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Recently, our peace and quiet has been shattered because our new neighbors have a teenage son who spends hours kicking a soccer ball against the fence that belongs to them.
The noise is so loud that we no longer like to sit in our own garden. What can we do about it?
JP, by email
Red card: A next-door neighbour’s son makes life miserable for a reader by constantly kicking his football against the garden fence.
Dean Dunham responds: The first step you should take is to speak kindly to your neighbors and explain the distress this is causing you.
If it bothers you, chances are the noise bothers them too, so they may feel sympathy for you.
If your neighbors are unable to resolve the problem, the next step is to keep a journal for a few weeks, noting the exact date and time the disturbance occurs.
Armed with this, you can approach your local town hall and file a complaint, stating that your neighbor is causing a legal nuisance.
A legal nuisance is any activity that is unreasonable or excessive and substantially interferes with your regular enjoyment of your home. By law, local councils must investigate any complaints about legal nuisances.
If your council decides in your favour, you can issue your neighbour with a noise abatement order.
This is a notice telling your neighbour what they must do to comply with the order and outlining what will happen if they don’t, which usually carries a fine of £5,000.
The daughter stopped paying her car rental
I have been paying £400 a month car rental for my daughter and her partner because they couldn’t get credit.
They gave me my money back every month for a year, but now they have stopped doing so. Can I cancel the rental agreement?
BND, via email
Dean Dunham responds: When you enter into a financial arrangement on behalf of another person, this is commonly known as “accommodation finance”.
While the concept is not illegal, most finance companies frown upon these arrangements and many simply do not accept them. Hopefully, in your case, this has been fully communicated to the finance company prior to the start of the lease and it has been made clear that you would not be the primary driver.
Most financial contracts I have seen also ask for a statement that you will be the registered owner and custodian of the vehicle, so you could find yourself in a difficult situation if this statement is not provided truthfully, as it may constitute fraud.
Now, putting this aside to answer your question, you tell me that the lease is for four years. In my opinion, you now have two options.
The first thing is to get your daughter to transfer ownership of the vehicle to you, so that you are registered as the owner and holder of the vehicle (if you are not already) and, of course, take physical possession of the vehicle.
You then need to ask the finance company for a payoff figure, which is the amount of money needed to effectively pay off the financing.
Armed with this information, you can determine whether it is financially viable to sell the vehicle, meaning whether the sales price will cover the settlement figure.
If this option is not viable, your only alternative is to keep the vehicle and continue paying the financing until you reach the point where you have paid at least half of the financing cost.
This usually happens right after the halfway point of your term, which means you’d have about a year or so left in your term.
When you get to this point, you will have
the right to simply return the vehicle to the finance company and demand that the lease be terminated.
Finally, remember that the vehicle must be insured, so you may need to take out a new policy.
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