the council to stop causing a nuisance) and damages to cover your expenses, but litigation is expensive and inherently risky.
The situation could also amount to a statutory nuisance under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Usually the local authority would enforce these standards against the owner, but it cannot prosecute itself so you would need to make an application to the magistrate’s court, who can make an order requiring the local authority to abate the nuisance. A notice must first be given to the council informing them of your intention to apply to court. The court can award compensation up to a maximum of £5,000 so you would need to make a separate civil claim to recover the rest of your losses.
There are also a number of other statutory provisions that are relevant to the local authority’s duties relating to the condition of land, and a complaint could be made to the local government ombudsman if the local authority is not fulfilling those duties. Your local councillor and MP may be prepared to exert political pressure on your behalf.
Before embarking on any of these procedures you should take professional legal advice, not least to assess the strength of your claim. A solicitor can discuss funding options with you.Ed Cracknell, partner, Russell-Cooke
My north-facing garden has been looking quite sad. It’s an average size for a terraced house, with a long, thin rectangle of lawn (which has not been doing too well) surrounded by a border of shrubs and plants. There’s also a small paved patio with a bench by the kitchen. Would you suggest rearranging the layout and could you recommend some plants that would be happier there?B Lovell
To make any long, thin garden more interesting, break it up into distinct sections. Prioritise the seating area near the house. It won’t get the evening sun but it’s still the most convenient place to nip outside with a coffee and I’d consider expanding it.
Beyond the paving, a flowery double border with a path between would lead the eye and provide a colourful entrance to the rest of the garden. Choose long-flowerers such as the candyfloss-white hydrangea ‘Annabelle’ and underplant with spring bulbs, cranesbill geraniums and foxgloves for a long season of colour. If there’s space around the patio, add perfume and train winter-flowering viburnums and witch hazel against the fence.
Beyond the border, a classic Chelsea designer treatment is to replace the lawn with closely planted Himalayan birches. These trees have a graceful summer outline, buttery autumn colour and glowing white winter stems. Or go romantic, with a micro-orchard of semi-dwarfing apple trees on M26 rootstocks. Leave some grass at the bottom of the garden as a shaggy meadow and mow a serpentine path between the trees that leads to another seating spot positioned where the last rays of evening sun set. The perfect place for a sundowner.Toby Buckland, presenter of Gardeners’ World on the BBC; tobygardenfest.co.uk
I am currently engaged in the final stages of buying a bungalow. It was recently discovered that no building control approval was granted for work undertaken on the property seven years ago — a doorway to the kitchen through a gable wall was widened and a brick conservatory extension was built. In both cases, the work will have required replacement lintels to allow for the expanded openings.
While the works were carried out under permitted development, the local authority has identified the lack of building control approval as an outstanding issue. The conservatory work was carried out by a certified double-glazing company, but to my mind this is insufficient to guarantee the structural integrity of the property. As a potential buyer, can I insist that the seller seeks retrospective approval?
My solicitor believes that I could easily be covered by some form of indemnity policy. However, my surveyor says this may not be wise. He says should the works be found deficient, there might be costs of £3,000 to £5,000 just to put things right, not including rebuilding. However, the seller seems unwilling to seek retrospective building control approval, and has taken the view that since nothing has fallen down, I should not be worried.
Can you advise whether indemnity policies are any good, if there is any means of ensuring the structural integrity of these works without destructive testing, and what is my legal position?Tim Walter
The estimated value of the potential repairs makes this a manageable risk, but you should not ignore this issue. Unchecked structural works may be unsafe and could, if the local authority becomes aware of the situation, carry a risk of possible enforcement action against a successor purchaser by the relevant authority under the Building Act 1984. The seller is unlikely to alert the relevant authority to regulatory breaches that could result in enforcement against him, so you may be better off negotiating a price reduction of sufficient value to mitigate any investigation and estimated repair costs. This could be done as a straight discount on price, or as a refundable retention if no work is necessary.
Before buying the bungalow, you should have your surveyor formally confirm that the property is structurally safe, although he may say that he cannot do this without exposing the lintels. It would be prudent to revisit the potential cost of uncovering a worst-case scenario and secure a discount to that extent. You should also check before purchase that you can get insurance cover. Putting aside sufficient funds to do the work and regularise the position immediately after purchase will help ensure the safety of the structure and secure building control approval.
An indemnity policy can offer you a cost-effective protection against the unexpected risks of authority enforcement and associated legal costs, but such policies would not be available if the authority are already aware of the problem, or likely to become aware imminently. It is also unwise to go against professional advice — ask why your surveyor has advised against such a policy. You should also ask if that advice should be disclosed to an indemnity insurer under your duty of good faith.
Indemnity protection is not a complete answer to this issue. If work is required to make the property safe and insurable anyway, the indemnity policy would not help with that essential cost. Also, indemnity cover will not help you if you find yourself unable to sell the property and are compelled by future purchasers to undertake repairs and get approval as a condition of sale.Leon Golstein, partner, Seddons
What is the best way to remove a dry cork from a bottle of wine?Paul Durkin, Kent
There’s only one way and that’s to use a Durand (£129, thewine-cru.co.uk). It will last you a lifetime and open every bottle perfectly. You’ll never have a snapped cork. There are all sorts of other daft ways to do it, but you risk breaking the cork.Bert Blaize, sommelier and founder of North Norfolk Cellars
Try an air pressure bottle opener (£6.57, aliexpress.com), which uses a hollow steel needle that you push into the cork. Pump the opener’s handle a few times and the cork will slowly be pushed out. It works on plastic corks too.Steve Sordy
If you could only get some of the cork out and you have broken bits floating in the bottle, slowly insert the handle of a wooden spoon. As the level of the wine reaches the top of the neck, the cork can be skimmed off.Nick Ambler, Bristol
How do I clean yellowed pillows?Janine
Send tips and questions to [email protected]. Advice given without responsibility