Neighborhood law: this is what you can do in the event of nuisance from neighbors

Whereas some people have a good relationship with their neighbors, others would rather see their neighbors leave. For example, your neighbor may be making a lot of noise, using the front yard as a garbage dump or parking an entire showroom of cars in front of their door. This can be a nuisance. Are you experiencing nuisance from your neighbor? Then neighbor law applies.

The main provisions of neighbor law

Neighborhood law includes only 22 articles. Myrthe de Vries is an attorney at Lexys Lawyers and regularly handles neighbor nuisance cases. She outlines for you the most important and perhaps most commonly used rules of neighbor law.

• Nuisance
  Neighbors may not cause an unlawful nuisance by, for example, spreading noise, vibrations, smells, smoke or gases. What constitutes an unlawful nuisance depends on the circumstances. For example, if the neighbor throws a party once, it is usually not unlawful. Does he play loud music every night? Then it may be unlawful.
• Water
  You are prohibited from allowing water to drain into your neighbor's yard. Nor may neighbors cause an unlawful nuisance by changing the way water runs from his yard to yours. This rule applies to rainwater and runoff water, among other things. If the neighbor discharges his drainage water into your yard, this will most likely be unlawful.
• Planting
  Furthermore, neighbors may not cause an undue nuisance by placing plantings. For example, it is not allowed to place trees, shrubs or hedges within 2 meters of the property boundary. Unless a local ordinance (the APV) determines otherwise. In addition, overhanging tasks must be removed. Neighborhood law also has provisions about shoot-through roots and falling fruit.
• Property boundaries and property division
  Another major point of discussion in neighbor nuisance cases is the yard fence. Neighbors are often jointly responsible for erecting and maintaining a property fence. If your neighbor does not cooperate in erecting a fence, the law states that you can at any time demand that the neighbor cooperate in erecting a fence. He even has to help pay for it. To do so, you must first pass the right. If you don't, then you usually can't ask for a contribution for the yard fence afterwards.

A tenant as a neighbor: who is liable in case of nuisance?

Neighborhood law is governed by Articles 37 to 59 of book 5 of the civil code. If you look at those articles, you may notice that almost every article begins with ‘The owner of a yard may not.... So the law assumes that your neighbor is also the owner of the yard. But what about if your neighbor is not the owner of the yard, but the tenant? Can you then also invoke neighbor law?

Tenant and owner bound by neighbor law

The answer to that is ‘yes. Indeed, the Supreme Court ruled in two 1992 judgments (ECLI:NL:HR:1992:ZC0480 and ECLI:NL:HR:1992:ZC0482) that the nature and content of the rights and obligations of neighbor law also apply to tenants. However, it is important that the specific provision invoked lends itself to being invoked against a tenant. It must therefore be determined per situation whether neighbor law also applies to the tenant.

Lawyer for neighbor nuisance

Do you have a dispute with one of your neighbors and would like to speak with an attorney about your options? Then contact the neighbor law attorney at Lexys Advocaten. You can reach him on 010 600 2300 or info@lexysadvocaten.nl.