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 .

mine was all faded by the sun and the work when we did the path, this is the driveway paint it’s brilliant stuff

Did you come on MN just to be validated?

Ah well. Life must be one long disappointment for you.

It isn’t ...but that's the risk you take employing shoddy workmen. If something is damaged and it needs replacing sometimes that means renewing. Your neighbour wants the amenity of a drive in matching tone without bleaching (acknowledged as caused by work you commissioned) and your work damaged that...what should she ask for in order to be put back into the place she started from?

Who will pay for her costs of admin to sort this out with you and not having her drive whilst it's fixed..these are all costs attributable to you.
You then reclaim your costs from the person who worked for YOU

What about getting the driveway sealed - that usually restores the dark finish and costs about £300.

Don’t offer to paint it yourselves.

Get a reputable, insured company to paint it and make good, at your cost. Then if she still isn’t satisfied you aren’t financially on the hook for everything.

Trying to find a way through is always preferable to court.

Did the letter before action mention any kind of alternative dispute resolution e.g mediation or arbitration? My limited knowledge of civil action is that those avenues need to be explored before proceedings are issued. The court can take a dim view of a claim if the parties haven’t considered ADR.

If the OP hasn’t made good 18 months after causing the damage despite the fact the neighbour has complained, although the court might order it, I doubt the neighbour would be criticised by the court for not mediating before issuing.

Why are you posting on here? Go speak to a lawyer to see about it. The trades ppl were the ones who caused the issue not you. I don't see how the neighbours can take the home owners to small claims court.

OP there are at least two lawyers on here who’ve advised you. You can be sued and if you don’t fix it or engage with sorting it out, you will be sued by the sounds of it.

You're unwillingness to accept responsibility is quite shocking. Why can't you comprehend that it is your action that created the problem? You action is that you employed someone who was unprofessional and that resulted in damage. Unprofessional because like tou, they are washing their hands with the issue.

I suspect they were prepared to consider a reasonable remedy but they have now reached the point of not caring about being reasonable any longer and are prepared to go for as much as they can. They probably know the courts wouldn't grant a full re-tarmac but they might get compensation in the thousands.

You need to start dealing with the issue rather than passing the buck and then telling yourself you've done your part.

Legally, you are in the wrong. How much in the wrong would be for a judge to decide

Who decided it was hard-core that was causing the staining, did anyone professional actually come and take a look and suggest a remedy.

They can sue the OP.

OP you should be suing the tradesman for doing a bad job. If he is so experienced he should have known there would be run off if your drive is higher than NDN.And as PP mentioned he must have insurance that would cover repairing the damage. Do what NDN has done to you and send him a 'letter before action'.

Get on Google maps /earth op. Get good pics of it pre your work done.

Because the homeowners chose and hired the contractors so are responsible for any damage. The homeowners then sue the contractors (who they had the contract with) and are actually the people who caused the damage. The neighbours can't sue the contractors as they didn't have a contract with them

So your contactor ruined her driveway over a year and a half ago and you have still not done anything about it. No surpise that she is pissed off and now going down the small claims route.

You should have dealt with the problem long ago. Chasing your contractor who has clearly wiped their hands of the matter does not cut it i'm afraid.

In a court of law YOU will be held liable. Pull your finger out before this costs you a lot of money.

OP also should’ve checked that he was insured. That she didn’t is her negligence not the neighbours.

But op says it's from hard-core which is under the block paving, the run off apparently drains into the drainage channel which presumably leads somewhere, if the run off from the paving went into the drain channel,wouldn't it stain the pavement too.

They could sue them on negligence but it’s easier to go the OP - neighbour doesn’t need to spend time trying to trace a dodgy builder - that’s the OP’s problem.

Go to small claims court. Take lots of pictures, try and get any before pics you can from google. Get neighbour statements if you can. Provide evidence of making reasonable offers of compensations and reasonable efforts to rectify. Provide suggestions such as presented here about repainting etc. Stay calm and civiil throughout and let them paint themselves as the idiots they are. They just want a new driveway.

OP, curious what type of new driveway the quotes are for? Are they for fancy block pave, resin, etc, or are they just quoting for a like for like flat tarmac replacement?

Your neighbour is NOT correct on remedy @finallyhappyinlife
This is where her case falls apart.
Civil law is governed by restitution, not enrichment.
The legal standard is:
Restore the claimant to the position they were in before the nuisance,
not improve it.
Her drive was:

• 30+ years old
• Faded, cracked, end-of-life tarmac
• Unmaintained

She is therefore not entitled to:

• A brand-new £10–11k driveway
• Betterment at your expense

Courts are extremely hostile to betterment claims.

😂😂😂😂😂
are you the neighbour?

It's not clear to me why there is run off on to the neighbours property if the drainage channel is installed properly.

Was this initial run off from the install before the drainage was finished or is there further staining every time it rains?

You could consider getting a company to quote for restoring the tarmac'c colour as a PP said then issue your own small claims court claim against the installer.

Alternatively can it be painted and sealed? This might be a slippery slope though because once you paint it it may need reprinting regularly

Irrespective of the age of the tarmac drive I doubt anyone would be happy if their drive was made this unsightly and all the offending party did was fire off irate emails then shrug their shoulders.

How would you feel if your drive was permanently discoloured to the same extent by say cement or acid stains? Or is this different because your drive is expensive/ new and hers cheap and old?

Does it not just need pressure washed ?

Situations like this are so awkward! My neighbour drove into my fence post and damaged it - annoying. He said he would sort it and that he was late for work. He then over the space of about a month left various things next to the fence like a fence post and some cement but never actually did anything with it 😂 did he expect me to do it? The problem for me was that the rest of the fence was perfectly functional but old and quite frankly needed replacing for aesthetic reasons and likely wouldn’t have lasted much longer (like her drive basically) so it would have felt really awkward to ask him to buy anything expensive to rectify something so rickety and that he didn’t mean to do. But in my head I kept thinking that he should do something about it and it did bother me that he didn’t follow up (I felt offended really) I think she’s been ludicrous to expect a £10,000 new drive. I don’t know where you stand legally but I would be inclined to let her take legal action at this point if she wants to (it would cost her a fortune, it’s almost £500 just to get a consultations these days) Could you contact another tarmac specialist and see if they can do anything like relay part of it or coat it in something that will bring it to the same colour? I think she should have it put back to how it was but it doesn’t seem easy and I wouldn’t be paying thousands of pounds for discolouration of something that has a limited life span. I bet she would say no even if you did find something but at least you could say that you have made a viable offer. Facebook is usually good for advice if you put a photo on a group you’ll get loads of people making suggestions. I didn’t even ask my neighbour about the fence, I would have been embarrassed asking about a 15 year old fence that I hadn’t painted or treated in 14 years (but I still find it a bit annoying that he didn’t make any effort 😂)