Issue with new aerial installed by my neighbours

[Jevban]

Hello. I feel this may be considered to be a petty complaint on my part but would really appreciate views and insight please and I promise to wear my big girl pants and not take offence. 

 

I have lived in my home since 1986. My neighbours moved in a year or two afterwards. In November 2013 I had solar panels installed optimised individually by solar edge and the panels are meant to be ' self cleaning'. 

 

On Wednesday 21.8.19, my semi detached neighbours had a new TV aerial and a satellite dish fitted. It's near to my boundary wall,but clearly fitted on their own wall.

 

I did not look out while his installer was working and did not know what had been done till I went to the front door to see what all the drilling was about then later to get washing in and saw the items on a flex pole.

 

My issue, and this may be where you say I'm being petty, is that the  aerial is angled back and is over my airspace and sitting over my end solar panel. I went next door and told my neighbour my concern about birds sitting on the  aerial and guano issues as well as shading potential interns of the panel.  He said he'd ring the installer.

 

Next morning, he is cleaning in his garden. I saw him and asked if he'd spoken to his installer. He said yes and the chap couldn't get back for 2 weeks. i asked if it could not be sooner, could the aerial not just be slightly moved when the discussion became heated.

 

He said I had no rights to the space above my roof, I had to look at other aerials In the immediate area and he'd taken pictures and would do something if birds mucked Inthe panels and if it was him, he would have bought panels from a company who visited to clean them

 

. I told him I fully appreciated the signal issue but asked could he not have the aerial on the chimney as I do and he told me not to be stupid as he had a dish as well and dishes cannot go on a chimney. I told him I was aware of this.

 

He was by now shouting at me to listen and as I said, it became heated. He then said if I thought the air above my homeward mine I could sort the issue and he would cancel the installer call back. I rang his installer. My neighbours had not recontacted him. He asked if my concern was birds pooping on my panels  and the metal Ariel shadow would have no impact on panel generation and he would ring my neighbour

 

. I am on my own and hate conflict and feel a little intimidated, but am also sure I've done nothing wrong. He told me it was my responsibility to have come out as the work was being done. So, please be frank, am I being petty?

 

Should I just live with this ?

 

I'm aware neighbour issues can escalate and have no desire for that, I just want the darned thing angling slightly away from my solar panel. My aerials are the chimney ones...his is the new one at the front aspect.

Thanks for reading this. 

[BazzaS]

Having raised it the once, for the sake of the 2 weeks, I’d have left it there.

You then could have re-raised it if it became an issue and the panel needed cleaning.

 

To enforce the issue you’d have to;

a) show that there was nuisance / harm caused

b) sue them for damages for the nuisance / harm, and

c) use that to get them to fix the issue or get an injunction forcing them to prevent the issue recurring.

Do you really want to escalate things further?

It may have been better to back off before things became ‘heated’. Going to law is rarely quicker / cheaper / as effective as a negotiated settlement / agreement.

[Jevban]

Thanks, I have only raised it the once and just took the chance to ask if he'd spoken to the chap and once done, fully intended to thanks both.

 

No, I don't want all the hassle, saying I'd pull my big girl pants up and listen to advice given on here.

 

It was he who began to shout at me so I tried to stand my ground.

I know these things can get out of hand.

 

What happens if I need work on the panel in future and for workmen to be at that height interrupts their signal?

This isn't a hypothetical question as I've had to have remedial work done in 2015, two years after install with scaffolding up to the roof line? 

 

I really dont want grief again at a later date.

Thanks for the reply.

It's appreciated.

[Jevban]

Hello

if anyone can give further advice please. This is escalating despite my efforts to keep a low profile.

 

I returned from visiting my grand daughter today and while the weather was holding up, went into my garden to cut some of the bushes back, having mowed the grass yesterday. When I got to the rear of the garden, I saw lots of cuttings where the neighbour had cut my tree, (on the boundary to the rear of both gardens), right back and dumped all the cuttings in my garden.

 

I know he is perfectly entitled to cut any overhang back and because I could not reach the rear, have always told his wife he could remove any overhanging branches at his discretion. I had intended to talk to him when I returned home as he was in his front garden, to say I did not want any ill feeling and could we talk this through, but he went in as soon as he saw me pull up.

 

I really dont want to go to war, but his TV aerial remains right over my space, and over one of my solar panels. Its this I am objecting to and have asked only that he move the aerial off of the panel as any shade can impact generation, and with mine being individually optimised and monitored, I was able to see that the generation from that panel has been affected daily, as it has produced less generation than the other panels in the same string.

 

What does anyone suggest next? Wait for the two weeks to expire? Its making me really anxious as I live alone and he his wife and adult son are next door. 

 

Thankyou

[dx100uk]

why not politely show him the readings or invite him around to see for himself?

 

 

[BazzaS]

You mention the tree and it’s cuttings for what reason?.

 

He’s done EXACTLY what he should regarding the tree. Prune the bits that come over into his garden. Return them (as your property) to you.

You mention it as if you see it as an escalation, but doing what he has done (and going inside to avoid an escalation if things became heated previously!) doesn’t sound like “going to war”!

 

If you can show “on days X-Y, at Z o’clock” panel 2 to 6 output pretty much the same as panel 1, but since the aerial has been in place, the output from panels 2 to 6 hasn’t altered, but panel 1 has been impacted by x percent”, you can use that to objectively show the problem.

Edited August 27, 2019 by BazzaS

[Jevban]

I fully accept he has full right to cut the tree, and have previously told them to do so as I cannot get to their side to prune it. This is the first time in forever though. I dont want this to escalate further and want to talk it through but if the other person wont, what am I supposed to do?

[BazzaS]

You could always write him a calm and courteously letter, setting out the factual basis of the problem.

 

He might be concerned about things getting “heated” again. Note in it that you are writing so things remain calm and can’t be misinterpreted, but that if he would prefer to talk directly you’d be happy to do so.

[Jevban]

I have just called on him. I have tried to explain I really do not want to fall out over this. It was not the easiest conversation but I have spoken to him.

Edited August 27, 2019 by Jevban

[dx100uk]

aw well done..

he cant not understand now.

 

 

[ericsbrother]

dont forget that the sun tracks round in the sky at 15 deg per hour so the impact on your panel is variable and in any case negligible. Also you shuld look at laws like the London Firs Acts and similar legislation that most cities have as they allow such an encroachment. Hell, he could have built a wall with an overhang of up to a metre inside your boundary under some circumstances.

Hindsight says that you should have just got the installer's details and given them some s*** rather than  take the matter up with the neighbour

Edited September 16, 2019 by ericsbrother