Over the past four years, my wife and I have experienced the burden of an easement that was placed over our property by the previous owner of an adjacent property.
The current neighbour holding the dominant tenement rights considered that he had exclusive use of the section of our property covered by the easement. He seemed to have little or no social conscious, and caused us much unnecessary distress by his intrusion, and practice of "storing" his unwanted possessions in our place.
Something had to be done about it particularly as I was fearful of leaving my wife at the mercy of his bullying and intimidating behaviour should I pre-decease her, given our age difference.
I asked a barrister friend if she could recommend a solicitor(s) who specialise in easements. I was given a list of solicitors at the top of which was Hones Lawyers.
I decided to seek the help of Jason Hones and his team, and it has turned out to be one of the best decisions I have ever made in my 87 years lifetime.
Jason, together with his associate Peter Clarke handled our matter for the best part of two years during which they were at all times respectful to us, and attended in a most competent and professional way to every one of our concerns and steps along the way.
Hones Lawyers represented us in communications with our neighbours' solicitors, and did everything in their power to achieve a mutually agreeable outcome. Their efforts were continually hampered by obfuscation from the other side until it finally became obvious that our only course of action was to take the matter to court.
Under the expert guidance of Jason and Peter, our matter was heard in the Supreme Court of NSW and we are extremely grateful to have been successful in achieving judgement in our favour, and the purported easement has been declared invalid.
As mentioned earlier, we are impressed with the respect we received at all times from Hones Lawyers, as well as their conscious effort to communicate with us without confusing us with "legal speak".
Their selection of senior and junior counsel was spot on and achieved an excellent legal team to represent our interests.
Jason personally came with us to make the introduction to counsel and sat with us through the preparation negotiations.
Throughout the whole process Peter Clarke proved to be a very intelligent and extremely competent young man, a valuable representative for his organisation, and was always polite and available for our every requirement.
In conclusion, we have absolutely no hesitation in recommending Hones Lawyers to anyone who wants competent legal representation carried out properly and efficiently.
Max (and Janet) Petrie
