Neighbours wants to put scaffolding on our property

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Our neighbours are doing a lot of work on their house. As part of this they would like to put scaffolding on our property. This is apparently necessary to access their roof. They will also use it to paint the side of their house at the same time.

Ahead of meeting with them to discuss it, what should we be asking of them to protect ourselves and our property? We would like something in writing and evidence of insurance? Is it the scaffolder’s insurance or the builders’ insurance that is relevant, or both?

This is a big project on a 3 storey listed building, and our property is also listed. We won’t say no to it, but the whole thing is going to be a real nuisance for us for some time. The scaffolding will remove our parking, create lots of noise and dust, and the work takes place outside of dh’s office window.

I am keen to learn from other people’s experiences, particularly bad ones!

Neighbours are fine but we are not close and relationship with their builders are already poor. Work has been going on for months and they have shown such a lack of respect for us so far, and caused a lot of damage in our garden. The neighbours themselves are not living in the property at the moment.

We had this when we were getting our roof done. Our scaffolders asked us to speak to our neighbours in order for the scaffolding to go on their property, which they said needed to happen. We spoke to our neighbours, which we felt quite awkward about - they refused, which we actually completely understood because of the disruption and inconvenience.

I challenged the scaffolders and pretty much got the response "oh well, we'll just have to use a smaller version then". They could've opted to do this in the first place, but decided to push for the larger option because it would've been a bit easier for them (even though it would've been worse for everyone else).

Roof was replaced with no issue, even with the smaller scaffolding.

In your case I would refuse, as there will undoubtedly be other solutions they can use.

You might find the link below helpful.

www.moorebarlow.com/blog/can-a-neighbour-erect-scaffolding-on-your-property/

Nope, as soon as you said they weren't living there.

Based on the extra information. Hell no!

There are builders who work in peoples homes and those that dont........

I suggest that the neighbours builders are those that dont

I would say no! I would be pointing out the damage to your garden and all the inconveniences you have already put up with.
they should be offering you something in recompense already not taking the mick asking you to put up with more inconvenience

Whatever you decide, it sounds to me like you need a party wall agreement.
www.gov.uk/party-walls-building-works

First of all , check what rights they have to come on your land to maintain their property. After that, you’ll know whether you can refuse, and then you can decide if you want to minimise disruption or maximise ‘profit’ or roll over or what. For a project as disruptive as this, you should be charging enough ‘rent’ that when you are Ted id, you’re able to console yourself with ‘oh well we are making x per week’. And it needs to be an amount that will concentrate the mind. - a thousand a week? I suggest a legal agreement for which they must pay your legal costs.

Absolutely this. Show both willing and boundaries (pardon the pun.)

Don't forget to double check your car insurance allows for it being parked on the road overnight!

This is what worred me when our HA arranged for scaffolding to go up in the summer of 2020 so they could renew the roof (its a block of four flats and the renewal took 13 weeks) after 4 weeks of the scaffolding being left there i phoned the HA and told them scaffolding was still there. (the way it was positioned you could climb it and then walk on it right outside my bedroom window) They came and took it down on a Saturday,

@Pretz123 it does not. Ours is based in off road parking.

Been doing lots of research today. It seems our insurance might be invalidated as scaffolding would gave access to house windows. Plus we might need Listed Building Consent to have scaffolding.

I’m really hoping that there is something like this which makes it easier to say no,

You don't need a convoluted reason. Just say no.

I think it would be reasonable of us to allow access for them to paint the render, and it could potentially be done via a cherry picker; when we had work done on our roof and chimney that’s what we used.
Scaffolding and all the associated problems is another matter altogether.

It’s very difficult when you live in a village and don’t want to upset neighbours (not that they give a toss about us!).

I’ve been led to believe they could get a court order to allow them to maintain their property! Painting and sorting the roof would come under maintenance. It’s unfair to withhold consent due to the bad behaviour of the builders so far.
id ask for a face to face meeting with the owners, explain what’s happened so far, ask for proof of insurance and ask them for a written guarantee that they will put right any damage etc. it’s always good to be friends with neighbours rather than enemies and if it goes to court it will have to be reported when and if the house is sold in the future.

Scaffolders usually have insurance of over a million pounds and will give details when asked. It's usual.

Is there nothing the scaffolding might be used for on your house?

Say no or if you consent make sure you are compensated . A minimum of £250 a week seems to be the norm plus remember to check your own insurance as you might need to declare the scaffolding. Personally they would need to compensate be a lot more than the above to have it in place . Feel free to ask for cmoensation say 2 k plus £50 a day after 3 weeks as a example . Paid upfront

I would say that in view of the damage and disruption already caused you need a ‘sum’ to be held against future damage and disruption during the build (this includes anti social behaviour by the builders). Make it a hefty sum. They will have to sign a waiver that it is entirely down to your discretion what percentage is returned, but to reassure them will be underpinned by a reasonable endeavours clause. Builders on time, quiet, fully clothed, no damage your neighbours get 100% back. Over due, noisy, dirty, careless and semi naked, maybe 50%.

If you do allow it can you make it a condition that the builders leave you parking spaces outside your house? If they need to get stuff out / put it in the vans they may park closer but for a set time only.

have the neighbours got the relevant consents then?

Why not make 1000 dollars a day. That way you can fix the damage they did fixing the damage they did. Lol

The fact that the scaffolding is over a building of yours makes it even more of a no! I recently had scaffolding on my property for my own works and it was very inconvenient, noisy and dusty even with windows closed. I had to park on the road and some idiot hit my car and that was an extra cost. My house insurance had to be changed and various parts reduced, so more vulnerable to burglars and less cover. There was a delay of 2 months to remove it after works finished, this is common. You're more likely to fall out with neighbours due to problems/damage etc than saying no. Cherry picker for some of it sounds OK though.

They may have the right to access but not to scaffolding unless there is no other safe and reasonsble way to do it.

Sorry was that mean for me? If so, yes neighbors knew about the mess. It was them who I billed for cleaning my glass roof, in all fairness they agreed without any fuss.
I swept all the debris up on our side- then never mentioned it again, as I didn’t want to loose our friendship.

Tip though, my husband took loads of photos of our glass roof & tiled roof, in case they damaged our property.

In my old house the neighbour out scaffolding up in my (very small) back courtyard to fix their roof. Except the work didn’t happen for months and the scaffolding was there for a very long time. It meant we could use the garden as it was so small the scaffolding took up most of the space.

in the end, I had to insist they remove it as we wanted to sell our property, but the whole thing was a nightmare. If they have other alternatives, I would say no.