Neighbour caused damage to my property

[drainage55]

My neighbour has caused damage to my property during his building work of a dormer and extension kitchen.

He has caused numerous damage and continues to do so. Because the drainage was blocked, I employed a company to unblock the drain and they when they placed a camera in the drain they discovered that at the beginning of the extension there was damage to the underground pipes, cement and building debris was in the drain and manhole and the pipes had been shifted and caused the blockage and the reports say that the garden needs to be dug up and the gully and pipes replaced . His surveyor is claiming that "the ‘opening up of joints’ is highly likely to be a pre existing defect commonly found in shallow vitrified clay pipes particularly when bedded in high shrinkable clay soils. The below ground drainage is very shallow and judging by the condition of the external manhole and surrounding ‘cracked and uneven’ paving it is clear that there is some historic settlement. This common defect cannot be directly attributed to the completed building works." As my surveyor is not challenging this, can anyone help if he can use this to get out of paying. He is paying for the unblocking of the drain so as far as I am concerned he is responsible. I have been living in my property for over 25 years and my drain has never been blocked. Another thing is I was told by the drainage company that he should have applied for a build over agreement from Thames Water. Is this correct? Shouldn't my surveyor be challenging this? He says this is now a dispute under Section 10.

The neighbour doesn't want to pay for the replacement of the part of the concrete fence he removed, even though the surveyor previously advised that they had to pay for this under the Party Wall Act. The neighbour thinks the quote is too high and wants to do the work himself. I don't because he has caused so much damage and continues to cause damage which he again is refusing to pay for. Again my surveyor says its a dispute etc. No challenge again.
I have before/after pictures of the damage but my surveyor doesn't seem interested as they claim the wall was dangerous which is not the case.

I asked my surveyor about at the beginning who had to pay his fees and he said the neighbour. Yet he told me today that he has to remove himself from the emotional side of this and if I wanted him to deal with this I would have to pay for it. Had he told me this I would never have engaged him. I expected him to give a 100%. Now I am stuck with someone who doesn't care. Can anyone advise please?

Neighbour wants to start work in finishing off his wall before all the dispute is cleared up but I have said no. Do you agree with me as my surveyor doesn't?

The neighbour's surveyor is a liar. He has lied that I was at an agreement meeting and I wasn't and have proof of this but again my surveyor has not challenged this. I also wanted to report him to the RICS but my surveyor says he is not registered. Can anyone advise what I can do about this?

Am an elderly lady living on my own and feel am being taken advantage of by everyone.

Another thing I said I did not want the neighbour on my property who is a builder. Instead he has chosen a builder who shares the same surname and is one of his builders who was working with him. Can I tell my surveyor I don't want to use him.

There is also damage to the garden slabs, which they are claiming was already damaged. I have sent my surveyor proof of this and he has removed this from my claim. Now the two surveyors are going to S.10, I feel I have no hope of getting what I am due and to claim for compensation which my surveyor says he will be requesting separately (have been advised this should have also been done with this claim - is this correct?). As you know I cant get rid of my surveyor but he can walk off. The neighbour is a builder and am a lady near pension age so haven't got any funds.

The last problem is my last surveyor messed up and was advised incorrectly and have to pay neighbour £3000 as I was wrongly advised to agree consent order because if I went to court it cost me £10K. I regret this and should have taken my chances.

Please, please, can someone help me. This has been going on for a long time and this is affecting my heath and causing me sleepless nights. All I want is to be treated fairly under the law and God.

Sorry this is so long.

I'd contact a solicitor that deals with property and get serious, make the neighbour pay for it all.
I think these proffesionals and bullly neighbours think they can do as they plase and walk all over women who are living alone and don't know what the procedures should be. It's probably worth a visit to the solicitors with all your papperwork and evidence to see what they would suggest you do.

I hope here are not too late as I have just seen this. I am no expert, just another homeowner who has experienced some unscrupulous practice from party wall surveyors and learnt a little from it, but here are my suggestions.

Check your home insurance policy as you may have legal expenses cover. Be warned though that they tend to try and wriggle out of covering party wall matters so you may need to argue that they must cover you for those things the party wall surveyor has refused to deal with in his statutory role. Also, if your surveyor resigns you should be entitled to appoint another one to represent you - it is not clear if you have done this already or is the building owner's surveyor now working on this 'dispute' alone? He could clearly be biased so I would not sign a form appointing his as your surveyor to resolve this 'dispute', you are entitled to a different one.

As you have already found out surveyors are allowed to remove themselves from the procedure whereas you cannot remove them. However, he may have to justify the way he has dealt with this to his professional body if he is a member of one. Check the headed paper and website of your surveyor (if he has one) to see if he is a member of any professional bodies/trade organisations as you might have a complaint against him (hard to tell though from what is here but they may have a helpline or guidance notes to help you decide if a complaint is appropriate). It doesn't sound like he has communicated reasons for some of his decisions to you and hence left you very stressed.

Regarding the 'dispute under section 10': this is a party wall procedure that happens when, for example, there is damage caused and the two surveyors don't agree on the cause or costs. Are the two surveyors dealing with it between this or are they referring it to a 'Third Surveyor'?

Where things have been removed from the dispute have you been told why? I think your surveyor should have explained that to you. The reason might be that he does not consider them to be within his 'jurisdiction' to deal with as the Party Wall Act only allows surveyors to deal with a narrow set of work detailed in the Act. You may have suffered damage from the builders which is outside the act so you need to get clarification on whether that is why something has been removed from the claim or whether it is because he says the builders didn't cause the damage. If it is the former reason then you may have a separate legal claim against the builder (and may be eligible for legal expenses cover for this) or you may be able to claim on your household insurance and they will pursue the builder on your behalf if they think there is enough evidence they caused the damage. If your surveyor says they didn't that may prevent any claim against the builder.

PM me if you want as I may be able to suggest a helpline to get some advice.

PS, another thought. Did the drainage company give you a written report and did they mention the things they told you in writing? It would be helpful to get this in writing in a report if you haven't already. Tradespeople can be frustrating by telling you all sorts of 'helpful' things but they won't put it in writing as they don't want to get involved in a legal dispute. Even if you can get them to email you something that would be helpful. Otherwise did they produce a drainage video as you have some evidence that could be commented on in writing by another expert if the drainage company won't put their comments in writing. Unfortunately it would mean paying for an expert report though but you may get the cost back if your claim is successful. Get legal advice though before commissioning an expert report.