In-laws

mackeire

Hi this could be a long post.

Basically myself and my partner and our son were living next to her parents.

The house is basically an old B&B which has 2 smaller houses attached to it.

We were living in the middle house.

When we moved in first, the house was in absolute bits.

The kitchen had to be completely ripped out. We started literally from the dirt up. Neil pipes, new beams, new marine plywood, new flooring and a whole new kitchen plus appliances.

We also did up the utility room, sitting room, stairs and landing and bedrooms.

I put approx €15,000 into the interior of the house.

On top of that, I was paying rent every week and obviously our own bills.

In the back garden, we put down a decking €5000. Installed a bar €1,700 and got a shed €850.

Buying the decking was his idea, at first I didn't want to get it but he talked me into it. It's attached to the decking nextdoor.

We decided to get married and 4.5 years of living there, we tied the knot.

On the night of the wedding, her scumbag brother followed me into the toilets and attacked me from behind. I slipped on the floor and he jumped on my back and used an item of clothing as a rope and wrapped it around my neck and tried to strangle me.

Luckily enough Im a lot bigger than this cocked up scumbag and I was able to fight him off and survived the rest of the wedding.

Anyway the Guards were involved but couldn't prove what happened (he obviously told a different story) so he got away with it. The family all took his side so we had to move house as it wasn't safe living there.

A months later, we bought a house and we moved.

I had planned to rip everything out that I put into that house but her sister (who was the only not to take the brothers side) moved into it.

She offered to buy all the interior stuff.

It cost me approximately 15k but I gave it to her for 1k.

Sister only stayed there for a short time and got a council house and moved.

Since I moved, almost 2 years ago I have been trying to take my shed, bar and decking.

Her father wants to keep the decking and has barred me from the property to try prevent me from taking my stuff.

He asked my wife recently would we hire someone to remove the bar and shed so I text him saying that I will be down with some guys to take the bar, shed and decking and other little bits.

This is his reply:

"Your abandoned property was left in your shed so please arrange your on site dates to suit your contractor and me

and your workers must have p l insurance to remove the sheds the decking will require other works to be agreed I am away until 25th March"

He's just trying to be awkward. As it's attached to the decking nextdoor, it's going to look awful when it's all cut out.

He's money mad and is going to inspect everything while it's being done and try make up a cost for me to pay him.

He's also going to try make it impossible for the lads to work.

I've offered to sell him the decking aswel but he wants it for free.

I can't stand him or his family and I already ripped myself off by basically giving the interior of the house away for nothing.

I still paying for this decking and will be for 3 more years.

My question basically is, can I just go down with the lads who will be doing the work and take my property.

Can I ask for the Guards to escort me down and keep them away from us while we take my stuff.

Do I need to go to a solicitor and do this legally?

Or is there another way?

mackeire

If I've left anything out, just ask and I'll fill in details.

Peregrinus

It's not good news, I'm afraid.

If you install fixtures and fittings in a property that someone else owns, they become part of the property and they are owned by the owner of the property. You don't own them and you have no right to remove them or take them away. Depending on the circumstances, you may or may not have a claim to reasonable compensation for the work you did/the materials you supplied. The decking certainly falls into the "fixtures and fittings" category. The bar probably does too. The shed may or may not; if it's demountable and portable, then it's probably yours to take away.

So, no, you can't go down and just remove the stuff, and the guards certainly won't provide you with protection while you do it.

It sounds as thought your FIL is willing to let to remove the stuff on certain terms; if you can agree terms with him then you can remove it. But if you can't, I think you're looking at a claim for payment, based on the fact that you've enhanced the value of his property on the shared understanding that you would be remaining in it, and now that that situation has changed he should have to pay you in return for the enhanced value he has received.

Claw Hammer

If you hadn't report the wedding incident to the guards, it is likely none of this happen. Irish people don't like informers!

brokenbad

With in-laws like that, who needs enemies.

Golden rule of managing in-laws - never live too close to them to begin with.