Neighbour trying to extort money from us ... what to do?

[AnnaPx]

OK, I'll try and make this brief. It's been going on for 6 months now...
We wanted to build a very small conservatory against the boundary fence. Asked neighbour, she said yes so long as we replace the fence with a wall, so we started work. Builder did a runner, then neighbour said we had to knock it all down as the wall was "bad quality" and we had to remove the conservatory from the boundary as she had "never agreed".
The arguments went on for a while with her threatening every so often to tear it all down herself and/or get a solicitor.
Finally she did get a solicitor. Arguments via her solicitor didn't get anywhere either. Finally we gave in as we can't be doing with living in a building site any longer; we've put the fence back and paid to have the conservatory moved.
Now she's demanding £3k in legal costs and saying if we don't pay she'll go to court and get £15k compensation!!
The latter figure is way more than the entire cost of the building work.
So my question is, is this for real? Can she really get compensation for something she had agreed to? Especially now that we've put everything back the way it was?
And if you think we need a lawyer, can you recommend anyone? We're in London.

Thank you to anyone who's got this far. I'm really worried about the whole thing especially as I'm a SAHM and we don't have that kind of money at the moment

I have no idea about law but you can try this website for some advice here.

I suspect she spouting hot air rather than fact. If a court did award her "costs" then it would only be for actual costs incurred. If she is trying to say that she would get compensation for damages then she would need to show that she had suffered somehow but if you have put all back as was then hard to see how.

ask your solicitor to ask for proof she has incurred £3000 of costs. she won;t get £15 000 in court , unless she can prove significant harm/ loss etc...

CAB might be good place to start

Thanks to you both. Website looks useful and I will try CAB.

If you were building on a boundary then you are legally obliged to get a party wall award (Party Wall Act 1996) which has to be in writing even if it says: "I agree to my neighbour doing x" signed and dated. If you haven't gone through this formality, then she may have grounds for suing you I'm afraid, although I would question her figures.

As far as I am aware she would not be entitled to these costs as they have not been awarded to her by a court. If the wall/fence was a boundary wall then she should have paid half of the cost. If the conservatory had been built on your side of the boundary then she had no say in the construction. Did you need to get local authority planning consent for this? Did you get her consent in writing? It sounds like she's trying it on to be honest with you. It was her decision to go through a solicitor so she can not blame you for this. Try the CAB.

Sorry haven't replied sooner - thanks everyone.

I didn't get her written consent, just verbal (we had got on really well before this, so I wasn't as careful as I should have been). The conservatory is so small it didn't need planning consent - which I did check with the council. Unfortunately I hadn't heard of the Party Wall Act until after this whole thing went pear shaped.

CAB say we need legal advice - but that they can't give it.

But the good news is that I was letting off steam this afternoon to a RL friend, and it turns out her husband is a lawyer and he has taken the letters home to look at. He's going to write a reply to the neighbour. I feel a bit guilty that he's doing this for us - but also really relieved that we've got a professional looking at all the detail.

So thanks again , I really appreciate all the help. You are lovely people, and that alone has cheered me up

what a hoorible situation to be in.

Nothing useful to add (sorry) but let us know how it progresses