Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Property/DIY

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

Neighbours from Hell

18 replies

ciarahenry90 · 14/09/2018 13:48

I am not sure where to start;
My neighbours applied for planning permission which we accepted didn't see a problem as we wanted to do the same.
They started building, which was all night and weekends. Needless to say 2 and half years later we were getting pissed off with constant hammering. After an incident we started looking into their building work and realised they have done so much wrong. The main concern that we now have is that the roof is structurally unsound. Will we be covered under our home insurance to move out until it's sorted?

OP posts:
Bombardier25966 · 14/09/2018 13:54

What were they building that took two and a half years of constant hammering?

Is it your roof that has been rendered unsafe, and if so by whom?

Tara336 · 14/09/2018 14:01

You would need to ask your home insurance if your covered.

ciarahenry90 · 14/09/2018 14:15

He is a builder so would work during the day in his day job and then would come home to build his home as they are doing it on the cheap.

A builder and a structural surveyor, they illegal cut down my chimney and put all there roof things over into our property and didn't join to two together properly.

I am going to call my insurance today and see what they say, I didn't know if anyone else had some experience

OP posts:
Newkitchenideas1 · 14/09/2018 14:23

Is there a party wall agreement between you? Contact the councils building control officer? Get a structural report carried out on the roof?
Doesnt sound great so youl need to get something sorted, I wouldnt want to use my insurance company for someone elses mistakes, surely it should be done under his?

Lucisky · 14/09/2018 14:24

There are regulations about building noise at night and weekends, contact environmental health.
If you property is being damaged, contact your insurer. Do you have legal cover? Sounds like it (your adjoining roof) needs examining by a surveyor working on your behalf.
Two and a half years is crazy! They sound like they are taking the mick big time.

ciarahenry90 · 14/09/2018 16:47

We were never severed a party wall award so there isn't one when there shouldn't of been one....they tried to cut corners and think they could get away with it but that isn't going to fly anymore now we know what they need.

In terms of the noise, have spoke to environment health, they have now stopped and we had a legal case again them claiming for damages/loss of amenities etc

Legal cover won't cover me as I haven't been with the insurance company long enough so all the solicitors bills I am having to pay for.

Surveyor is booked for Monday. Building control won't come out as I am not their client (it's an outsourced one that we think has taken back handed payments as the neighbour works for a building company)

Obviously we don't want to live in a house which is structurally sound but not sure how much money we have to spare on alternative accommodation so thought ours might but we aren't sure. I don't know if we can demand them pay through their insurance company (TBH I highly doubt they even have insurance)

It's just a whole big legal mess with their foundations in my boundary, breaking my boiler, cutting down my chimney illegally, constantly trespassing in my garden (not the best coming home to find random men in your garden) being verbally abused and threatened, cat called by their builders. Leaving crap everywhere in my roof, chemicals in my garden. Open Sewer in my back garden.

OP posts:
MsJolly · 14/09/2018 16:54

Have no idea why you’ve allowed this for so long-I would have called the police for any of those things tbh. It’s no wonder they think they can carry on. You’ve allowed them to decrease the value of your property.

WhollyFather · 14/09/2018 17:02

I'd suggest you put a stop to this ASAP before something big goes wrong.

PP suggested your local council's Building control officer/surveyor and I would second that. One council's explanatory webpage here.

marph45 · 14/09/2018 17:02

If you don't have Party Wall Agreement, then there must be a consent between the immediate neighbours. Nowadays, consent is more common than costly Party Wall Act agreement. The local council must have records of the work carried out...etc.

BlueEyedBengal · 14/09/2018 18:23

Get the building officer out from the council before any more damage is done to your property. Don't put up with it anymore as he is a total cowboy by the sound of it .

Ginorchoc · 14/09/2018 18:30

Have you had the building control Officer from the council out? If they come out and the building is unsafe they’ll send out a dangerous structure notice. This can include remedies and deadlines, it can’t be ignored. You’ll need that for your insurance.

BubblesBuddy · 15/09/2018 00:02

Building control is out-sourced the op said. The council doesn’t have its own officers. However, the councils planning dept should offer advice. If it’s known who building control is, contact the company and ask an officer to visit.

This is a saga and you needed to establish boundaries as to how the work was carried out much sooner than this. Now, I would seek legal advice and get a report from a surveyor appointed by you. Get a structural engineer’s report for the roof. Make sure building control get these reports. Claim from your insurance if you can. Check the policy. They can counter claim from your neighbours if they accept the claim.

Ginorchoc · 15/09/2018 10:22

The council should have its own building control Officer? Even if it’s outsourced they should be impartial. I’m dealing with the same scenario at present for a mixed use unit.

gramadilema · 15/09/2018 19:47

Surely the council has a planning department. Contact them on Monday. We had to do that when our builder cocked up and wouldn’t come back to put a list of things right. The guy from planning came round very quickly. A council can not afford to have rogue work gong on. They will have a department even if it is outsourced.
Builders with poor customer relations tend to wind their company up every 5 years so previous customers have no recourse. If you are suing you can only sue the company not the person ( as I found out to my expense). So make sure you act soon as he sounds like the kind of builder who’d do that. Good luck, you really don’t have to keep putting with his abuse.

clairetam1 · 15/09/2018 22:14

I am in a similar situation whereas my neighbours had a loft conversion with a dormer extension which trespasses onto my roof as the builder did not build it to the plans. We had a 'unofficial' party wall agreement as per the plans. They kept everything covered up so I couldn't see the trespass on my roof and as soon as it was revealed I wrote to my neighbour but they just continued to finish. I have legal protection which I now have the expense to pay for a surveyor before they will take any action. Council won't act as they claim it's a civil matter. It's so unfair that we are put in a situation we didn't ask for and it's at our expense.

ciarahenry90 · 18/09/2018 11:06

Thanks everyone for the responses,

I feel like this is going to be a never ending saga with things. I have escalated the building control to RCIS and the local councillor to see if they are get them removed and the approved one put in place so that the build is done within building regulations.

Solicitors are costing me a bomb but it's money that I need to spend to get this sorted I suppose.

OP posts:
purpleme12 · 18/09/2018 11:16

Moving it won't be covered on your home insurance for this though. This isn't what home insurance covers

endofthelinefinally · 18/09/2018 11:29

There should have been planning permission and a party wall agreement.
Hope you manage to get it sorted. It sounds grim.
When we built our extension the building inspector turned up regularly to check all was being done within the planning permission.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread