Land disputes produce more injunction law than almost any other field, for one structural reason: every parcel is unique, so damages rarely repair what land loses. The strip taken, the access blocked, the works crossing the line — money after the fact is a poor substitute for the thing itself, which is precisely why the injunction — and its forward-reaching cousin, quia timet relief — is the property owner’s emergency remedy of first resort.
The Emergencies: Trespass, Access, the Builder Next Door
The recurring cases: threatened incursion — the neighbour’s works about to cross the boundary, met with quia timet relief on real evidence of imminence (plans, setting-out, correspondence ignored) and killed by delay: the application belongs before the foundations, not after; continuing trespass — renewing itself daily, restrained rather than priced; blocked rights of way — established from title or long user, demanded formally (a surprising share end there), then restrained where obstruction continues, with access urgency front and centre in the balance of convenience; and unauthorised occupation — met with possession proceedings and restraint, on clean title evidence and lawful process throughout: self-help creates risks that dwarf the delay it saves. Across all of them, one sequence: evidence assembled fast (photographs, maps, title, the surveyor’s or engineer’s view), the strong letter today, the application readied in parallel — and where the land is agricultural, the firm’s dedicated practice at farmsolicitor.ie means the yard’s realities are native ground.
The Other Chair — and the Relationship That Survives
The accused landowner’s position is frequently better than the letter suggests: boundaries are genuinely contestable more often than either side assumes (maps, deeds and hedges diverge constantly), asserted rights can be narrower than claimed, and courts weigh completed works, the complainant’s delay and proportionality in ways indignation doesn’t predict. The defending disciplines: don’t race to finish works after complaint — it antagonises courts and worsens defensible positions; establish the title and survey reality properly; respond through advice, not over the hedge. And in both chairs, the structural truth of neighbour litigation: the relationship usually outlives the case — the same gates, the same lane, decades ahead — which is why practical resolutions (adjusted works, agreed terms, strips and rights purchased) end most of these disputes, why the Mediation Diploma keeps that channel genuinely open here, and why files run prepared for hearing and pointed at resolution: the combination that produces both. Where the works also breach planning law, section 160 adds a second front.
A Boundary Crisis - Either Side of It?
Evidence today, the strong letter today, the honest position in writing - before the concrete sets. Urgent calls taken.
Call 01 5827148