Lovely tiles being removed by next doors builders

[JusteanBiscuits]

We live in a semi detached house from the 1930's. Next door, the one we're attached to, are having the front of their house rendered. Between our front doors is a row of lovely, original tiles (so our front door is on the left side of our house, and theirs is on right side of their house, so separated by this row of tiles). It's about 1ft wide.

They came round last week to tell us the builders will be removing the tiles as so they can render their "half" of where they are. They said we could pay for our half of the area to be rendered if we want, or it will just be left.

I've just managed to catch the company who will be doing it, and they said they could try to cut the tiles in half but it's unlikely to work and will look terrible. But it would "only" be £200 for them to render our half of the area (so 8ft by 0.5ft). It's some special water proof rendering. (We can't afford £200 for something like this at the moment.)

We're not happy with either of these solutions. I love the tiles and think grey rendering is going to look terrible.

Anyone know of a way we could stop them doing that patch? Are our neighbours / rendering company liable for making sure that our patch looks good? At the end of the day, I really want to keep the tiles, but also realise I might get my own way here but desperately don't want a patch next to our door left looking messy.

OK, trying to attach a photo (a very old photo, but shows the tiles without being outing at all. Hopefully!).

The rendering, at the moment, comes down to door height on both sides. They will be bringing their rendering down ground level. And yes. It will be grey.

The blue stripe between the doors are the tiles. They want their "half" of the tiled area rendered. I have also asked them what happens about the wall, as the tiles go down to the ground too, behind the wall!

This! The absolute cheek of them to tell you they're removing something off your property and you'll have to pay to have it rendered like theirs or it'll be left with a gap! They should be finding and paying for a solution that leaves the tiles in place. You shouldn't be left out of pocket or less happy with the appearance of your house.

Wow the existence of the wall makes it even more ridiculous. They should render up to the edge of the tiles. I'd fight them for you.

They should leave the tiles if it's going to damage your property

Our houses aren't your typical 30's houses, and really don't have massive amounts of character - but I still love our house. And the tiles have been there since they were built, and do actually have some meaning (though I realise they look quite dull in the photo! I can't explain the meaning without being very outing!).

We have lived here 15 years, the neighbours a couple of years longer than us.

@JusteanBiscuits maybe they can mask
the tiles and not render them? Perhaps you could ask neighbour if they’d be ok with that?

Having seen your picture, it’s absolutely bananas that they want to render over the tiles, and even madder that they’ve suggested doing half! I think it’s mad they want to render over the brick, but people have funny ideas.

Just say you’ve thought about it again and don’t want the tiles touched.

Oh my! Your photo shows just how terrible and tricky it will be! There's no way the builders will be able to cut those in half without damaging them all. Agree with talking to neighbours, making it clear you say no and taking 100 photos. What a travesty!

I too think this might come under party wall. They cannot remove half the tiles so the tiles will be destroyed. So they need to make it good and pay to do so. They also can't remove the tiles without your permission as 50% of them.beling to you. They either don't realise this or they are deliberately trying to bamboozle you.

Can you explain to them and see what they say?

Who owns the wall? It looks as though their side has been rendered to the start of the tiled area but yours has been rendered across the tiled area, is that right? But the tiled area is definitely 50/50 yours and the neighbours? Is there brick underneath or block work? They shouldn’t be causing damage to your property without your permission but it sounds like they’ll be going ahead anyway. I would perhaps consider asking to keep the tiles if they were primed and painted in a matching colour. Unfortunately I don’t think there’s any way they could make it look good on your side without rendering the whole area

I think the actual neighbours have no real idea!

Thanks for confidence that I'm not just being a CF!

Who are the actual neighbours sorry?

Print off a letter saying they aren't to touch your property or you will seek legal advice and give it to the builder.. Speak to your home /buildings insurers and see where you stand.

You want their names??

Looking at the photo the only answer is to leave the tiles in situ and the neighbours render to the tiles on their side.

I'd just either pop a note through their door or speak to them and say,

"After giving the matter some consideration I do not consent to any building works which are likely to affect the tiles on my property. Many thanks."

If they tell you they are planning to go ahead anyway, make sure they know you will take legal action.

Ach don’t go this hard right off. Just speak to them, say can they render up to the tiles as for some reason you really like them and want to keep them.

Can you stop following me around on every thread please?

Where I live you have to get planning permission to render the front of a property so it might be worth checking if yours is the same!

They've decided without permission to damage her property and then offered to charge her £200 to have work done that she doesn't want done. Politely telling them that she's not agreeing to this is much less hard than they deserve.

Think OP means the neighbours are clueless and it’s the builders who are proposing this daft idea.

You may need them to source original tiles they damage, and make good, I’d be telling my neighbours directly, not shillyshallying around discussing things with a sub contractor. Your neighbours have instructed the contractor, you need to make it clear you have not permitted any rendering or damage to tiles your side and are expecting a clean finish between the old and new work. This isn’t unreasonable at all.

I think you need to make it crystal clear they can only go up to your tiles.
Will render stick out a bit as well?
You will need to do in writing/ duplicate to protect yourself. Maybe copied to the builders? Be very firm.

The difficult thing with a shared feature is when you get two opposing sides on what to do with the status of the feature. But they can't damage them as you both have ownership of them, and it would look weird and spoil the feature if they were to render their half. The only solution I can see is to render up to the tiles and leave them showing as they are, but I'm guessing the neighbours aren't actually keen on them and don't care if they get spoilt or actually want to hide them.

If it was me I would ask them if they can leave the tiles as they are, and see if they can come to a compromise and render up to them but not over them at all. If NDN don't like them, would the tiles come off and maybe put elsewhere on OP's property?

Ah thanks!