Neighbours have demolished a privately owned (not party) wall.

[verylittlecarrot]

On behalf of my elderly parents I'm asking for advice on this matter. My parents have an old property, 200 years plus, and the boundary wall between them and their neighbour's newer property is entirely owned by my parents, on their land. It is not a party wall and this isn't disputed by their neighbour.

The neighbour has just had his builders demolish one half of the wall and build up a skin of his own new bricks on 'his' side.

So the new bricks are tied in to my parent's remaining bricks, and form part of the wall, on my parent's land.

Mum and Dad are not happy, obviously. Dad believes the neighbour asked if it was OK for him to build his own wall alongside theirs, on his own land, to which dad agreed (not that he could have objected anyway). Clearly Dad did not agree to having his wall demolished and rebuilt with ugly modern bricks on the neighbour's side.

My questions are:

1. Do the neighbour's actions consitute criminal damage? Can Dad press charges should he wish to?
2. Should Dad instruct his own builders to demolish the new wall (since it is on his property) and rebuild his wall back to its original state, then send the bill to the neighbours?
3. If my parents do nothing, what is the legal status of the wall now - ie, does the law still consider it entirely privately owned, or has the neighbour 'converted it by stealth' into a party wall, IYSWIM?

I'm worried for them. If they sell, what is the status of the wall now? What's to stop the neighbour from continuing to build on what he considers to be 'his side' of the wall, now that he has got his own bricks in place, although it is still my parent's wall?
If the neighbour's actions have in some way weakened my parent's wall, presumably they are liable if it falls on anyone.

Just to reiterate, the deeds, and the neighbours, are clear that this is my parent's wall, not a party wall. That wasn't disputed before this situation happened.

Have they spoken to the neighbours yet ? Ask them to reinstate it as was and do as agreed with a separate wall on their own land . They may well say your father verbally agreed it and misunderstood. It is still your parents wall afaik though.

The neighbours appear to have increased their boundary by stealth - thus stealing land.

I hope some legal bod comes on and tells you the situation - if not, your parents should seek legal advice.

They should have got written agreement as to what was to happen - sounds like the neighbours have tried to take advantage of elderly folks.
If it is a genuine misunderstanding then they should accept that your parents' wall should be replaced as was at their own cost (since it was their mistake) - if they won't do that, then they have been duplicitous and your parents will need legal advice on how to proceeed.

wall news story i saw this mornign in metro

Thanks for responding LIZS.

I think things have turned unpleasant with the neighbours. Dad felt quite threatened by the son of the neighbour and I don't want my parents to be put at risk. Dad told them to stop immediately when he realised what they had done, so the wall was half built, up to a certain point along the boundary.

Does it make any difference if the neighbour believed that Dad gave verbal permission? Legally I would hope that meant nothing. Surely a boundary wall established over a couple of centuries and defined in property deeds can't change ownership as easily as "I thought it was OK, we had that chat, remember?"

If the neighbour refuses to reinstate the wall back to its original condition, and I'm sure he will refuse, what should my parents do?

Get a chartered surveyor to come immediatley and take photos of what has happened. This will be needed as evidence. Then get the surveyor to write down what has happened while it is stil fresh in your parents memory and then get the surveyor to write a letter, setitng aout the facts, the law and nenegotiate a solution on your parents behalf.

Boundary disputes have the potential to prevent sales of properties for years. The wall needs to be rebult on your parents side with the original bricks or replacement old briks of similar type.

There is also possibly an innocent explanation. The builder just misunderstood the instructions and demolished the wall instead of just building a skin alongside it.

Thank you for the responses. Is the builder in any way liable for his actions? After all, although he was acting in good faith on the instructions of his client, he has in fact destroyed someone elses property. Surely builders hear alarm bells ringing when they are asked to do work on boundary walls. Don't they have an obligation to ask "is this wall owned by you?". If the answer comes back "no, it belongs to my neighbour but he said it was OK" wouldn't a responsible builder down tools until he had something in writing?

The neighbour threw Dad's old bricks into a skip. I don't know if they are salvageable.

Take photos of what has happened (dated ones)
Write down (with dates and times) a chronology of what happened.

Your dad should go see a lawyer to find out what the legal position is.

Just to add, I am concerned about what dad may or may not have have given permission for in the confusion. He would have been confused and flustered. When he returned home to find his wall half demolished and builders still going at it, I think he was so taken aback he said they could continue 'up to that point there' and stop the demolition there (a point in the wall which seemed to him to be a natural stopping point because the height of the wall changes). He didn't do what most of us would, which is to order them to stop immediately/ call the police/ solicitor, whatever.

He is from a background and generation that think of others first, and I actually think he felt sorry for the builders being caught in the middle, 'it wasn't their fault'.

I'm worried that when confronted with a shocking and unsettling situation, he may be bound by whatever he said in his confusion at that time. Not everyone thinks clearly in a crisis about potential future consequences.

Honestly verylittlecarrot, get some advice. I suspect that your poor dad was under a lot of pressure at the time he spoke to the builder and that might constitute duress (so what he said can not be taken as consent). Find out what his rights are and what the legal position is and take it from there.

check if they have legal advice on their buildings insurance. The insurers may be able to do the negotiations for them.

What BeenBeta said. Get a chartered surveyor (phone the RICS and ask for a local one). It is the most straightforward way to deal with it.

thanks all. I need to go out and will check back on the thread later. I really appreciate the advice.

Everyone above has been very helpful, you don't need a surveyor to take the photos just as long as someone does and does it now.

Your father may have given a verbal agreement but it doesn't actually stand for anything as it will be his word against his neighbour should he suddenly decide he didn't actually say anything.

Can I point you in the direction of the garden law website www.gardenlaw.co.uk there are people who have been through this personally and they can be of great help.

You can also horrify yourself with how often this goes wrong and a dispute arises. I would say to tread carefully just because these things can go wrong, can go on for years and if you have to go down the legal route it can cost tens of thousands. Sorry.