Damage to listed building...

[WeavingWandering]

I’ll open this by saying I’m calling the council this week for advise- however if anyone has any experiences/thoughts , I’d love to hear them!

I’ve recently moved into a grade 2 listed building which has been empty for several years. The edge of my house is the boundary with the neighbours garden- there’s no fence or anything just the wall of my house.

They have built up their garden quite high up the exterior wall of my house - not sure if it was them or previous owners but either way, it’s been done. As a result, there’s been damp issues causing damage to the listed building.

It’s an ‘easy’ fix (French drain + returning the built up landscaping to its original less flat but more draining/natural state). Legally, they are responsible for this because it’s their landscaping which, regardless if they have done it knowingly- have caused damage to a listed building.

I purchased the property knowing this, and knowing that - legally - things are in my favour in terms of preserving the property.

I’m also not sure how far I push it - just the change to their landscaping to prevent it causing further damage ? Or asking them to contribute to fixing the damage they have caused ?

I don’t want to upset the neighbours so I want to manage this as peacefully as possible... but ultimately it does need to be dealt with and I don’t want to be left massively and unfairly out of pocket. Any thoughts, experiences, doses of courage?!

Yes, but (assuming the neighbour's property is also listed) the listed building consent regime is stricter than that for planning permission and enforcement is stricter too.

@WeavingWandering My advice is
1 A surveyor who specialises in Listed buildings to know the law and what is practical
2 If necessary a solicitor to advise on who has a claim against who.
3 After you have a plan and only after talking to No 1 - the council.

Some local gov officers start developing their own ideas about what they want, even if it ain't LAW.
I don't think an insurer will be interested because it existed prior to your purchase. If I read your post right.
I don't think the change of ownership affects the liability of the neighbour.
Because you knew about the problem the vendor not involved now.

download google earth pro (carefully!!!) you can use this to get aerial photographs over time it is quite useful for this kind of thing

There are lots of incidents where planning permission is not required. Lots of extensions within a permitted size do not need permission. Go into your local council website planning portal and search your address. A map of all local planning at should come up. You should have asked your solicitor all questions about this, and any queries before purchasing. If you had a price reduction this should have equal to the cost of remedial work which you would have checked first. How long this problem has existed and who built what and when should have been part of the enquiries before purchase. It would be up to you to raise these issues with the solicitor.I
You need a price for the work, what this involves, time frames etc.before you do anything

Not sure if you've consulted the conservation officer at your local council yet, but that is where I would start. You may be able to go via them for the requests to the neighbours for putting things right. Costs could be a different question, but might help with the initial awkward conversation if you can say it's all the councils request. We're having similar slightly awkward conversations with our neighbour about the rethatch.

I've got a grade II listed house. I would get the council out (planning / listed buildings dept) and see what they advise - you are likely to have to pay for this, at least in our area you do. But that will make it clear what the council views are the rules.

I would also discuss with the neighbours and try and reach an amicable solution - any disputes you would have to declare when you sell and also it creates bad feeling. I would pay for the work myself as I knew when I bought it and would assume if it had been easy to recify it would have been done by now. I would get a specialist to quote and share with neighbours - may need party wall agreement if houses are terraced / semi detached but even if not best to agree things. It maybe they will offer to pay.

I wouldn't make insurance claim as this is we only have one company that will insure us and known when bought. It maybe worth involving surveyors / lawyers as needed but as they are your neighbours would aim for everything amicable.

Ours is in a conservation area and there are rules for that if that applies - we have to get permission for pruning of trees etc.

Thank you everyone!

Have left a message with the council - just waiting to hear back from them.

Yes- want to be as amicable as possible . Part of me is secretly hoping they will take over and it’ll be out of my hands ... but we’ll see what they say.

I doubt insurance will take this on as pp said above. The best way is to use negotiation and get an expert to do it for you. Drains need designing. You won’t do that on your own.

The council won’t take the neighbours on I doubt. It’s down to you and you cannot use damp was not present with the previous garden layout because damp goes up walls even from what looks like innocuous gardens. The soil still retains a lot of water. So don’t expect a quick fix and almost certainly you will pay. Just get someone to help who knows about listed buildings and has experience in negotiating. Be prepared for a long wait.

I've never used this myself but seen the listed property owners club often recommended as another source of advice / contacts (in addition to other sources) and its fairly cheap to join.

www.lpoc.co.uk/