Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Original poster

How do you know who owns the roof?

46 replies

Showy · 02/02/2015 10:39

I know it sounds ridiculous and is frankly, dull.

We live mid terrace and originally they were all two up two down. If you stand at the back and look at them they all have single storey bathroom/kitchen extensions but with various roofing. Ours is flat and felted, next door one way is flat and fibre glass something or other, the other side is a tiles, sloped affair. It looks pretty obvious who owns which roof as they extend from the relevant house. Annoyingly, the actual extensions are not so simple. Our extension is L-shaped and the I part is covered by our flat roof. The _ part is under next door's tiled roof which also covers her kitchen, hall and bathroom.

The problem is that her roof is leaking substantially and we are having problems in our kitchen. So who has responsibility for the roof? The deeds don't say and when we moved in we had to get an indemnity policy for rear access as who owns what wrt the yard at the back was never established despite extensive searching. We are happy to go halves or something if it stops the water running down the kitchen wall and into my plug sockets. The snow has really exacerbated the problem. The woman next door, who is a landlady btw and living a long way away now, is aware of the problem but hasn't fixed the roof. So if she refuses, is there any clear way of establishing who owns what?

Is everybody asleep. See, dull.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
wowfudge · 02/02/2015 12:12

Can you post a photo of the set up from outside? Really difficult to understand from your post alone.

BaronessBomburst · 02/02/2015 12:18

It's too confusing to be dull!
So, a previous owner added an extension under your neighbour's roof?
We need photos.

mousmous · 02/02/2015 12:19

so your neighbors roof is leaking and affecting your property?
so let her know pronto and get on to your buildings insurance.

Original poster
Showy · 02/02/2015 12:48

A photograph would show you nothing really. Though I can photograph later if you want. Imagine standing at the rear of a terrace and all of the houses have a single storey extension. You cannot see the problem. It just looks like 5 single storey extensions with clearly delineated roofing. Ours is felt, next door tiled, then a rubber one next to her. The problem is inside. So if you go through our back door, you are in the hallway with the downstairs bathroom to your right. This is all under our felt roof. You then go through the door at the end of the hallway and you are in our kitchen which extends to the left beyond our roof and under next door's. It's a strange higglepiggledy mess. I assume all of the extensions were built at the same time but for uniformity, the roofs were just built out from each house and as each person does repairs, you just do your roof.

So yes next door's roof is leaking but our kitchen is under her roof. So is it her roof or ours? I genuinely cannot think how to explain the ridiculousness that is our terrace.

OP posts:
Original poster
Showy · 02/02/2015 12:56

The part of her roof covering our kitchen is about 3/4 square metres. Her whole roof is approximately 20 square metres. If that helps. A little corner of her roof, covers part of our kitchen.

OP posts:
Mintyy · 02/02/2015 13:01

As it is above your kitchen and affecting your internal room, then I think you have to just look at that part of the roof as yours Showy. In a normal set up it would be yours. It sounds as though you'd have a battle on your hands to get her to do the work.

Rangirl · 02/02/2015 13:18

You need to check your titles surely

wowfudge · 02/02/2015 13:20

Hmm - how long has the neighbour's roof been there and where is the boundary line between the two properties?

It's quite different if, say, faulty guttering on the side of a neighbour's roof means that rain water is gushing onto your wall rather than being directed away from the fabric of the building. Then the onus is on the neighbour to repair the guttering.

The set up at your house OP begs the question: who the hell let someone put a roof on which extends over the boundary? Do post a photo though - I cannot picture this at all.

titchy · 02/02/2015 13:25

If it's above your kitchen then surely it's your roof, irrespective of the structure or who built it. Otherwise your neighbour would have a flying freehold - ie she'd own the air above your kitchen meaning she could build above your kitchen, which I'm guessing she can't.

Original poster
Showy · 02/02/2015 17:09

I just can't explain it at all. Photographs would not help. Her roof has to go over our extension or it wouldn't attach to the wall properly. Her roof is about 85-90% over her property. A small corner of it has to go over our kitchen. So there's a chance that we have to pay for her whole roof to be fixed to prevent it further damaging one corner of our kitchen? I'm happy to pay a percentage cost but I can't afford to fix her whole roof. It needs taking off, re-pitching and re-felting. It is damaging her property too.

Nothing in titles/deeds as I said earlier. It has been like that for 60 years at least.

Hang on, have just been out and this might help. Her extension is wider than ours and extends over the back of our house. But the extensions are both presumably l-shaped so her roof has to go over the top of the corner of our kitchen. Imagine two l-shapes making a square, those are the extensions. Imagine two rectangles making a square, those are the roofs. Our roof is only over our extension. Hers slightly overhangs ours.

I have a crap photo which won't help. I will post it in a second.

OP posts:
Original poster
Showy · 02/02/2015 17:19

I have rotated and bloody rotated. It will only post upside down. Can somebody repost it the right way?

How do you know who owns the roof?
OP posts:
Original poster
Showy · 02/02/2015 17:28

Right so the car on the right is mine. It is in front of my extension. The open door and window in fetching upvc white are mine and pretty much that is the extension belonging to us. Immediately to the left of our door, her extension begins, that is her bathroom window then her back door, then her kitchen window, all in dark wood. Her extension is wide. Wider than her house and is partly in front of our house. Except they are both actually l-shaped so my kitchen is partly under her roof. Our flat roof is immediately above our bit of the extension and has a fetching tarp on it.

OP posts:
Original poster
Showy · 02/02/2015 17:36

To help with picturing it. On her roof you can just make out her massive skylight, that is over her kitchen. The window in the middle of the picture, to the left of our door is her bathroom which obviously extends back a fair way. As you look at it, most of her roof covers her kitchen on the left and her bathroom on the right. The very back corner on the right against the original external wall is above our kitchen. Her extension is much bigger. Is anyone any clearer?

OP posts:
Original poster
Showy · 02/02/2015 17:40

And... sorry! ... if it helps. Our kitchen is the width of our house. It's just that her extension is significantly wider than her house and therefore is built to wrap round our kitchen. Then her roof is built to cover the width of her extension but obviously has to skate over our kitchen.

OP posts:
schmalex · 02/02/2015 17:47

Where is the boundary, OP? Seems crazy to have this sort of situation.

I once looked at a house with a flying freehold (where one party owned part of a property that extended above the other one) and ran for the hills.

TheWildRumpyPumpus · 02/02/2015 17:48

How has she extended in front of your house? Surely she's gone over the boundary line - sounds bizarre.

FannyFifer · 02/02/2015 17:53

Place marking as intrigued but can't see pics on phone.

Original poster
Showy · 02/02/2015 17:54

There is no boundary wrt extensions and yard, hence the indemnity policies for access. We did not do this. Been like that for decades and decades.

Blue is our roof, red hers...

How do you know who owns the roof?
OP posts:
FannyFifer · 02/02/2015 17:57

I think it's neighbours roof so they should pay as if affecting ur property.

How do you know who owns the roof?
Panicmode1 · 02/02/2015 17:58

Did your solicitor not ring large clanging bells when you bought the house?! How did she get permission to build something which is "built to wrap around (y)our kitchen?"

Sounds like a minefield and possibly she has a flying freehold due to this situation, and therefore owns the roof over your kitchen. I would get a builder in to look at the issue and tell her you are going to send her the bill....

ThunderboltKid · 02/02/2015 18:05

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn at poster's request

Original poster
Showy · 02/02/2015 18:09

She didn't do it. It was done way before any of us arrived on the planet. Seriously, lots of terraces have higgledy piggledy extensions. I presume decades and decades ago they looked at a way of building on an indoor bathroom and kitchen to each house without losing the yard, access and the gardens. You should see the gardens and outdoor toilets if you think this odd. All separate from the house. My garden starts 20m away through a gate.

OP posts:
Original poster
Showy · 02/02/2015 18:17

The solicitor pointed out the boundary issues but we met the neighbours and she dug out her conveyancing stuff and we had a good laugh about how times change. She is a nice woman and we will ask. The boundary stuff can't be resolved because there are no historical documents to show any of the decisions made. Every house sale in the terrace for years and years has failed to establish anything. Hence our indemnity policy for the yard. I just can't afford to fix her whole roof and am not sure we have any right to ask her to help.

OP posts:
ThinkIveBeenHacked · 02/02/2015 18:21

I suppose the sensible answer is that if a fifth of the roof covers your rooms theb you cover a fifth of the repair bill.

Original poster
Showy · 02/02/2015 18:37

That is the sensible answer but I'm not sure if I can make her pay the rest of the cost. What if she just doesn't want to fix it? I can't afford to fix her whole roof which is what needs to happen.

I suppose that's the problem with a 100+yr old terrace with wonky boundaries. I can but ask.

OP posts: