[IP_Man]

I seek help/advice in following situation.

In my native place, I own one part of twin bungalow (wall common) built by my father. Configuration is as shown in the figure below. My father was living there for last fifty years. He expired three years back.

One month back, my old neighbour sold his part to a local person. As per the agreement he is free to sell his part without my consent. My new neighbour hid his actual intent during the purchase time and very smartly took my signature on NOC for the new construction and then he demolished his part for the brand new construction.

Few days back, we came to know from the authentic sources that intention of my new neighbour is to built new building not for residential purpose. His real intent is to start a commercial activity like study library.

As shown in below configuration, there is ten feet wide common passage kept for accessing public road for bungalow one and two. If he starts commercial activity, there will be lot of traffic from the common passage that will disturb me and my privacy will be jeopardised.

In that area, infront of me and behind me are all residential bungalows and we are living peacefully till now.

I would like to know what legal rights are in my hand to stop him starting commercial activity and what legal action I can take for this.

Note: His plan is to take permission from town planning department for the residential purpose and start study library.

[Entsurgeon]

Change is imminent. Change is inevitable. Unless it hampers your possessions or legal rights, as long as he is following rules and taking all necessary clearances and permission from competent authorities, you shouldn't mind the change. We all like status quo but this is reality. And there are a lot of activities that are allowed in residential houses. A study library might be allowed in which case he is not outside his legal rights to put his new building to this use. I am sure the area was much more peaceful 50 years ago. Don't feel bad for this sudden change. Don't paint him in evil colors yet.
God bless.

[honeybee]

Originally Posted by IP_Man

I seek help/advice in following situation.
...
Note: His plan is to take permission from town planning department for the residential purpose and start study library.

Best to engage with a good lawyer that is experienced in land and property laws and disputes.

From what you have described, this other guy seems to be following the rules, i.e. approach the town planning authorities and seek permission. So prima facie he doesnt seem to be doing anything illegal.

But these are just armchair opinions. Please hire a good lawyer to understand your legal remedies.

[anjan_c2007]

Your neighbour has to file documents with the town development authority, usually the local Municipal Corporation with an application to effect change of user from residential to commercial. In a residential locality meant exclusively for residential purposes as you say, such a permission is very difficult to procure. He can be penalised and restrained from doing so, if you lodge a complaint with the proper local self government authority. And if such an authority gives a decision in his favour, it will be evident that the property owner has used unfair means to influence the local self government authority. The next higher authority in the local self government can be appealed next to overrule the lower authority's decision.

If the administrative remedies are of no help, you can file a civil suit to pray for passing an injunction against his change of user illegally by the present owner, with proper proof of your correspondence with local self government authorities and images.

You can get a brief idea as to how such situations are dealt with legally using these links:-

https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-l...perty-in-India

https://lawrato.com/property-legal-a...%20residential.

[gkveda]

Currently you are living peaceful life. A small physical disturbance due to few people walking in the passage is 1000 times better than mental disturbance that you may undergo once you lodge complaint against the neighbour.

If you go to municipal town corporation lodging complaint, the only beneficiary would be those corrupt authorities. Temporarily, they will put a hold on construction. But, your neighbour would not stop the construction just because of temporary hold. He will bribe the officials and they will work in his favour and grant permission for commercial purpose.

By then, your neighbour would be disturbed by your acts. He will start taking revenge against you through some clause. You can never be sure that your building and premises is 100% per law. So, you would be in trouble. But it does not mean, you will end up in reconstruction of your building. You will just have to bribe the authorities and they would work in your favour.

In the entire process, as I said earlier, the beneficiaries would be those corrupt officials.

This causes unnecessary disturbance and your peace will end.

Suggest you to encourage him. Its after all his property and he has rights to build what he wants. If commercial property is built, anyways, he will know how to overcome the officials. You can not stop.

[androdev]

Not sure which city you are referring to, but this is the sad state of affairs in every city in India. The moment your neighbourhood becomes commercially viable, people start finding every possible way to exploit it for commercial purposes. These are not the people you want to pick a fight with because they have zero respect for the laws - both civil and criminal. The value of your home increases substantially once the commercial activities begin in that area - so it's not all gloom and doom. The only sanctuary for peace loving people are those large residential projects like apartment complexes and villa projects.

What may work is if many of your neighbours collectively object to this and make a representation to the concerned authorities.

[jkrishnakj]

You may actually be better off in engaging with your neighbor directly as opposed to hearing stuff from authentic sources. It will turn out to be a lot more peaceful outcome by having an open conversation where you can state your apprehensions and your neighbor may actually think through a viable solution.

Aside, since it’s a library, you actually can be at peace. The # of people visiting libraries is very very low these days.

[landcruiser123]

Are you sure about his plans? Please talk to him first before going ahead with any action. Once you're sure about his motives, please talk to him about the implications - noise, people loitering in the access passage, 2wheelers/cycles driving though all day etc.

If action is required, please start by getting local residents welfare association or a similar group involved if you want to stop using a property for commercial purpose. Also, if he is building something very different to what he clearly indicated in the NOC which you signed, you might be able to file a case against him. But please talk to a property lawyer.

Going forward, I think you should clearly define the usage rights of the property and the common access path. Instead of 5-6 people of a household, having 50-60 different people using the path everyday certainly disturbs the peace and poses security risks. I'm guessing you don't have a fence/wall between your property and the access path.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by IP_Man

One month back, my old neighbour sold his part to a local person. As per the agreement he is free to sell his part without my consent.

You should definitely get a lawyer's opinion, but based on my limited knowledge, I can tell you this:

- You'll rarely win against a local who is living there 100% of the time. I am guessing you are an occasional visitor to this house. I tell you this after solving numerous hassles of family member's holiday homes in the towns & villages of MH.

- If he follows all the procedures and gets approvals from the authorities, IMHO, there is little you can do (but again, take a professional legal opinion). If this is true, apply the adage "if you cannot change the world around you, better you change yourself". Based on your image, I guess one part of your house is already facing a very public road. Foot traffic will be heavier during the day, so put some classy sun blinds on the windows to enjoy some privacy.

[aargee]

@Entsurgeon & @gkveda - Have given invaluable advice while the below statement is absolutely bluntest of truth

You'll rarely win against a local who is living there 100% of the time

We're nearly in your situation for over a decade now, just that our neighbors can't do anything legally while we can simply walk to municipal office for all they're doing. Fortunately we were able to quickly recoup over our lost our sleep, loss of productive time at office & most importantly seeing our children growing up with hatred.

I won't say we've completely gotten over, but, still contemplating to build a 10+ feet wall or 12 feet galvanized sheet for privacy (and paint it black the other side) and this is all is required to keep them away.

But then, the question remained, will this keep us happy? Absolutely not, we would not only start thinking what would be their next move but also start preparing counters for their next moves as well.

We decided to forgive, forget & move on to see what how best we can live our lives & instead wait to see our neighbor's next move

So, after all these, if you still want privacy, ask your neighbor permission to build you want to build a tall fence in your premises while respecting him & build as shown in thick black line; may be a waste of money, but still, you could live in the present without thinking of his next moves/counter attacks

[srishiva]

With a lawyer, you can get an injunction for whatever he is doing ? Things will freeze and it could take a lot of time for anything after that.

As suggested, you can put a high fence around the common area if nothing succeeds. Is the locality changed to commercial already ? I know people still do commercial activity in a residential locality. No one takes action if they are hand in glove. We really lack laws to penalize the authorities. It never happens.

[dhanushs]

If both the bungalows are similar, may be you can swap each others bungalows and ask him for an extra premium for a road frontage.

That way, you get your privacy, he gets his library and you get some money to redo the place the way you wish.

[sagarpadaki]

How is the side 10 foot common passage used by you/your family? Is it the main entry for your home? From the schematic, i see you have access to the road. So I presume you have a bigger gate at the front?

If the 10 feet common passage is the sole access to the backside bungalow, like how it is shown in the schematic, then you cannot do much since there is no alternative.

I also stay in a residential area and there is study center built on the rooftop of a house just down the road. So, I guess it should be possible to create a study center in a residential area.

[navtiwari]

These issues are common when there is a change in ownership of property. The other guy would have already spent huge amount of time and money on this and will not easily back out.
He is your neighbor now and first thing you should do is to talk to him in scrapping the project, chances for which are negligible.
Try to get insights into high level structure details he is trying to build. It is not easy but talking to him and exploring options will give you a lot of information and will help if you go down the legal route.

If you want a middle ground, just negotiate with him to secure the entrance and restrict any vehicle traffic on common passage.

[svsantosh]

Originally Posted by dhanushs

If both the bungalows are similar, may be you can swap each others bungalows and ask him for an extra premium for a road frontage

2) Sell your property for a premium to him (I know that is not welcome)

3) Buy his at a premium and keep all those memories intact.

Legally - Nothing can be done in todays world. Commercial means hand of local goons and land sharks will be vested, not to mention some politicos too. So unless you are really interested in all the trouble consider alternate ways.