We have been in the process of building an extension on our house which has been complicated/held up by the awful weather. We started with the planning applications over a year ago and involved our neighbours every step of the way as they are very good friends of ours.
In order to access the back wall of our build, we needed to take down their fence and shed temporarily. During the terrible storms, part of their garden fell away into our dig which we are now in the process of replacing, as the retaining walls are up. Our neighbours put their house on the market about four months ago and it sold quite quickly. There have been no problems up until now, when the new buyer saw the current state of her soon-to-be garden and is asking for a legal document from us stating that we will put it back as it was.
In principle, I have no problem with this and understand how the buyer might feel. However, her solicitors are demanding that we put back the shed and fence before she moves in and this will not be possible as the structure will need to be rendered and painted and will not be finished at this point (we are about one month behind schedule).
Our current neighbours have also not told the buyer that we are planning to re-render our entire house and move a bathroom window from its' current position to face their garden (we have planning permission for this). I am concerned that they are not keeping their buyer informed and are just glossing over the construction work we are doing in order for the sale to progress without problem. We do have legal access to the back of our house in order to maintain our property (on their land).
I apologise for the long post. I do feel that the agreement should be between the seller and the buyer and that our agreement to replace everything properly is with our current neighbour. Of course we are going to replace everything (and are in the process of doing so). I also feel that the buyer might be shocked by the ongoing work when she moves in and this might not be a great start to being neighbours. I want to be open and honest and have asked the sellers if we can meet with the buyer but have had no response. I really do have concerns about signing a legal document that does not relate to my property. I also do not want to fall out with my current neighbours - we have considerably altered our plans to date to ensure that they are happy with what we are constructing and we estimate that this has cost us in the region of 30k (we did not know they were planning to move).
I hope this makes sense - if anyone has got to the end and has any advice, I would be very grateful!