Neighbour demanding money to use party wall

[dogrilla]

We're using an off-the-peg loft conversion company to do an L-shaped conversion to our mid-terrace house.

We have served notice of this to both neighbours, but only have the contact details of one neighbour's brother (he helped her do it up and now she rents it out), who immediately demanded that we pay a £1,500 "donation" to use the wall they built for their loft conversion, otherwise he will "make it very difficult for us to proceed" by appointing surveyors etc. We would obviously rather not get into double/triple surveyor territory but he has us over a barrel as costs could spiral far beyond his named price. Especially galling as our builder (and surveyor helpline) said the wall in question wouldn't have cost more than £1,000 to build from scratch so we shouldn't pay more than 50% of that...

Anyway, we managed to get him down to a £1,000 donation, but he is now saying we need to pay the money direct to him rather than his sister as she is abroad and 'offline'. The whole thing seems really dodgy. How can we make sure this money is going to the legal owner of the house without him throwing his weight around and making things difficult for us? Is there any legal framework within which we can award the money (would obv also like him to pay tax on it!)? And is he allowed to sign the party wall agreement on his sister's behalf?

Thanks and sorry if it doesn't make sense. I'm seething and all rational thought is jumbled.

Use the money on a party wall agreement done by a proper surveyor. Don't waste your time lining his pockets.

But he says he can contest the surveyor's findings and demand we use another surveyor to solve dispute (and poss a third to act as a balance). We are just scared of having to potentially pay three surveyors as well as pay him his 50% donation.

If he disputes your surveyors funding he'd have to appoint a surveyor at his cost to prove his point, a court would probably then order a third surveyor and you'd both share the cost. He's being a bully, and in all likelihood won't bother to pay for a second opinion out of his own pocket.

Actually - it's not his house! He has no authority to appoint his own surveyor, ask for money or approve or otherwise the works, only his sister can do that unless he has POA! Cheeky fucker!

You'd be silly to give into his demands as once you do he will only bully you out of even more money. People like this never stop, their behaviour only escalates. A surveyor and solicitor are unlikely to cost £1000 for proper party wall advice so stick to your guns and show him who's got the upper hand.

I would imagine his sister knows nothing of this!

Stick with the surveyor route, if you give in now he'll be back with all sorts of claims later down the line.

Do the people living in the house have contact details for the actual owner?

Thanks all. Feel like we're being taken for total mugs. The loft company is also trying to rush us through this and skip the surveyor stage. Just got next door's owner title register deeds off Land Registry thouggh, so at least we know name now. The wonders of t'internet!