Legal Assistance for Neighborhood Problems

Questioner

Dear Sir/Madam, I have a question. My neighbor is a baker and we share an alley between our house. Now the best man has made a terrace but also partly on our land. the destination is retail, but the municipality indicates that they do not find catering a problem. this aside. I just don't want the baker's stuff on my property anymore. I asked him to remove it but he doesn't want that. Can I remove his stuff myself. without destroying it of course? I look forward to hearing from you. Kind regards, Gert

Lawyer

Strictly speaking, removing the items (table and chairs, I think?) can be seen as (prohibited) self-justice, especially if your neighbor believes that his use is not unlawful. I advise you to send your neighbor a registered letter in which you indicate why you think that he should stop using your part of the alley as a terrace and in which you indicate within what period he should have removed his items. Also ask in the letter whether the neighbor wants to inform you in writing if he believes that and why he is acting lawfully and therefore believes that he should not remove his terrace from your part of the alley. If the neighbour persists, the correct legal course of action is to initiate proceedings against him in which you can demand a ban on using your part of the alley as a terrace, under penalty of a fine. Finally, the municipality's attitude does not seem right to me in advance. If the destination is retail, then this does not seem to me to be compatible with the destination catering, unless a permit has been granted for this deviating use. I understand that the municipality may be prepared to grant a permit, but then a permit must first be applied for and then you can object if the permit is also granted for your part of the alley.