cost of taking out an injunction

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msh

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Hi. I was wondering how much it would cost to take out a planning injunction to prevent someone from erecting any telecommunications masts on their property. Our neighbour sells broadband but has no planning permission for the masts. The council issued an enforcement notice and the case has now been adjourned until next month. However, we have reason to believe that once this file is closed he will re-erect the masts which would put us back to square one as a new enforcement file would have to be opened for the new mast and that would take another year to get to court and of course he could then do the same thing again. The planning legislation was written for buildings not structures that can be put up in a couple of hours.

We were thinking of taking out an injunction to stop him doing this. We can do it either in the high court or circuit court. We were wondering what the cost of these options would be. He'd fight it if it had to be heard in court. Also, would he have to pay our costs if the injunction was granted.
 
You need to talk to a solicitor. Most solicitors will advise you that this will be a costly exercise - typically anywhere from E20,000.00 to E100,000.00. Unless you are very sure of your ground, no-one will give you a warranty of success.

You MAY ( not always) get an Order for your costs. You are however responsible for the costs unless and until you can recover those costs from the opposition. This is not always an easy task.

Would you not be better off leaving it to the Local Authority? If he does operate in breach of the enforcement notice, it is very likely that he will so tick off the LA that they will take the appropriate action.

mf
 
badge55 - We have a few objections to the masts. One of the masts is over 50 feet high and towering over the neighbours decking. The other is on his roof and is apprx 20 feet high. This one fell down in a storm. It is only 5m from our roof but luckily it fell the other direction that time.

As they stand, nobody would buy either of the adjacent neighbours houses. The masts are large, ugly and intrusive. They have large metal stays going in all directions.

Finally, he is breaking the law!
 
mf1 - we are trying to get the county council to take an injunction but don't know how likely they are to do so. By the sounds of it, we will have to push for them to do so.

It is so unfair that we should suffer such ridiculous costs in order to ensure that someone doesn't break the law.
 
msh said:
mf1 - we are trying to get the county council to take an injunction but don't know how likely they are to do so. By the sounds of it, we will have to push for them to do so.

It is so unfair that we should suffer such ridiculous costs in order to ensure that someone doesn't break the law.
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I'd strongly remind the council (by way of solicitor's letter) that if they do nothing and his next mast falls down again and cripples somebody that you'll hold them as negligent in their duties. I feel for you-people like this with no regard for society make me sick!
 
One of the local councillors is taking an interest in the case so we've asked him to get involved with the planning office and I will remind him and the council of their responsibility to ensure our safety by taking out an injunction. I do have to say though that the planning office have been great. They've obviously gone by the book but they came out and inspected immediately after each deadline and had the next letter out within a few days. The enforcement officer even served the enfocement notice himself as the registered letter was not accepted. The big problem is the legal situation which is very much biased in favor of the lawbreaker.

aircobra - when you say we should contact the other providers, those that are available in the area would be mainly the large ones e.g. eircom, irish broadband etc. I can't imaging they'd be too bothered as he's not much competition to them.

We got on to COMREG from whom he has a general authorisation but they weren't interested. Said it wasn't their problem and to contact the council. I don't think it's acceptable that a state body would authorise a company that is operating illegally. Local TDs aren't interested in this any more. They were very interested before the election but only lip service not.
 
I spoke to the enforcement officer yesterday and he told me that they generally will only take out an injunction if it's a major case where public safety is an issue. I'd say we'll probably wait until after the court case and then if and when he puts the mast back up we'll push for the injunction then. We'll certainly take the health and safety line given the history, we'll push the politicians and look at any other options we might have. Any suggestions would be welcome.
 
I wonder is there any way to jam his transmissions! Does he have a licence to transmit on the frequencies he operates on I wonder?

You shouldn't have to fight these battles to be honest. Society should take care of individuals like this.

I was threatened with an injunction this year if I didn't cease from a certain act (which I believe I was and am legally entitled to do) and pay a certain sum in compensation (ha!) and between me and my solicitor I decided to let them go for their injunction if they wanted and I was prepared to fight them in court (having been advised by my solicitor that it could cost me up to 50,000 in short order).

They backed down and looked rather foolish for having threatened the injunction in the first place. My solicitor says their solicitor would not be impressed with them making him look like a fool and would be very wary of them in future.

Getting that "we'll seek injunctive relief" letter makes you sit up though!
 
A letter threatening an injunction wouldn't work. He's said he'd go bankrupt rather than let us "win". He's not reacting normally to this at all. We've been more than reasonable about all this. After the first one fell down, he agreed to move it within 4 months. After 3.5 months, rather than taking it down he put up a second, even higher mast.

Re jamming it - we don't want to do anything illegal. He has a general authorisation from COMREG but they don't care about the fact that he has no planning permission. We're asked them to withdraw his authorisation but no go.
 
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