Neighbour dispute

[finallyhappyinlife]

In may 2024 we had our drive paved by a local businessman . We are very happy with the work he did for us however the white residue from the hardcore he used underneath the blocks has run onto our neighbours drive leaving a strip of lighter tarmac which shows up when her drive is dry . She is extremely unhappy as expected and I have made several attempts to get the workmen back to discuss this issue however he flatly refuses . I have been totally civil with neighbour agreeing that it’s unacceptable and I have tried many many times to get him to sort this issue . I have ended up falling out with the owner of the business as I believe he is totally out of order . He refuses to speak to my neighbour saying she is just jealous of us having the work done . This has caused us immense stress and she has stopped speaking to us . Earlier in the year her son said she was going to have a fence installed between us and was that ok ? I said that’s up to you as we cannot stop your mum doing anything on her own property and it was no business of ours . This fence has never materialised .
Now today I have received a recorded letter saying she has been advised to get 3 quotes for re tarmacing the whole drive . The quotes range from £8800 to £11000 as she is asking us to pay for this work .
She is asking us to respond within 14 days or she will take it to small claims court .
I feel she should be sending said letter to the workmen who did the work and ruined her drive . Am I wrong ? Why should we pay out £10000 approx for the workmen’s error . And advice would be much appreciated on our rights and the next steps for us to take .

Why should she pursue your contractor? He was your agent. Her claim is against you. If you feel he is ultimately at fault, you can then pursue him to recoup your losses.

It was for you to make good when it was first identified as a problem, not 'tried to get them back to discuss the issue ' to no avail. No wonder they're peeved and have escalated.

What @TriciaMcMillan said.

Yup what they said. You make good her drive. If you can get any money back via the contractors or any insurers, so much the better. But this is on you to fix.

She has no contract with the builder. You do.

She sues you as it’s your works that caused the damage.

You sue the builder to recover your loss.

Small claims court is for small ms up to £5k as far as I am aware

It isn’t proportionate to want a new drive due to stained tarmac.

You can buy tarmac restorer on Amazon for 30ish quid.

Go and repaint her driveway. It will take you an afternoon and it’s an unskilled job. Problem solved.

The limit is £10k in England and Wales.

@finallyhappyinlife - As others have said, you had a contract with the workmen. Your neighbour did not. If their work has led to her drive being damaged, she can sue you for the cost of fixing the damage. You can sue the workmen for any costs you incur as a result of her action against you. The only real question here is whether the damage to her driveway is such as to require resurfacing or whether there is a cheaper option.

While it certainly is fair she gets her drive stain resolved this does not mean a brand new drive for her.

Do you have insurance on your household insurance. If so I would look for some legal advice via that if not pay out for 1 hour. You will have to make the contact with your contractor in a legal way.

That's ridiculous. You don't have to pay to tarmacadam their whole drive surely. I would get someone else in to fix the damage that was done, hopefully your neighbour will agree to it. Or find out what would be needed to fix the problem and go from there. You can deal with the original businessman again. And get legal advice if needed

Do you have a copy of the trademans insurance? That's what that is for. Also Id get some tarmac companies around myself to look into the options. Redoing the whole drive seems overkill and they have a duty to minimise the cost not escalate it - surely a repair is possible. Get second opinions, send legal letter to your tradesman informing him of the escalation.

Thanks for the replies if we are liable as people are saying surely she can’t expect us to retarmac the whole drive for a stripe . As others have said that’s totally unreasonable . It’s like someone putting a small dent in your car and expecting them to pay for a brand new vehicle . Hubbys going to approach her and offer to repaint the drive and see how that goes

This is said marking

The discolouration looks quite extensive to me, so might need the whole drive redoing? I’d consider trying the restorer that someone mentioned upthread first.

That's hardly "a stripe" is it?!

From the way you worded it I was picturing just a little bit along the boundary - You need to sort that out, it looks terrible and it seems to be they have been more than patient.

Hopefully painting will be agreeable and sort it, but honestly I can see why they're annoyed at you leaving it so long. I would still speak to your home insurance legal team first if you have it. I'm not sure how these things work, but would be worried that if you paint it and they're still not happy you could be in a worse position

She can have a recoat done at your expense and it is what I would offer. You had the drive block paved in May 2024 so she has been more than patient.

See this video, get a professional in to do it now you know what you are looking for. It is a tarmac paint that restores the colour back. That would be my first offer to correct what has happened and won't cost you the new drive. Plus the environmental impact of scraping up a drive in good condition and disposing of all that waste is so unnecessary.

That’s awful!! No wonder she is annoyed.

The company who did your drive should have insurance to cover this sort of mess. But as they are now behaving so unprofessionally I guess they don't.

If it is the hard core that is causing the problem, won't it continue leaching into the neighbour's drive while ever the hardcore is in place?

I am not legally experienced, but I wonder if her or your insurance would be the ones to cover it?

Is it possible that your neighbours could claim against you , successfully, and you sue the company? I see legal bills rising.

Awful situation, OP - horrible position to be in.

I think what's most unreasonable is that you haven't got quotes to fix this or been proactive in 18 months driving your neighbour to desperation. Surely the sooner you acted the more likely it could have been cleaned off?

If you can fix it for less, great. PPs idea of painting it sounds good so long as it doesn't need redoing regularly, but she deserves to have a drive in as good a state as it was before you did your drive and if that means replacing it so be it.

Yes he would have to paint the whole drive undoubtably . However as previously mentioned what happens if she still unhappy after that .

Oh come on OP, that is more than a strip! You massively downplayed how bad it is and I can’t believe you’ve just ignored that for this long.

You probably have legal cover on your home insurance. Give their helpline a ring, @finallyhappyinlife

Yes I have always agreed it looks a mess however I truly believed it would be the responsibility of the person who caused the issue ie. Tradesman .

Checked and we have no legal cover

I haven’t totally ignored it I have loads of messages to the tradesman asking him to come back and sort this mess out with neighbour . Please don’t make out we’ve just ignored it I have done everything to get them back and just talk to neighbour to discuss options but they refuse .