Neighbours need to put scaffolding in my garden

[Strawberry06]

Hi

My neighbours (semi detached) are building a two story extension and have asked if its ok for the builders to put scaffolding in my garden in order to access the roof.

This has all come at really bad timing as me and my husband have recently separated and he has moved away so I've not had the headspace to deal with it at the moment so haven't given them an answer and now they are really pressuring me.

I don't really want scaffolding in my garden for a number of reasons. They have assured me there will be no damage and that it will be there max 2 weeks but I don't see how they can guarantee. Also, there's a chance I may have to put the house on the market so I don't want it there for that reason.

What are my rights on this? They have said that not putting the scaffolding would seriously impact them and they wont be able to finish the build. Are they right? I don't see why it should encroach on my land!

Honestly, I would agree, but with conditions. It doesn't sound like you have a lot of head space at the moment, and if you say no, you won't hear the end of it. You are also in a vulnerable position as u want to sell up. They could decide to play blaring music every time you have a viewing. Any building work is better completed / near completed before you start viewings, so I would facilitate it.

I would say yes, I wouldn't stress about it. It will be a slightly annoying but I wouldn't see it as a major issue. The neighbour has a leaking roof, they sound very reasonable.

I've had scaffolding on various houses over the years and they have never 'left it for x months to store it for the next job'. It is always gone within 1-2 weeks of the job finishing.

@Strawberry06 just say no. We have a large detached house and had scaffolding all the way round for 2 months, the neighbour similar style house didn't want it going into her side fair enough, just means they have to build a rig in line with party wall and clamp it your side. Very common. Just explain to the scaffolder you ned them to do it that way. It doesn't cost extra.

What a manipulative twat. If I were in your shoes, I would just say no.

Don't let this stress you out. Who cares if they hate you? They're not worried about you hating them for forcing you to live next to a renovation and have your private space invaded and (probably) damaged at a time when you're going through massive personal upheaval, are they?

Don't give it anymore thought. Reply, 'after careful consideration, I must advise that my answer is no.'

So we have scaffolding in our garden right now and it has made a dreadful mess of the garden, bits everywhere and they haven't come to take it down when they said. So as PP have said, 2 weeks is optimistic at best.
We also had a request for a neighbour to put some scaffolding a while back so I did a fair amount of research. Key point is that the scaffolding and builders are contracted to your neighbours not you. So you can't force them to do anything and their contract obligations are with your neighbour not you. So you need your neighbour to provide guarantees around timing and making good any damage etc. So you enforce with your neighbour and he enforces with contractors. Do not be fobbed off with "they have insurance" or "they will do it" because you are not able to enforce contract clauses with them.
If it is really necessary and you're prepared to accept then ask ypur neighbour for a written agreement saying he will make good and remove after 2 weeks and if he doesnt then £xx penalty.

Thanks for replies

honestly I reallly don’t have the space to deal with it! I’ve not said but my husband was violent, has been arrested and I have a future court case to deal with, whilst being a single parent to my 16 month old son. I’ve only told the neighbours we separated they don’t know the full extent. My garden is my sanctuary at the moment!

Before all this, we didn’t have much to do with them anyway, always found them very unapproachable, so I don’t feel there’s any love lost!

But even so the main issue is I don’t want the stress of scaffolding in my garden when it’s nothing to do with my property.

Then just write back and say "Im sorry I am not in a position to agree to last minute requests like this as I have other priorities. This request would require a written agreement amongst other things and I don't have capacity to deal with it right now. "

Just say yes.
This is just giving yourself unnecessary stress.
It is a perfectly reasonable request.

I think you’re right OP. Scaffolders frequently leave scaffolding up as long as they want as it’s cheaper than storing it.

You’re being very petty. This wouldn’t bother me one bit

I still shudder at the memory of our experience by permitting scaffolding on our property.

The noise, damage and mess was nothing compared to how long it stayed up. We were told the typical 2 weeks too. 9 weeks!!! 9 effing weeks and a total breakdown in all neighbourly relations.

Tell them no OP. You owe them nothing in the face of what you are going through right now.

Have you not read OP's subsequent updates and the multiple posts on here?

It isn't petty, and it would bother you if you were to experience what many do by having said yes to neighbour's scaffolding.

You can write back and tell them that you have to consider the safety of your young child. Due to an extremely stressful divorce and court case you may need to sell the house urgently, and cannot jeopardise the safety of viewers.

That WhatsApp is awful, piling on the pressure.

We just did an extension, we asked the builders to do it in a way that wouldnt impact the neighbours (as they were already putting up with the noise, mess, vans etc). Can’t believe he is trying to make you agree.

As an aside, our builders were contractually not meant to go into the rest of our house, and it was boarded up. They did. They carried rubble through the house to the front, damaging the walls and radiators and front door. They stored their tools on our new flooring and damaged it. Our scaffolding was left up.

We’ve previously let the neighbours scaffold and skip on our side. Specified the skips were to be boarded under. They didn’t bother, didn’t use rubbish chutes or nets, and tipped huge buckets of rubble and tiles off the roof into the skip. We had rubble hitting our car, windows, scared to step outside with my baby and dog. It’s so hard to control builders and they don’t sound overly considerate anyway, so would they bother trying

There will no doubt be an alternative way to do the build, but it will cost more.

That's a them problem!

you can say no.
they can put up a scaffold that doesn't go on the ground in your garden.
if you allow it be prepared for the scaffold being there for months after the work has finished.

Tell them yes but say that on the 28th June you will be calling a different scaffolding company to tell them they can come and pick up the scaffolding for free if the neighbours workers have not removed it themselves by then

This is sound advice, although worth noting that your neighbours might not have direct control over the scaffolders either.

We had a re roof recently. Scaffolding on our property and it took AGES to get rid of it. Builder had moved on and was vague every time we raised it.

Not that you need a reason but I would agree with PP raising your concerns about the safety of your child and the open ended duration and lack of accountability. And that you have neither the time nor the motivation to resolve any issues that arise (I think that message would definitely have made me not agree!!!).

Good luck to you with everything and I hope things get a bit easier.

Saying 'yes' to every request does NOT make for a less stressful life!

If don’t want to do it and it’s causing you this much stress before it’s even up, just say no.

I would agree subject to a signed agreement - the template a PP has shared looks good.

Our NDN have had roof repairs done which needed scaffolding in their own garden. Job was supposed to be 10 days, but it's taken them two months of chasing the scaffolding firm to get them to come and take it down. NDN told me they ended up sending a letter to the firm telling them if it wasn't claimed in the next 14 days they'd put it on facebook as free to collect.

If the neighbours are now saying there is a leak, and they require essential maintenance, it still doesn’t mean they are entitled to put scaffolding in your garden.
If there actually is a leak it might be at the far end of their property. Also there are many things they can do which don’t require access to your garden, let alone scaffolding.
It’s really up to them to prove their case that the access is for essential maintenance and the only way for this to be achieved.
I do understand why some people are saying just let them do it in order to be neighbourly, but in my experience my neighbour either had no influence over the builders and scaffolders, or just didn’t care. It didn’t affect therm.
The scaffolding interfered with me getting in and out of my back door. They put access ladders in my front garden and refused to move them when I pointed out that if it was configured slightly differently they could be in my neighbour’s garden.
Basically once the scaffolding was up and everyone else got what they wanted no one was interested in my inconvenience. I don’t want to fall out with anyone but my neighbour would need to get a court order with defined parameters before I allowed anyone else in my garden.

Perhaps you could say your insurance company won’t allow it?

There’s NO WAY it won’t cause damage and will be there for MONTHS!! No way they will move it when you ask them to either and getting them to pay for repairs etc will be a nightmare. No is a full sentence and they can do the work without scaffolding in your garden but it will be just harder for them to- tough they are the ones doing this summer and selfishly thinking only of themselves

I'd say no.

I have had neighbour's scaffolding in my garden. It was loud ALL THE TIME as builders often shouted from top to bottom, it stayed for twice the amount of time they promised, and I was still picking up shards of broken glass and masonry for literally YEARS. It made that section of the garden unusable to DD and the cat for months while we cleared the worst of it.