my builder and our neighbour-advice desperately needed

[dipsymummy]

We had a loft conversion done in September and all went well-until now.

we had a damp patch on the new wall and got the builder in to have a look. They explained the what needed to be done and one of the things were a few broken slates on next doors roof whilst they were up there.
They also suggested we tell our neighbour that at some stage she would need to get the cement fillets redone on her own roof.

Now, we have a fantastic relationship with her so I asked the builder if they would do it whilst they were up on the roof if my neighbour wanted. They agreed and said the cost would be £500.

I spoke to her and told her and suggested that she may want to get her own roofers to have a look as well as it was a lot of money. I forgot to tell her about the slates as the builder had mentioned it in passing.

she has since got two roofers in and they have both told her about the broken slates and that her cement fillets were fine. and that our builders had left debris in her gutters.

When she told my dh he apologized and promised to get it all fixed asap.

few days later we got a letter saying she wanted to use her own roofer as she did not trust our builder and that we would have to pay!

we asked to sit down over a cup of coffee and said that in the first instance we would like the opportunity to fix the work and if an assessment by her roofer showed that it was not to standard then we would agree to her using him and we would sort it.she finally agreed but has served us yet another letter!

At the end of the day, our builder has agreed to fix it at no cost as it was his problem, but she is not budging as she feels the builder should have told her about the broken slates.

I have said sorry to her so many times and tried to make her see that i cant speak on his behalf but as a working mum with a 4 and 5 year old, i simply forgot to tell her.

she is holding that against us and is now refusing access to her roof -which means our roof cant get repaired.

where do we stand?we have offered to fix everything in the first instance which would not cost us anything. we have offered to pay for her own roofer if she is not happy with the works and feel we have been very reasonable.
can anyone advise?

S

check your home insurance policy which often includes free telephone advice, although usually supplied by law students.

There is some sort of legal provision for access to someone else's property for essential repairs but you need a qualified person to advise you.

I don't think you have to pay for her roofer to do the work, it's for your builder to put it right. If it isn't done properly then it can be redone and he'd have to pay.

You have a number of problems here:

1. You do not want to ruin the relationship with your neighbours;
2. The amount at issue here can be quickly dwarfed by legal costs, or even an independent opinion from a surveyor;
3. If the damp continues you risk dry rot and serious damage.

Check all your insurance policies- lots of them will have a legal expenses clause, not just your home insurance. Check your credit card and motor insurance too. However, racking up legal costs will do nothing for your relationship. Is there a neighbourhood mediation scheme near you?

It sounds to me like you are being reasonable. Maybe if your neighbours hear that from an independent third party they will agree to the the most cost-effective option.

Thanks for your advice girls.

I have spoken to the legal advice helpline and advised that as the builder is agreeing to do the repairs , we are following correct procedure.
If she chooses to take us to court then she will not have mitigated her losses hence will be liable forour costs.
we can apply thru court for access to her roof to do our essential repairs via the neighbouring lands act, but hope it does not come to that.

I really want to sort this without any legal involvement, but I have seen really different side to a neighbour that I have had only good things to say of. she has turned really nasty and personal, and I dont see her agreeing to anything!

building work can be really annoying for neighbours. They get a load of disturbance - often noise, dirt, blocked in parking and so on, and nothing to show for it. So I can understand that your neighbour is more than fed up with your builder, especially as he suggested an expensive but apparently unnecessary bill.

She needs lots of tea and cake and apologies for the disturbance. If that doesn't work you can mention what you've been told about the legal position. Point out that it will cost her nothing if your builder fixes it but could be quite expensive and very stressful to do anything else.