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 .

Hubby offered to jet wash the drive at the time which he did however it didn’t work

That looks awful but I'm no expert, why would hard-core leach, isn't it sealed properly, if it ran then wouldn't that happen to everyone who had it done, your drive must be higher than theirs. I'd go to your insurers then get a driveway specialist to look at both drives, there's no point repairing ndn if it just happens again, if it was a one off I'd ask about the repainting first, can trading standards help with the original builders bodge.

I agree and have told neighbour that it’s not good enough however I truly believed if you paid someone to a job they would be responsible if things went wrong 🤷🏽‍♀️

I am going to speak to a solicitor for legal advice . Yes our drive is higher hence the run off .

Don't do that, it will just make it worse and take the top layer off.

You need to make good her drive, not the tradesman. If you want the tradesman to do it then you need to argue with him about it (or sue him)

Small claim is up to £10k. So you could take him to court. Send him a letter before action to see if that makes him spring into action. Hopefully you have lots of before and after photos and have kept all your communications with him?

This doesn't alter the fact that you need to get their drive back to how it was before.

The neighbours have a very shitty old basic driveway and want what you have! Bleach and hot water all over their drive will get the whole lot back to the same colour - the ridiculous prices they are quoting because part of their ancient drive is a bit of a cleaner colour compared to the manky colour it is usually are trying it on and taking the piss!!

They are responsible to you as the person who employed them BUT if they damage someone else's property while working for you then you are responsible for sorting out the problem. Its absolutely not enough to say "oh the tradesman won't get back to me what else can I do?" I would not be accepting the paint job offer if I was your neighbour. My neighbour used tarmac paint on our shared drives a few years ago now. He wanted to do it and only asked the other drive sharers to cover the cost of the paint. I don't know if he did it wrong but the paint wore off again in about 18 months. In your case I am thinking that this would mean that the neighbour would be coming back to you saying "Your fix didn't work, now bloody fix it properly" And this happened 18 months ago and still not resolved??? If I was your neighbour, I'd be at the small claims court long before now. I am also not sure what your neighbour's fence has to do with any of this?

Agreed.

Hardly "jet black" to begin with.

I'd send their recorded letter back to them, via recorded delivery after having wiped my backside with it first.

Force Majeure and all that - no way on a Sunday the OP is responsible for the discolouration. Fucking acid rain could do the same and worse. She has a shit and old driveway with substandard fading tarmac.

Shes trying to play you OP - tell her to fuck off.

Your contractor is responsible to you so it is for you to pursue him or not.
But your neighbour did not employ him.
Therefore YOU are the person she sues, not him.
This isn’t tricky.
You need to understand you have done too little too late.
Not surprised your neighbour has sent you a Letter Before Action.
Offer your solution sharpish.
If it works fine, if not you are on your way to small claims court in which case you will also be responsible for her court fees plus interest on the amount claimed back dated.
Do everything you can to sort this out without going to court and accept that you were mistaken in your initial belief that it was good enough to just chase the contractor.
A lot of humble pie to be eaten and apologies to your poor neighbour are the way to go if you want to try to restore any degree of peace.

How would force majeure apply here?

The OP paid for her drive to be paved.

She is not responsible for HOW it was done - thats why she paid a contractor to do it.

No relevance that the contractor gives a fuck or not, the OP is not responsible for the way her driveway was constructed - ergo is not liable for the run off, which probably only happens when it rains - is the OP responsible for the rain too?

FM applies here very clearly. The NDN wouldnt last 5 mins in court with her bullshit claim unless it was an encroachment over the boundary issue, which the OP hasnt indicated that it is. The NDN can fuck off.

her drive is 30plus years old faded cracked tarmac missing etc . There has been no actual damage to her drive it’s staining due to hardcore run off when it rains .
To expect us to pay £10000 plus for a brand new drive surely is totally ridiculous . No boundary issues here at all . From the day we started the drive she asked me how much it had cost and blatantly told me she could no way afford to have hers done even tho she would love to . As previous posters have implied jealous neighbour springs to mind . I’ve even thought about getting a quote from someone to cover the stain with new tarmac but that would look even worse as the old drive is seriously aged and faded . Why do we have to make good the whole drive when her concern is the stain

Thank you

I totally agree her request is just ridiculous

Thanks for the additional info.

I'm right - she is just trying it on.

I wouldnt acknowledge her deranged and unhinged demands.

The existing wear-n-tear on her dogshit drive wholly undermines her premise that your driveway work is somehow responsible.

Do not let her live rent free in your head. Let her take legal action - it will cost her, not you. Shes a fucking chancer.

Let her pursue any claim, her drive is in a poor condition, she won't get a new one at your expense but the stain has made it look worse than it already was. Ignore her.

Do you have more photos of her drive.

I had something similar with a landscape gardener damaging my neighbour’s property. My neighbour claimed on their own house insurance. Her insurers sent us a bill. I replied with the name of my gardener to pursue through his insurance. Never heard anything again. That’s what insurance is for, both household and professional.

The drive doesn't look in great condition, but it looks like the light stripe has washed right across it. To replace the whole drive would improve the drive rather than return it to where it was before the damage so I think you could negotiate your contribution, offer to go halves or whatever you think.

You could forward a copy of the letter to your builder saying you will be re-claiming the cost from him and it might be cheaper for him to fix it himself.

But get legal advice.

Apart from the fact that definitely isn’t a “strip” the first step in any action is for your neighbour to prove a) the discolouration was the fault of you/your contractor and b) the discolouration amounts to damage.

I suspect there is a good argument for claiming the discolouration is due to natural flow of water from higher land and outside of your responsibility AND also that discolouration doesn’t amount to damage and so not actionable.

Your next steps depend on how much you want to keep the peace.

(IAAL - by not the sort that deals with these types of complaints)

More pics

Why do people give legal advice when they don't have a clue about the law.

Contrary to what you say, OP is responsible for the actions of the people she contracted to construct her drive. If her neighbour's drive has been damaged by their actions, she is liable. On the information posted, her neighbour may have a valid claim. However, that doesn't necessarily mean the neighbour can claim the full cost of resurfacing her drive.

Poor neighbour ?? 🤔