Neighbours roof causing leaks in our roof

[KinderWild]

So we live in a terrace and have had our roof leak in the same place for 5 years. We've had it 'fixed' most recently to the tune of £1.5k and yet still issues persist. I believe it's because our neighbours loft extension has been built over our side of the property and that in doing so they've removed tiles from the top of the parapet wall (small wall on top of roof between the two houses) which would have kept the water away from the bit of our roof where the roof and parapet wall intersect. It is at this intersection where the leaks keep occuring. As it is when it rains all of the rain from that side of our neighbours dormer is dumped onto our roof. They haven't put any guttering on it.
Our neighbours are the most difficult people, complain about anything anyone else does but show little regard for others rights or wellbeing.
I really want to address this. I don't think we can do anymore to fix the problem our side.
I also may want to have a loft extension at some point and worry that their overstretch will effect our extension. I may also want to sell and am not happy passing this mess onto someone else.
The extension was done about 15 years ago by the current owners and I can find no evidence of planning permission (may not have been needed) or building control sign off.

How would you approach it?

Probably see a solicitor. Also get a survey done. A decent surveyor might be able to see where the exact problem is and recommend improvements you can do.
You might be able to build up your roof in such a way to divert water back onto their roof. You can do what you want to your own roof.

You could also speak to the Council.

Thanks. I think we have definitely reached the limits of what we can do. Attached is a picture of the overhang from the neighbours dormer onto our side. This was taken during last year's fix when we had the flashing replaced.

You've got one (or 2?) ridge tiles missing.....?

@321zyx this was half way through the job of replacing our flashing. They had to take the ridge tiles off to rebels everything. They are back on now! The photo is probably a bit confusing....I am trying to show how far that dormer is over our side of the party wall (parapet wall) and the changes that have been made to that wall.

Have any of the builders said it's coming from the extension?

@notapizzaeater they've said it isn't to code, and that it will increase the water on our side.

Where that white stuff is- some kind of mortar? Should be lead. Would imagine that where the water is getting in.

@ciderjolly the photo is mid fix (attached is one showing the flashing on (it is bedded into a ridge I to the parapet wall) and the ridge tiles back on. I just don't have a picture of it finished with the dormer overhang in the shot.

Was there a party wall agreement for the loft conversion? I think you will need a surveyor.

Not that I know of but then I don't know if there was. We've only been here for 5 ish years. The previous owner was an old lady who died. I do think it's odd that there is no record with the council of any signoff for the extension.

What kind of surveyor would I need?

From experience I'm willing to bet that ingress of water isn't coming from where you think it is - water flows in strange ways! We had a minor crack (unseen) in a tile (caused by previous access to neighbours roof). Over time it caused a leak in underlying felting which needed replacing.

If we hadn't had half the roof taken off. The felting fixed, tiles fixed and the flashing redone I'd be more inclined to think the problem is with out roof.

Tbh - I am not happy that the dormer is over our side. And that would be the case if there were no leak.

We will be moving in the next three years. Or if the economy tanks, we may end up staying here and getting a loft extension ourselves. I may get a loft extension company out to see what could be done to correct the current dormer either so we can extend or so there's a plan if someone else wanted to extend.

Just look up chartered Building Surveyors. Get a surveyor in first. Not a loft conversion company.

You should have paperwork relating to the build in with your conveyancing paperwork. If not, either your conveyancer didn’t do their job properly, or your neighbours didn’t get appropriate permission for their loft conversion. It’s very possible that they didn’t need planning, but building regs sign off should exist and be with the local council.

Thanks. Our conveyancing was complicated by the fact the owner had died and no paperwork was provided by the next of kin.
The council has it recorded as an not completed, un-signed off build from 2006....

Also should the neighbours loft conversion would have showed up on our conveyancing? I wouldn't have thought it should have effected our property.

The solicitor will check what the paperwork says but relies on the buyers questions to raise any concerns. If there is paperwork missing there is no reason to question anything. Your solicitor will have checked any outstanding work linked to planning but if there was nothing out to paper he relies on your questions to raise any queries. Look on the Council website for building control and planning. But the rules 15 years ago may be different to the requirements now. It is not unusual to apply for building regs to be told they are not needed and retain the letter. Again the Council will have a record of any application, any fee paid and any correspondance to say none is needed. If you had it fixed after 5 years of leaks then the repair is not complete if the leak persists. It depends if you asked them to find and fix the leak or told them to do XYZ. If there was a lack of guttering they equally should have raised this issue if they were a good quality provider when on the roof.

I’m pretty sure that there is a question on the property information form about works done to the party wall - when we sold our last house we had to provide information of the party wall agreement for our neighbour’s loft conversion.

None of that means that detailed information on their loft conversion would have been sought but this looks like a massive headache unfortunately. If you had a survey on the house I would have expected that the surveyor would have pointed out that their loft conversion overhangs your property also.

But irrespective of all this - the place to start is with a surveyor.

thehelpfulengineer.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Loft-Conversions-and-the-Building-Regulations.pdf

Suggests that they would have needed building regs in 2005

Having said that, you can’t have a retrospective party wall agreement, and it only really exists to make sure that the neighbours fix any issue relating to their work that affects your property. The seller wouldn’t have been able to transfer it to you. So you aren’t covered by the PWA. It sounds like they maybe didn’t get suitable permissions/paperwork sorted at the time, which might be a headache for you if you need to recover costs from them.