Neighbourly disputes are all too common in Britain. Research shows that almost a million Britons have been forced to move house as a result of ongoing feuds with the people next door.

Home and garden maintenance issues top the list of disputes between neighbours, with 27 per cent due to gardens and streets being left in a state of disrepair.

Excessive noise leads to 15 per cent of fall-outs, while arguments over boundaries and 'stolen' parking spaces account for 14 per cent of feuds.

Research also reveals that 27 per cent of Britons rarely speak to their next-door neighbours, making it increasingly difficult to settle disputes amicably.

If your dispute over boundaries or parking spaces escalates and ends up in court, it could prove costly.

Alasdair MacSporran, head of Your Law at CPP, says: 'Our research tells us that getting on with the neighbours shouldn't be taken for granted.

&Mdash; Two people who'd moved into a northern New Jersey town house a day earlier have died in a fire that started in their kitchen and spread upstairs.

Police say 52-year-old Eliot C. Nisenbaum and 55-year-old Ronald Sandberg were found Saturday night in the second-floor master bedroom of their home in Fort Lee, overlooking the Hudson River.

Firefighters had to break down a door to gain entry to the unit in the gated Kensington Park complex. They tried to resuscitate the victims, who were pronounced dead at the scene a short time later.

Police Chief Thomas Ripoli says there was heavy smoke damage throughout the home but most of the damage was concentrated in the kitchen. He says the fire likely started above a gas stove and was an accident.

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