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 .

Recorded letter was from NDN and inc 3 quotes for 90/91sq metres of tarmac

OP - not sure if this has already been suggested as not read the whole thread but are there any historic pics on Rightmove Sold for your road that might show neighbours drive or its previous condition

What details are in her quote? Did you monitor the work bring done to your driveway and got photos of the work in progress.

It would only be a respray if it were a) possible and b) cost effective. If the paint had been corrosive for example, and it was a very old car, a respray might not put it back to how it was and/or it would cost more than the car was worth. In which case I would be liable to buy them a new car. Now in the case of cars this is quite simple as they have a known resale value. So the new car I would have to buy them would not be brand new, just another one like the one I destroyed. And as there are handy books for such things that give a monetary value, I can just give them this in cash and tell them to go and find the car themselves.

I confess I am not an expert, but I think it's unlikely there is a similar setup for used driveways, as I don't think they're resold quite as commonly as cars... So even if you could work out the value of a 30 year old poorly maintained driveway, you couldn't buy another one for that price to replace it. If the respray does not work (or would cost more than a new tarmac drive), a new tarmac drive is what would be required.

It's actually more similar to something that doesn't maintain its value than a car, like technology; if you have a 30 year old boxy tv and I break it, it would likely cost far more to hunt down and source an exact replica than it would to just buy you a brand new flatscreen. So you'd be getting a massive upgrade at my expense. I suppose if I were super petty I could refuse to buy new and spend hours looking for a used 30 year old tv, with identical scratches and dead pixels, even if it cost vastly more than just going to Currys. So possibly op would be legally allowed to pay to hire someone to artificially age the new drive so it matches the old one. I imagine the judge would be rather bemused by the request though.

But as currently the op doesn't even seem to be sure that the staining is her fault, that would probably be the first thing to establish; right now it's like your really old tv has stopped working and I happened to be in the room. It may be my fault, it may not be. But until we establish that it is, I'm not going to be hitting eBay.

Reading clearly is not your strongest point.

I said:

(Please using spacing in your posts next time, helps readers etc and those with possible visual impairments. Thanks!)

Zero reference to me whatsoever. It was more a courtesy request for all/other members.

So basically quotes for a full new driveway,

What a CF chancer she is!

Yeah full tarmaced driveway

No details on the quotes just tarmac for 90/91 sq metres at her address

As said, ignore her crazy demands.

At best, on a piece of paper, send her the details of the contractor and state that he wont engage with you any more - so she is welcome to try and do so herself.

Total, total chancer of a CF. Let her "file" a legal complaint - gonna cost her a lot more than it will ever cost you.

Shes full of it.

What nonsense, a quote would show the company name, work to be carriedd out, is it just a piece of paper from ndn or actual copies of quotes.

But surely you wouldn’t offer a full brand new tele, considering the age….you wouldn’t offer offer a payment towards the new TV.

Not even house insurance companies all offer new for old….some offer a payment based on current value.

None of that matters. It isn't fixed so you are 100% in the wrong. What you've tried is irrelevant.

There are laws that exist around tradesman correcting mistakes they have made are around them correcting mistakes in the job they did. However to use these laws, the first thing someone would need is the paperwork showing:

1. That X workman or company was employed to carry out Y job.
2. That there were Z expectations of X carrying out Y job
3. That X failed to meet Z expectations

If X isn't coming back willingly to fix their mistakes, and maybe you need legal advice and the small claims court, the first thing that will be needed is this paperwork. Given it was YOUR job, YOU will have this paperwork, not your neighbour. Therefore YOU are the one that needs to get X to sort out the mess. If X refuses, YOU will need to be the one that takes them to the small claims court. Your neighbour CANNOT do this because they have no contract with the X. It would effectively be like you buying some trousers from Next. Getting home and noticing that they have a hole in, and claiming that, given they are faulty and you have receipt, M&S should refund you!

You need to get the person to come back and fix the problem, if they won't YOU need to sort out getting it fixed and suing the original trader for the money.

Well what an afternoon . I emailed tradesman and told him what is happening sent him her letter threatening sc court . I told him this situ needs addressing NOW and I think sending him an email and the letter has shocked him … He said he would come round to see me which he did . I then went to fetch NDN so we could discuss face to face . Tradesman brought tarmac paint with him to show her and offered to paint the whole drive . He has pics of the drive before work started and although it’s not as bad as now there are faded grey areas on it before work started . He also offered to tarmac said stain over with fresh tarmac but advised it will stand out against rest of the 30 yr old drive . But if she wants new tarmac to cover it he would do that …. NDN still refusing both and expects us to replace whole drive with fresh tarmac at our cost …. We have advised we only need to address said stain as it’s impossible to restore it back to how it was due to aging . She’s gone away saying she will speak to son as he’s advised her not to let anyone paint it . She advised she will get back to us after spoken to son .

@finallyhappyinlife Good. This may help you (in terms of mitigation) if she decides to pursue a court claim.

But you had a working TV, and now you don't have a working TV. I can't just shrug and say "oops, never mind, it didn't have any monetary value anyway". If you meant I would offer a payment towards it, how would I decide how much? A 30 year old TV must be basically worthless, should I offer a penny? You might consider that a bit rude...

And what if you couldn't afford to pay the rest? You might have £50, but you still don't have a TV, or any way of getting one. Indeed, I would imagine that if you did have 30 year old telly it's probably precisely because you can't afford a new one, not for its sentimental value. I'm sure OP's neighbour would love a fancy new block drive, but either can't afford it or have other expenses they consider more important. It's not very fair to demand they spend money they don't have to upgrade their drive when they don't want to because OP damaged it.

I would assume anyone who took out house insurance for their standard belongings that only offered a donation towards replacement has made that choice for a deliberate reason. I've never even seen insurance offer that for items like TVs, so I would be extremely unhappy if you just offered me partial payment using that as justification. All my belongings are insured as new for old so my house, my rules.

As I have maintained to you all along OP, the CF NDN is angling for a new drive at your expense.

She is out of hand rejecting solutions which proves shes a CF chancer.

Stay firm - if she rejects the solutions your contractor presents, fuck her off and leave her to it. You cannot possibly fix for her that which she wont accept so stick two fingers up to her and ignore her crazy antics.

Very good news - now if she wants to take you to court, she'll have to prove that neither painting nor tarmacking the whole drive would solve her issue. And if she does manage to convince the judge, it will be very simple for you to pass that on to the tradesman. Should have been done 18 months ago, but you should feel relieved.

Has he accepted responsibility and found the cause of the staining and does he need to do anything to stop it happening again

Well if this is the case, and you and the contractor are (both) doing your best to help get the drive looking OK/uniform again, and it's a 30 year old drive anyway, then I think you and the contractor are being very reasonable, and the neighbour is now being ridiculous.

You're going to have to get a solicitor involved to tell her she is being ridiculous. I am pretty sure - given this new information/update, that the court (if it got that far) wouldn't side with the neighbour.

Good luck @finallyhappyinlife Last thing you need at Christmas isn't it?! But yeah, I'm kind of on your side now, as you appear to be doing the right and ecent things.

I did say to tradesman all this could have been avoided if u had faced this when it happened . I asked you many many times to come back and speak direct to NDN and you refused so it’s been made 100 times worse going on this long which he agreed . He said he’s never ever had this situ before but I said in business u have to expect these things to happen . The son is definitely feeding the fire on this . Her son said it’s the residue from the hardcore stuff so I asked how would he stop it happening and he couldn’t answer that . I said I honestly can’t believe you expect us to hand over 10 grand to you to tarmac your whole drive .

No as he maintains the drive was patchy and grey in areas before the job was done . He doesn’t think it’s the hardcore and tbh the amount of drives he does weekly I would think he would know .

Looks that way doesn’t it

Why does the OP need to get a solicitor involved?

She doesnt.

A solicitor will only be required IF the CF NDN Chancer instructs one (at her own cost) to launch proceedings against the OP.

On balance of whats unfolded, the CF NDN wants stuff for free (like a new drive) so I cant see her ponying up money for a solicitor to take (pseudo) action.

OP can sleep soundly knowing her NDN is a CFC.

I would video the interaction you have with her when she gives you an answer. She would struggle massively in court to get money from you if the original tradesperson has offered to rectify it and she refuses. Also, the photos he has of the drive prior to your drive being completed would help your case in court if it came to that. Hopefully that gives you enough courage in your case to ignore any further requests / threats if she should turn down the offer. She is clearly angling for a brand new expensive drive which is cheeky and puts her in a better position than before. It does my head in when they defer to a family member, usually male. Either it’s a satisfactory offer or it’s not. It’s okay her son saying ‘don’t take the offer’ when he doesn’t have to stand alongside her and say no to a perfectly reasonable offer being made. Lots of men do this, expect women to go do something that they wouldn’t dare do themselves.

Her son said it’s the residue from the hardcore stuff so I asked how would he stop it happening and he couldn’t answer that

Well tbh he didn't lay the drive so it's not up to him to answer that!

No as he maintains the drive was patchy and grey in areas before the job was done . He doesn’t think it’s the hardcore and tbh the amount of drives he does weekly I would think he would know .

So he has offered a solution even though he doesn't think that his work has caused it.

Solution has been rejected so it that the end of it?