IANBU but CF builders

[ConfusedKoala]

I'm not being unreasonable here... a little gobsmacked to be honest

My NDN is lovely and i never ever hear from him (which is perfect for me im very antisocial) and he needed an extension for a bedroom on ground floor level.

I'm not easily bothered by much and a few weeks of building commotion was fine by me. Didn't get off to a great start when they started dropping the entire existing concrete patio from 1st floor height (with a digger) at 7:30am on a sunday (to break it up and take it away)! Right outside autistic DS's bedroom... the whole house repeatedly shook like an earthquake we were terrified and had zero warning.

Lovely relative of lovely neighbour came over and profusely apologised after i complained to the builders and let the council know. Everything was great.

Builders then wanted to remove half of my fence and have the building there as a barrier instead. Fair enough i thought, worse things have happened and he's always been a good neighbour. So i asked "just please make sure my dog still has free roaming in the garden as he would normally and you can do that". Cue me letting the DDog out one morning to find he'd escaped onto the main road as they had left a huge hole (and broke some of the remaining fence)

I go out next time i see them to ask politely that they just stick some wood there or something so i can still use my garden. "Yeah sure ok whatever" they say in the most "i cant be bothered with you go away" tone i've ever heard

But now I hope to god my photo uploads to this thread of what they have done. Not only have they taken up my garden way past my kitchen window with the scaffolding, but they've used MY DRAIN to build the scaffolding in.

Meaning my kitchen water (sink, washing machine, you name it) is all just soaking onto my concrete and grass. My drain pipe was already cracked when someone tried to break in but was still in place, now it's snapped off completely and the drain is full of concrete blocks. I put a bucket there to catch some of the water and they've moved the bucket and put scaffolding there too. They've moved my BBQ etc and other things out the way so they can put scaffolding further and further into my garden. (Luckily old items i'm not very precious about as they've put them where all the water is going).

Just can't believe it.... Here goes my photo attempts...

Toooldtocareanymore

Totally agree

They should not erect any thing on your property without your consent.

They should remove it immediately. Ring the council. Take more photos.

You should have been consulted in the planning application if his wall is going to replace your fence. If you weren't then, potentially, the NDN has over encroached into your garden.

Get onto the council, explain the issue and ask them to come out and see what's happened.

Go to the neighbour (I understand he's elderly and ill but you don't have to be rude - just matter of fact). Tell him what's happened. He probably hasn't seen it if he's ill. Ask him if he can get in touch with the relative or give you their number as you need to get this sorted out. Explain that you're going to have to speak to the council as your house is being damaged and you need to builders to do their job without interfering with your life. We all have to put up with a bit of inconvenience when neighbours are having work done but most people talk to the neighbour concerned, get their OK and keep checking that everything is working properly, not just allowing the builders to do what they want.

And I agree, the builders are cowboys. Our builders did everything possible to work with our neighbours when we had work done on our house - knocked on their door to warn them they were getting stuff delivered in case they wanted to move their car off the drive just in case, kept rubbish down to a minimum and swept our and next doors drive every night.

Don't bother with the council they will just say its a civil dispute. I would go round and speak to him but knowing he might be vulnerable take a letter as well to leave with him.

Not all extensions need planning permission. He might not have applied for it
But she was consulted when she was asked if they could take the fence down and build onto the boundary. She should have said no and got onto the council at that point. But she said yes.

I think you need to be black and white. No part of your building, building equipment, scaffolding etc are allowed in my premises. Remove them all immediately ensure that you make good with repairs to my satisfaction. Seriously this is ridiculous and just demonstrates the couldn't give a fuck attitude of some people.

I'm not in UK, so don't know all the ins and outs of planning regs, but I do know that UK has really good Safety & Health at work regulations.

The scaffolding is in breach of H&S as it hasn't been constructed on a stable base (I.e. it's in your drain!).

If you don't get anywhere with the cowboys get onto HSE and report for active breach in construction regs and safe working practices. They should come down very quickly and hard.

A PP said that the council wouldn't be interested. I think you should try them anyway. It's the Building Control unit of your Local Authority. They have powers of inspection and enforcement. It would be worth emphasising the H&S aspects of the build to get them out quickly.

I think you need to speak to your neighbour and find out exactly who arranged the building works and all the details.

It may well NOT be your neighbour, if the local authority are doing the work because of his disability, he actually may not have hired the contractors or have much of a clue whats going on at all (they do like to keep you in the bloody dark!). That may explain why they are CF and rude twats.

It is the council you need, even if they didn’t need planning permission they have to adhere to building control.

That scaffold on the drain will collapse the drain if any heavy weight is placed on it.

Must be cowboys, a proper builder would not use a drain cover and think it would hold up.

Speak to your ndn tonight and tell him to get them back to remove it.

Are you a homeowner, OP? If so did they do a party wall agreement before they started building?

Absolute cowboys! Who the fuck puts scaffolding like that? Straight on to council and tell Ndn all work ceases until it’s inspected. I’m speechless that anyone things that’s acceptable.

Tell the NDN to get the blofeld to get it all cleared up or your withdrawing all sort and they can go whistle.

I think you can also contact the building control people at the council with regards to the damage they're doing to your drains, etc.

Lots of crap on this thread

Party wall agreement required if they are building to the boundary

yes you can possible put scaffolding on a neighbours garden.

definitely go around and have a word with the owner (id be worried about the awful job they are probably doing for him too!)

This. We had an elderly relative who had similar sounding work done, all arranged by the council and they were the ones hired the builders. Turned out to be massive cowboys and caused all sorts of issues with the house, which took more than a year to put right as everything had to be torn down and started again with a new company. So if you're concerned about the NDN - you definitely need to do something about this. He won't have a clue what they're doing and if the council is arranging this work (which they may well be) they would be responsible and need to know the company they hired is crap, to save others going through the same thing!

I would be concerned about the weight on a drainage pipe as well as the rest.
You also need to see if the wall of the extension impedes the boundary and if the roof has guttering on the edge or premiums that overhang. If so, the extension must be stepped back so the edge of the gutter is on the boundary and not overhanging.
These builders don't seem right at all.

@ConfusedKoala Did you speak to NDN?

Any update @ConfusedKoala ?

Party wall agreement. Read up on it then get a surveyor and lawyer (via insurance company?) involved. Do not agree to anything verbally. You are putting your own house at risk if you don't do this using the proper formal channels.

I currently have scaffolding all over my neighbour's drive and garden... but... my builders are respectful and there's been no damage at all. My neighbour is like a gran to my kids so I know she's ok with it all. But if my builders stepped out of line you could be sure I would be dealing with it and making sure everything was put right. Your neighbour is totally taking advantage

I'm always so confused about the party wall agreements. I though you only needed that if the work was being done to the current boundary if that boundary is a wall, or part of a building. I didn't think it applied if it's just a fence.

I own a scaffolding company and can tell you that that scaffolding is in breach of H&S regulations stating all scaffold (including this shitty system scaffolding being used) should rest on a level surface. It really is shit scaffolding and perhaps has been put up by the builder himself? In which case tell the builder you will be seeking a Prohibition Notice from the HSE if he doesn't remove it and re-erect it safely and away from your drain or get the scaffolding company to do it.

OP, I presume you have house insurance?

Take as many photos as you can.

Call your insurance company and tell them what has happened.

Do not admit that you have agreed to ANYTHING.

Ask them what you should do.

Tell your neighbour that you have contacted your insurance company.

Be very careful of negating your insurance policy.

These builders are undoubtedly cowboys.

The sooner you protect yourself and your property the better.

Your insurance company is your first port of call.