Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

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

Out of the blue £1,000 bill from our neighbours!

223 replies

MamaVikki · 25/09/2022 19:11

Help! I’m stunned… My neighbour knocked on the door on a Monday to say that they’d organised for our road to be tarmacked on that Wednesday at a cost of £8K between 8 houses. A year ago they’d muttered something about the road needing to be tarmacked but that was that. We’ve had no discussion since. They then bizarrely said that they would pay for it and whoever wants to chip in can chip in. We don’t have a spare £1k sitting around and if there’d been a discussion about it we would’ve wanted more time to try and save for it – but would’ve also liked to have looked into all the options (like patching the potholes maybe?) We have no idea if they even compared quotes. The work has now been done. They ended up only tarmacking the part in front of their house, although we drive over this to access our house. They’ve come round with the bill – which we need to pay into their bank account – in a fairly aggressive manner but still saying it’s up to us if we pay -? I’m upset and confused and have no idea where we stand with this? Can anyone offer any advice?! 🙏

OP posts:
Whataretheodds · 25/09/2022 19:13

They're having a giraffe!

ShirleyJackson · 25/09/2022 19:13

Ignore the CFers.

FluffySocksAndHotChocolate · 25/09/2022 19:14

I would just say "sorry CF, we can't afford this." Or put the bill away and never look at it again, he can't enforce you to pay.

Auntieobem · 25/09/2022 19:14

Ignore.

SequinsandStilettos · 25/09/2022 19:15

You say no, you cannot afford it
OR
You give them a token sum
OR
You devise a payment plan

But I would not be paying it personally

TheYearOfSmallThings · 25/09/2022 19:15

"What?! I don't want to pay for you to tarmac the bit of road in front of your house

Traceyfudge77 · 25/09/2022 19:16

I was just preparing a post using the words CF and ignore, but see a couple of other posters have beaten me to it.

Weirdlynormal · 25/09/2022 19:16

Mr Neighbour,
Had you discussed this with me before, we would have told you we are unable to pay this. As you wished for the repairs, you are responsible.

then refuse to pay or discuss it further. He had no right and not a leg to stand in

ParkheadParadise · 25/09/2022 19:16

Put the bill in an envelope back through their door.
Thanks but NO Thanks
Cheeky Bastards.

johnd2 · 25/09/2022 19:17

Just make a counter offer for what you are prepared to pay. And let them know when you can pay eg instalments. No point falling out over it but try to negotiate a solution you are happy with.

PuppyMonkey · 25/09/2022 19:18

send them a note replying: “Lol.”

picklemewalnuts · 25/09/2022 19:18

Ask all the other houses what they know about it.

AgentProvocateur · 25/09/2022 19:19

Is it a private road? If so, you’ll need to check your deeds to see if you are responsible for any repairs. Regardless, there should have been consultation before he went ahead.

Loachworks · 25/09/2022 19:20

Does the rest of the road (especially outside your house) need doing? Is it a private road?

Catmummyof2 · 25/09/2022 19:23

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

BrieAndChilli · 25/09/2022 19:23

If it’s a private road and you all jointly own it then any repairs would need to be agreed by all parties.

onlyk · 25/09/2022 19:24

By the sounds of the post they only did in front of their house. On this basis alone I’d say no.

also they did this with any prior consultation so twice no.

where I lived before on a private road the cost of the whole road being done was split by the amount of frontage each house had and was done with consultation. So I think your neighbours are trying it on.

LavenderfortheBees · 25/09/2022 19:34

Simply no.

Mrsuntidy · 25/09/2022 19:36

If they've only tarmacked the part in front of theirs then no way.

MimiSunshine · 25/09/2022 19:41

What? So they only tarmac’s them bit outside their house but still want £1k from you?

YWNBU to say, sorry no, to a £1k bill for the whole road, you didn’t agree to it.
YWDNBU to say, no not a chance, to £1k or any contribution at all to just part of the road bill.

endofthelinefinally · 25/09/2022 19:43

They have gone about this completely the wrong way. no plan, no negotiation, no quotes, no agreements or anything in writing. They have no right to ask anyone else to pay for the work they arranged to be done in front of their property.
Back in the storm of 1987, everyone in our street lost roof tiles. We had a whole street meeting, appointed a chairperson, got 3 quotes and shared the cost of repairs. That is how it should be done. These people are CFs.

KathieFerrars · 25/09/2022 19:45

So our road (unadopted, sort of private) needed doing. We are 14 houses. We all (apart from the then batshit neighbours) contributed even the chap at the top of the road who only drives on about 8 metres of the new surface. We had had working parties to patch etc for years but eventually the potholes just keep returning and resurfacing is coast effective. The difference is that we had a competitive quote from the bloke who was coincidentally resurfacing the local motorway and we all met to discuss and then sent our contributions.

PigsInBlanketyBlankets · 25/09/2022 19:47

We need a photo of the little bit of tarmac

mam0918 · 25/09/2022 19:47

I use to live in a tiny village that had pretty much been wiped of the map and forgotton about, a bypass had been built cutting it off from main routes and it was smack bang between where 3 districts join and no council would claim it.

We had a pot hole outside our house (ours was the first house and the start of the access road so every car had to drive over it) that was nearly 2 meters wide and over 3 foot deep.

Everyone came together in an unspoken agreement that if anyone had an building work, rubble or anything like that we dumped it in the ever growing hole, it filled it in over time and kept the hole not so deep so it was 'drive-over-able' albiet a little bumpy.

No one ever considered or suggested paying thousands out of our own pocket to fix it, frankly no one could afford that and if someone suggested it I think there would have been a chorus of laughter erupting from each household at the 'joke'.

Ponderingwindow · 25/09/2022 19:51

If it is a private road with shared maintenance responsibility, then just repairing one small segment is incredibly inefficient and wasteful. It would be much cheaper per square foot to do the entire road all at once.

There must also be some mechanism in place for maintenance. Barring an emergency, one party can’t just go ahead without either consensus or at least an established committee vote of some kind if all homes have agreed to allow such a committee to exist.

i Wouldn’t pay because it hasn’t been handled properly.