What next step should I take with my neighbours?

[user1471867483]

My neighbours had exterior wall insulation in October (we were given 12 hours notice and no party wall agreement was put in place - long story). Anyway, now it's January and our scuffed and scratched front doorsteps are still not fixed by them nor is the water seepage that is coming onto our kitchen wall fixed either since they put in a conservatory. A surveyor from my council came round at the very time their works were being carried out and he confirmed the water seepage is coming from them. They have cancelled us three times to fix these issues ("he couldn't get the baby to sleep", "my baby isn't well", "my wife is stuck in traffic") and on the fourth occasion he didn't show up whatsoever. We had plans in place and had to rearrange them and we waited and waited for him.

I have written them a polite, but firm letter yesterday expressing our concerns again about our kitchen wall (as the water is coming near to electric wires beside our boiler) and our damaged front door steps, and asking for an update on any proposed solutions and a timeline for implementation. If they don't answer me, what then? I don't have any finances for legal assistance as I am in receipt of pension credit.
TIA. 😓🤔

I would just fix it myself.

they’re not going to - if you get into a legal dispute with your neighbours it’s going to cost you a fortune and if you ever want to sell you have to declare it and you will never ever sell.

Oh gosh. This is what I'm fearing 😕. Without sounding toffee nosed or patronising, they're only leasehold and I'm freehold (I own the land). I feel they've taken over completely since they moved in 8 years ago and I've been here decades.

Contact your home insurance.
We had an issue with a neighbours roof causing an issue in our home.
The insurance sent a surveyor round and the neighbour fixed it pretty sharpish after that. I’m assuming after the surveyor report that our insurance contacted their insurance because we heard no more about it and it didn’t cost us anything.

Can I ask please. Did contacting your insurance company put the premium up?

Also, whilst he gave us a voucher to get my car cleaned after it was left in a filthy state after their works and in which I am grateful, these unresolved issues persist. They're flaky.

I'm no expert, but in my experience, legal assistance is an optional add on to home insurance (so you may not have it anyway) but for which you get charged a small extra fee, and using it does not affect buildings or contents premiums.

No our premium didn’t go up as we didn’t make a claim. I assume it was dealt with as their poor repairs were likely to cause damage to our home which either would have resulted in us making a claim or would have affected the house value if left.
A car washing hardly compensates for having your home damaged over a ridiculously long period of time because they are failing to fix issues! Good luck.

Thank you for all your replies. Just a quickie update. After putting my letter in their letterbox last night asking when they're going to fix the issues, he went out just now in his car and waved at me as I was at my window putting up draught excluder. I hope he's not dismissing my letter or minimising it.

They will continue to fob you off and ignore the issue until you escalate it. You have played nice long enough, it’s time to get legal before the damage gets any worse.

Thank you. I'll give them to the end of the week and if they don't reply I'm going to ask the surveyor who came round from my council to put in writing his findings when he came round in October and post his report through their door.

You might have free legal cover with other insurance policies as well, or your bank account? Worth a check as these things are easily forgotten about.

It'll certainly be worth querying - thank you. I really can't believe the audacity of his behaviour (the neighbour); like nothing's wrong.

If they are leasehold maybe it’s possible to contact their freeholder for assistance?

If I were you I would get quotes for the works and costs of any legal advice. If the costs of the works were less than the legal advice then I would just pay myself as there is no guarantees that going down the legal route will get them to pay up - plus who knows how long that will take and the damage might get worse. Plus that way you won’t have a legal dispute on file which either will have to declare in house sale - it might make it harder for your neighbours to sell up and move on resulting in y out being stuck with them!

We are the freeholder.

My neighbour isn't bothered by me in any shape or form. He has no respect 😓

I don't know if you've got your terminology mixed up but them being leaseholders doesn't give them less of an interest in their house than you have in yours. They might have a 999 year lease.

Unless you mean they're tenants. In which case you need to deal with the landlord.

If you do mean leaseholder and freeholder their freeholder won't give a toss what is going on.

I think that's pretty generous actually, it seems strange that they'd do that but not want to help with the other issues. Is it possible that they might think that the issues you describe are pre existing or not their responsibility?

It doesn't make sense. Think I'll have to go through the insurance company and paint my own doorsteps. It's like they're sticking two fingers up. They're plain flaky. I mean, how would you like it if someone cancelled you four times?

Perfectly said!

You said they were leaseholders. Who is their freeholder?

Us.

Hell of a dripfeed. Everything posted on this thread assumes they’re your neighbours and not leaseholders where you own an interest in their property. Get off MN and get some proper legal advice.

@peppermintgreengrass TBF, op did mention that she is the freeholder in her second post.

People have helped a lot on here which I am grateful. Our properties are quite a difficult set-up. Basically, next door is leasehold and us, the freeholder, owns their land their house is on, but we don't own their house, so if they want to build an extension for example they have to ask us permission and they went ahead with installing external wall insulation without putting a proper party wall agreement in place and not putting it in writing. They've breached a lot. Now we're left with unsightly doorsteps where their scaffolding was and not forgetting the water stains in our kitchen which are slowly still seeping through.