Can neighbour force me to rebuild patio.

[AussieManque]

My neighbour claims that our stone patio, which adjoins a walk of her house, was built too high, above her damp course, thus causing damp in her house.

The patio was there when I bought the house. It was put in by the previous owners.

Does she have any recourse?

Is it definitely above her damp course?
if your patio causes damp in a neighbour’s house, you can be forced to fix it. If the patio is above the damp-proof course it could be considered negligence, and you may be liable for damages and repair

Edited as posted too soon.

Is this her opinion or the opinion of a dsmp specialist?

If your patio is causing issues to her house the yes.
best cause of action, wither dot eh well and move on or contact a party wall RICS surveyor at joint expense and sort and agree it between you.
If she goes to her house insurance and they go to your house insurance it’s going to get messy and expensive.

If the patio was there when you bought the house then I dont think it's your problem. Did she not take this up with the previous neighbors?

If you want to maintain a friendly relationship you could agree, at her cost, for a builder to channel out 15cm of the patio where it runs against her house and fill it with gravel. You don't need to rebuild the whole patio

It’s the current owners issue. The op could potentially sue the previous owner, but there is a time limit on this, unlikely it would succeed.

op, the fundamental question here is is she correct and how long has the patio been down, how long have yoh lived there.

If it goes right up to her wall then it could well be a problem and even if it wasn't caused by you it would be neighbourly to work together to find a solution. Maybe a channel and French drain could he cut into the edge of it.

The easiest way to solve this is to ask a handiman to remove the bricks that are touching the wall above her damp course.

He can then rebuild it, installing a damp course membrane between your bricks and hers, or he can simply tidy up, leaving a clear gap and fill with gravel, so damp cannot seep across.

The part that borders her house is filled with gravel. But more like 10cm.

I bought it 3.5 years ago. Previous owners were doer-uppers, developers who bought it to resell.

Has she had a damp survey and this is the opinion of a specialist?

No idea. She came to my door, said "did the man who fixed your chimney pass on the message?" I had no idea what she meant, she didn't even say she was the back neighbour. I think she thinks the man who fixed my chimney last year was the developer (he's not). It sounded like the chimney man told her the patio was the cause... (chimney does not adjoin her).

If the situation were reversed I would have set it out in a letter through the door, not doorstep someone. I was immediately on the defensive.

Say that you’ll need to see sight of a damp survey report confirming as such

Yes, this.

I’d say that as it’s now your patio, you are responsible for any potential issues. But if course you should seek independent advice. And I’m not sure about damp specialists as it is literally their job to find damp….. I wonder if a structural engineer would be better? But that’s just my feeling, could be talking bollocks.

Yes that is the concern, they wantbto sell damp proofing. Anyway I'll put a note through her door saying I need a specialist report. Not the opinion of the guy who fixed my chimney.

If there’s a problem, could you pass that back to your surveyor? Surely it’s something they should have picked up?

Patios and paths adjoining buildings should have a very slight slope built into them so water runs off in a direction away from the building. Pour some water on the patio and see which way it goes. If it is towards her house, she may well have a point.

I'm struggling to imagine the layout but you have mentioned there is a 10cm border of stones. It doesn't sound like the patio is touching her walls? If the patio isn't touching the house because of the border of stones how is the water going above the DPC?

Did this, it definitely runs away from her house.

Plus I've just had another look and it's a good 15cm strip of gravel between my flagstones and her wall.

Is the gravel breaching the damp proof course of their wall?

If the situation were reversed I would have set it out in a letter through the door, not doorstep someone. I was immediately on the defensive

The method of communication was fine (and irrelevant). I’m always reading on here about people who get the hump at notes put through doors instead of talking face to face. She was in a lose-lose situation on that bit of the problem.

We had a similar issue with next doors property damaging ours due to it being in a poor state of repair. They ignored us asking them to sort it so we phoned our house insurance.
After a survey, at no cost to us, the neighbour had to quickly rectify the issue. No idea what it cost them once the insurance teams were involved, but it likely would have been cheaper to sort themselves, rather than having to use insurance approved trades.

It’s worth checking if it’s just gravel or if a proper French drain has been installed. If it’s just gravel then it will likely be allowing water to soak down her wall causing damp ime.

To investigate whether your patio is causing damp in a neighbor’s house, you should advise them to instruct a qualified independent damp surveyor or a Chartered Building Surveyor (RICS). Tell them you would need to see sight of their report (which must be at their expense) before discussing the matter further. She is the one making the accusation so let her put her money where her whinging mouth is.

Where is the boundary between your property and hers?

@Friendlygingercat

To investigate whether your patio is causing damp in a neighbor’s house, you should advise them to instruct a qualified independent damp surveyor or a Chartered Building Surveyor (RICS). Tell them you would need to see sight of their report (which must be at their expense) before discussing the matter further. She is the one making the accusation so let her put her money where her whinging mouth is

This is just so aggressive and un-neighbourly. What a sad society we’re becoming.