Anyone experienced problems with new build developments being built next door ? Party Wall issue

[Tillyboo]

We live in a lovely 1950's house positioned in a 1/3rd of an acre which used to have a paddock adjacent next door.
Not anymore ...
Bloody new build of about 130 houses (won't say which developers but a major one) has been built on top of the lovely field and we now have huge 3 storey houses directly next door and running alongside our hedge and garden.
We've had over 2yrs of hell, dirt & debris flying into the garden. Major, major vibrations from the pile driving and heavy machinery etc. Noise & pollution, fumes and just a horrid, horrid time.
There are 'piles' and footings for a new garage next to us but on measuring the concrete piles we discovered them to be less than 6 metres which is the closest piles can be apparanty to an existing property. We have surveyors on the case in correspondence with the developers but we are not too confident in the insurance appointed surveyors to resolve this.
We have loads of cracks and damage to the interior of our house caused by all the groundworks and pile driving (extremely close to our house) which will need to be repaired and re-decorated (about 12 rooms) which means we'll have to move out for about a month, with a 3yo dd !
Nightmare ...
Anyhow, I just wondered if anyone else had ever experienced anything like this, what was the outcome ? Did you take legal action, did you get compensation etc. ?

No experience I'm afraid. Bumping in case anyone does.
What a terrible situation to be in!

Tillyboo - poor you. I have no experience of this directly but we just had building works on our house and we had to get agreement from the neighbours to work within 6 metres of the boundary. This is a formal notice which we and they had to sign. I would suggest that if they are working within 6m of your boundary and you did not sign one of these you contact a solicitor asap or your local council may be able to help.Also if I were you I would start taking photos of your house to document the damage and you could ask the surveyors to put out markers on significant cracks to they can measure them. In addition your could notify your building insurer that you will be claiming because of the damage. I would have thought they would be down on the contractors like a ton of bricks. Keep a diary of of all the noise and disruption. If I was you and there was significant damage I would try to find a solicitor - your building insurer may even offer legal help. Good luck.

I haven't had that exactly, but in a rather different dispute with neighbours, I found planning aid were an enormous help. They gave me loads of advice on what the law is/what kind of letters to write and to whom.

Hi all,
Yes we've had surveyors and the insurance co. involved from the start of the cracks appearing (a year ago last October) and it's been such a slow process, we are getting very frustrated and angry about it all now.
Fortunately the insurance co. have agreed to cover the cost of the repairs and re-decoration but the building co. are real arses.

I have written numerous letters of complaint
only to be faced with a total 'couldn't care less' attitude and 'sorry, we don't feel any of our works have caused any problems'.

My dd came out in severe eczema on her back whereupon her back looked like I'd scalded her with boiling water. She was also very ill last year with a nasty infection which resulted in her having to have 2 op's to removed an infected lymph node - apparantly caused by an environmental bacteria.
Nothing can be proved and I can't categorically say that all the dirt and crap that we obviously breathed in didn't contribute or cause it BUT in my heart of hearts I know it came from all the earth that was disturbed. My consultant said it was an airbourne bacteria and possibly came from soil so make your own minds up about whether or not she'd have got ill if we hadn't been living next door to a building site.

Over the last few years I've taken photo's and video'ed evidence of everything that has gone on. It would make pretty good viewing should we need to pursue things legally.
We even had the environmental health officer around to witness the clouds of dirt, debris and fumes and he was totally ineffective and just asked the dev co. to water down the roads. But when you have great big caterpiller machinery driving backwards and forewards up & down huge piles of dirt right next to our house, you can imagine what little effect the watering down had.
We just then had the awful extremely loud droning of the cleaning truck trundelling around.

SORRY, I'm on a roll now, it's been such a horrid time, all my anger and frustrations are tumbling out now.
The council have been useless - I won't go into it, I'll be here all day and you'll all lose the will to live.

Anyway, depending on the build co's reaction to the latest letter informing them that they have in fact breached the party wall act, I'm not sure what the next step is.
We have tabs in the walls to see if movement in the house is still happening - fingers crossed it's all stopped now.
I'm all for pursueing compensation, even if it's to get our £1,000 insurance excess back.

Thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings.
Maybe there are some experts out there who could suggest a legal course of action or recommend a good solicitor experienced in this type of thing. We are in Berkshire

Thanks Twocats, I will have a look at the link

Don't know what your rights are, but have you tried writing to buider enclosing a copy of a letter that you intend to send to Watchdod or the like detailing your treatment? Sometimes the threat of adverse publicity works wonders!

Mmm, I'd do it but dh wants to try the polite route first I think. If all else fails I'm well up for exposing what a pigging nightmare they have made us endure.
There must be a buildings ombudsmen or something I would imagine.
In any case I'm like a dog with a bone on this one - mainly because of what happened to my dd as she went through a very traumatic time.
Thanks all for your advice and suggestions.
MN is just great isn't it

Personally tillyboo, I'd have escalated big time by now. I'm with your DH in trying politeness first, but your posts imply that has failed.

If a large firm was disturbing me on that scale, then their directors would be phoned at home, at a time they did not find convenient.

You'd be amazed what getting one board level director out of bed can achieve.

Share the name of the firm with us, and I'll see if my list can turn up the right number...

OK, it's BOVIS HOMES !
From what I can gather from other people in the business they are normally a lot more considerate or used to be.

Who do you work for just out of interest and what is your magic list ?

Thanks so much !

Any news DominiCorner ?

Sorry, typo 'Connor'

Tillyboo, the only way I can remain employed is if I own the company, else it ends badly...

I'm Sorry about the delay, just upgraded the EMH to run on Excel 12, more effective but with a bit of overhead.
Here's enough names and home contact details to get their attention. Obviously I can trust you not to harass these hard working gentlemen, and counsel you to first contact them through their office number. I have no doubt at all, even slightly that they will put you through to the right person first time, and that you won't get any platitudes or be fobbed off in anyway. Thus this list will be of no value to you.

I suspect you want the Chief Executive
Malcolm Harris
Old Farmhouse Penshurst Rd
Bidborough
Tunbridge Wells
01892 510857
His mobile is probably 07711 822583, though this has less than 70% confidence, couldn't get his real postcode, don't know why.

Others that may help, depending upon where you live:
South West : Peter Baker
Holt Farm Stow Road
Alderton
Tewkesbury
Gloucs
GL20 8NX
01242 621204

North : Terence F Hyldon
(No, the EMH didn't say "North" of what, and was a bit vague about what "F" stood for, offered "fuckwit", but what can you expect from VBA 12 ?)
40 Gawsworth Rd
Macclesfield
SK11 8UE
01625 432594

Brian Michael Johnson
The EMH got his middle name, but rather lost the plot on what he did where he does it, or even if he actually does anything at all. It came up with "Scotland, maybe some sort of banker who didn't make it in the city". That's probably not useful or even accurate, since it also claimed he ran around aimlessly in Utah.
But it's pretty confident he's been a director of Bovis, though he seems to have risen without a trace.

11 Cock Lane
Norton Juxta Twycross
Atherstone CV9 3PY
01827 880604

Alistair Thomas
He's trying to sort out their land portfolio (good luck), which possibly may be beyond him.
However, he's also a Chartered Surveyor in good standing and thus may understand the problems you've had with your foundations.
01865 359317
Old Orchard Cottage Church Lane
Charlton On Otmoor
Kidlington OX5 2UA
01865 359317

Hi DominiConnor, that's great, thanks v much !
DH is of the mind we wait for a response from the latest correspondance and if we hit a brick wall with that then I think getting hold of a good solicitor with experience in party walls etc.
But I'm sure one of these names will be of use should we need it. I shan't divulge where the names and addresses came from tho.
Gone are the days of horses and ponies snorting up and down our boundary. We now have crude language (on occasions), foreign chit chat, and I found what looked like a bag of human poo the other side of our boundary. Nice !
Once again, thanks for your information, could be a huge help !

Might I also suggest a webcam for evidence gathering ?
You can leave it running, then fast forward to find bits you can use when you need to take thme to court.

Tillyboo,that sounds just awful.I can't adsd much to the fab advice that you've already been given,but would also keep a diary of occurances of foul language,tipping rubbish ect.Also keep any reciepts for drycleaning clothes,furnishing ect.

I take it BOVIS aren't members of the 'considerate contractors scheme' from what you've said?

Don't give up.I worked on a road building contract years ago & we had to deal with problems caused by dust/noise ect.People used to send us bills for washing their cars ect.

Keep at em!

My neighbour sent them a bill for window cleaning and they just ignored it !
I hate them, I hate them, I hate them ... Building Co. not my neighbours
Haven't heard a response from recent corespondence yet so will give it til next week then I shall scream very LOUDLY ....

Hmm,just looked at their website & there is a load of guff about social,environmetal & community responsibility.

Sounds as though they talk the talk,but don't wealk the walk.

Would the local press help?Local MP even?

Thanks Mirage, that's interesting I'll take a look. I might put together a little portfolio of the photo's we've taken over the past 2 years together with copies of previous letters in preparation for further battle.

We have to wait on the Surveyors, appointed by the insurance company, to exhaust their attempt at some recognition by the building company and if they are unsuccessful then I'll have everything ready to approach a solicitor - if dh agrees ....

Hi, very interested to hear the outcome of this as I’m going through exactly the same thing at the moment. Thank you x

Hi Linseylou, I am sorry to hear that you are experiencing problems with building works. Since you last messaged, has this been resolved? We have been issued a notice by the builders that are going to be piling foundations less than 3 metres from our property which
has normal foundations, which may result in our property requiring underpinning as it is so close to ours. We are also going to have to endure a further 2 years of piling behind us for a large development where we previously overlooked fields. Our daughter recently experienced a severe asthma attack, so I am therefore concerned that this this will cause health problems for my child with the dust and pollution from the building works. I am experiencing stress about what our family will have to endure, and would love to be able to sell the house, but it seems impossible with all the planned building. I would love to hear from anyone who is undergoing a similar experience, or from anyone who may be able to offer any advice.

Just seen this reply sorry, how did all go? The development has finished next to us now but it was a horrendous experience and I still feel really bitter about the whole situation and have recently thought more and more about moving house 😢