To not engage with this complete idiot?

[FTEngineerM]

NDN came round to get parcel and then said ‘just to let you know our dado rail in the kitchen is coming off it looks like something is pushing it from your side’ (we’re Victorian terrace and party wall is 55cm+ solid stone).

So I asked details of location and confirmed there’s nothing on the wall at all in that location let alone long enough to penetrate over half a meter.

Now NDN is threatening surveyors and their insurance company coming and assessing.

What do I do? I have so far just not engaged past this point but is that the wrong thing to do?

NDN can’t possibly know something is pushing through the wall it’s just speculation, to come around and wave around accusations without any actual evidence IMO is bonkers. But I don’t want to say or do anything that they can take and use if I take too much interest in helping resolve it.

Or am I overthinking it? And nothing will come of it.

@FTEngineerM

Either it’s not there or there is no planning permission, it’s doesn’t go back that far (just over a decade)

They'd still need Building Regulations (or a Building Warrant if your in Scotland) Personally I'd leave them to it. Let them contact their home insurance provider. If they've extended the house without BRegs they've probably buggered up any chance of claiming off their insurance anyway and are trying it on with you. You could phone your Councils Building Control and ask. Have you got Legal cover on your home insurance? If so pass it on to them and let them deal with it.

Have you got Legal cover on your home insurance?

Yes, hope it doesn’t come to all that, goodness

@TheDowagerDuchess

She sounds ridiculous!

She needs to get rid of her dado rail as they’re hideous anyway.

In a Victorian house?

I bet you tear our sashes and put in upvc windows and have artificial grass

@AnimalNitrate

Who the hell has a dado rail in 2020 anyway? The thing's probably trying to prize itself off in the hope it can jump into a time machine.

Some who respects the original features of a house and doesn't paint everything grey and add as much mdd as possible.

Thank you for letting me know what a dado rail is.

I would not engage with the person concerned.

Hahaha they are bonkers!

Please keep us updated !

If you alter a party wall you need to use a surveyor. My dsis lives in a London terrace. Her ndn's builders started to remove the ceilings in the adjoining bedroom to lower the ceiling height to extend into the loft. That meant there would a bedroom floor partway down her bedroom wall. The builder told her it was safe. Later that day the building inspector arrived to stop the build until my dsis had her own surveyor look at it.

So I would look at the paperwork you had on your purchase to check whether there was any planning. If you are in any doubt then you probably have legal cover with your household insurance. The issue that would concern me is that the ndn's have plastered an outside joint wall and the impact it would have on your house. Was it done in line with building regs and signed off. We pulled out of a house purchase where the garage had been converted and subsequently didn't pass building regs

The Victorian terrace extension at the front of my 18thC cob cottage has 2' thick walls.

@BorderlineHappy

Who the hell has a dado rail in 2020 anyway? The thing's probably trying to prize itself off in the hope it can jump into a time machine.

😂😂

We have one just because it would cost too much to re-plaster the wall if we took the bugger off.

@RedskyAtnight

I'd be happy to let a surveyor in as well. There's potentially something structural going on with the wall, and if they are happy to pay for finding out what it was, then let them I say!

Absolutely

There are 7 posts on here saying ‘don’t let a surveyor in’. Why one earth not? Why do people insist on giving advice, like it’s fact, when they clearly don’t know what they’re talking about. If you don’t know about something, try not actually advising.

It’s irrelevant. You get free survey work and they get to find out it isn’t your problem. And if it is, that’s why god made buildings insurance. Christ alive people stop always looking for a fight over stuff that’s actually pretty normal.

Okay, neighbour might be completely wrong about it/the cause of it (and I agree with whoever said that’s an odd way to extend a terrace) but it hardly makes them a total idiot to think it might be

Is your party all really 55cm or is this a mistype?

That's nearly 2 feet - if you are pushing something through the wall it must be a trident missile!

@AnimalNitrate A dado rail would be a perfectly acceptable thing to have a traditionally decorated period house. Not everyone wants to live in a modern house with plain walls or remove all the original features from their Victorian homes.

@FTEngineerM

Have you got Legal cover on your home insurance?

Yes, hope it doesn’t come to all that, goodness

You don't need to contact your home insurer until they contact a surveyor who then states there is an issue caused by your home.

If they did an extension they will have to sort it out especially if they did get building regs signed off.

didn't rather

That's fucking bonkers. My face reading your op was ver wtf?!

Yep let them crack on. No way is their dado rail your problem. Do update the thread though!

Is your party all really 55cm or is this a mistype?

Yes really, it’s not unusual for solid stone houses. Any window/door opening is roughly 55cm. Some has render so is slightly larger but thats by the by.

I disagree with PP saying it doesn’t make them an idiot. To think I have somehow drilled through that ‘inconspicuously’ with some wall hanging does IMO.

Can't you just contact the council and ask if planning was applied for because there is an extension built against your wall?

If they are anything like ours they will be checking it out and ordering it to be removed. I was searching for an application online and couldn't remember the house no. and found one that had been ordered to be removed as no permission had been granted.

True, solid stone here and ours are that thick.

Their surveyor might unearth something to your advantage, so I would be inclined to give them access. If this was originally an outside wall it might be completely solid stone or inside and outside skins of stone filled with rubble. If the latter, water can get inside the wall when the outside skin is breached in some way (eg. by drilling to attach an "extention"). Not your fault, not your responsibility to pay anything. Let them crack on and maybe end up paying for the necessary repairs to your wall. As others have said, in the meantime contact the council to find out when and how this structure came to be built.

There's nothing hideous about dado rails per se. Dado rails in 1980s houses (with floral wallpaper above and contrast paint below) are vile, dado rails in Victorian houses are charming.

@Covert19 that is quite funny, the dado rail in question has floral paper (sort of, it’s a coloured leaf pattern) above and plain below.

Nothing wrong with dado rails. They do a pretty important job. If you don't believe me move your sofa away from the wall and see if there is a rub mark.

I've done 3 check outs today, all will be losing some of their deposit because chairs, bookcases, sofas, bedsteads etc have rubbed the paint - rubbed right through it in some cases!

Mind you rather that than bedhead grease staining

I would imagine that their builder/ surveyor whatever, will start digging their wall to see what the problem is, before anything else ?

[quote CuriousaboutSamphire]Nothing wrong with dado rails. They do a pretty important job. If you don't believe me move your sofa away from the wall and see if there is a rub mark.

I've done 3 check outs today, all will be losing some of their deposit because chairs, bookcases, sofas, bedsteads etc have rubbed the paint - rubbed right through it in some cases!

Mind you rather that than bedhead grease staining

Nope! It really shouldn't! If they'd been there for years and years then yes,, maybe a landlord would decide it wasn't fair! But 6 - 12 months in a property that was newly decorated at the start of their tenancy?

Nope! It is damage caused by negligence. Anything that ruibs against a wall and causes damage to the wall surface is over and above FWT. Minor marking, especially in doorways, narrow spaces, inside wardrobes etc, yes FWT all day long. But a 6ft long grey line along a wall? That is not acceptable! Nor is the gouge/indentation caused by the back of a chair being leant back on!

And the deposit schemes agree with me. I know this because I read their Case Studies every few months and their roundups every year!

Even Shelter, well known for skewing their interpretation of guidelines say Your landlord should not deduct money from your deposit for things like faded curtains, small scuffs on walls or worn carpets. my bold.

So no, I am not being mean!

We had something similar; we had new windows installed, and 6 months later the owner of next door, who rented to students, claimed he had a crack in a bedroom wall due to the work. We told him to send his insurance company round to look at it, and never heard another word. That was 2 years ago!