Neighbour's Builders Cause Damage to Party Wall (without agreement)

[gandolfi]

Hello – I hope this is the correct place to seek advice regarding a Party Wall dispute. Any help greatly appreciated!

 

To cut a long story short, our neighbours recently employed a loft conversion company to build a dormer conversion. We expressed some concerns about the nature and timing of the work but they went ahead anyway, without a signed Party Wall Agreement (PWA) and without allowing the 2 months notice etc. Because we raised concerns, the builders decided that they would change the structure of the conversion so that there would be no need for the PWA (even though it had already been issued for us to sign).

 

The building work began and shortly afterwards, after very heavy drilling and chiselling on the Party Wall, the builders drilled through the wall into our property. Apart from the drill hole and plaster damage, there are cracks extending from the drill hole and cracks in the wall and adjoining ceiling caused by their heavy hammering on the single skin wall.

 

The builder has admitted liability for damaging our property but is now disputing the quotes we have provided for the repairs and repainting but he seems reluctant to go through his Public Liability insurers as we have requested.

 

He now wants to enter our property to inspect the damage but we do not want him in our home.

 

My question is: are we legally obliged to allow him access to our house?

 

We would prefer to go through the insurance claim process with loss adjusters etc We don't want anything more to do with the builder himself.

 

Many thanks!

[reallymadwoman]

I can't answer as to whether you have a legal obligation to allow him to inspect the damage you're asking him to pay for, this is a common sense response only.

 

Either allow him to inspect the damage provided he is accompanied at all times by you or someone else you trust and provided he makes no attempt to negotiate a lower price or to be allowed to do the work himself

 

Or go through your insurance company and let them sort everything out - it is what you pay for every year.

 

You may need formal legal advice regarding the party wall issue. Are your local planning department interested at all?

[gandolfi]

I can't answer as to whether you have a legal obligation to allow him to inspect the damage you're asking him to pay for, this is a common sense response only.

 

Either allow him to inspect the damage provided he is accompanied at all times by you or someone else you trust and provided he makes no attempt to negotiate a lower price or to be allowed to do the work himself

 

Or go through your insurance company and let them sort everything out - it is what you pay for every year.

 

You may need formal legal advice regarding the party wall issue. Are your local planning department interested at all?

 

Thanks reallymadwoman

 

Ideally, we would like to go through their public liability insurers, but the builders are refusing this until they have inspected the damage. I suspect that either they don't want to affect their premiums or they think their negligent work would invalidate their insurance. Unfortunately, our building insurance doesn't cover damage by a 3rd party....

 

We have provided photographic evidence of the damage and have had professional quotes for the work (which they are claiming are inflated). We just don't want the builder in our house questioning our requests for the reinstatement of our property to its former condition.

 

Can we legally insist that they provide their Public Liability insurers details...?

 

We're anticipating that this may eventually become a matter for the small claims court.....any views on how to prepare for this eventuality would be very welcome.

 

Thanks!

[reallymadwoman]

I don't think they are obliged to provide you with insurance details since that generally only applies if insurance is compulsory, e.g. motor insurance.

 

I think the easiest way to resolve the issue is likely to be letting them in under strict conditions about discussing the quotes etc - in many ways that would be easier if you weren't there as a third party couldn't possibly have any authority to negotiate or anything else on your behalf.

 

I would further guess that no matter what they are going to fight you, so you need to do absolutely everything and anything to be reasonable and considerate, which includes letting them inspect if they insist. If you have a number of quotes of similar value plus photographs of the damage, no matter what their 'inspection' shows the judge is likely to come down on your side - after all, they did the damage, they have to pay for it so it's to be expected they want it to be as cheap as possible. I think your predictions of small claim court are unfortunately likely to be accurate, but let's hope I'm wrong and they just pay up when they see you're not easily intimidated.

 

Out of interest, do you have legal expenses cover on your household insurance? If so, you could at least get some free advice and they might pursue the claim for you. I suspect a letter from a solicitor has an outside chance of persuading them to co-operate.

[gandolfi]

Thanks reallymadwoman

 

I thought that Public Liability insurance is compulsory...? It would be so much simpler and more civilised if we could allow the insurers to do what they are paid to do...

 

Unfortunately, we don't have legal expenses cover on our household insurance, but it does provide free legal advice.

[reallymadwoman]

Another thought - do you know if the builder is a member of any trade association, maybe shown on their website? If so, they might be willing to intervene regarding the insurance issue.

[steampowered]

No, there is no legal obligation to let him inspect. However from a common sense perspective you should let him in. If he can see for himself he will be more likely to understand the scope of the damage and put it right.

 

Failing to let him look at the damage could be seen as unreasonable conduct if this ended up in court. If this ended up in court you might need to let his expert (or a jointly appointed expert) have a look anyway.

 

If you are worried about him arguing with you, you can make it very clear to him that the only purpose for the visit is to allow him to view the damage and that you will not be discussing anything about the damage orally. Its perfectly reasonable to insist that discussions about the damage are put in writing.

 

I'm not sure if there is a strict legal obligation for him to give his insurer's details. But if you write a formal letter before action he should disclose the name of his insurer. Please refer to http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/protocol/prot_ced

[gandolfi]

No, there is no legal obligation to let him inspect. However from a common sense perspective you should let him in. If he can see for himself he will be more likely to understand the scope of the damage and put it right.

 

Failing to let him look at the damage could be seen as unreasonable conduct if this ended up in court. If this ended up in court you might need to let his expert (or a jointly appointed expert) have a look anyway.

 

If you are worried about him arguing with you, you can make it very clear to him that the only purpose for the visit is to allow him to view the damage and that you will not be discussing anything about the damage orally. Its perfectly reasonable to insist that discussions about the damage are put in writing.

 

I'm not sure if there is a strict legal obligation for him to give his insurer's details. But if you write a formal letter before action he should disclose the name of his insurer. Please refer to http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/protocol/prot_ced

 

Thanks steampowered!

Yes, the main worry is having him in our house arguing over the extent of the damage – just don't want the conflict!

 

Part of the problem is that he is only admitting liability for the hole that was drilled through our wall, but not for the cracks and damaged plaster caused by their heavy hammering/chiselling against the single-skin wall – so there is bound to be some argument. Also, because the damage is to the wall of our stairwell (and adjoning ceiling) , this is a continuous single wall that runs through from the loft to the front door. We anticipate that he will want to just patch up the holes/cracks and paint over the patches with a close colour match – leaving us with a patchy paint finish on the wall and ceiling.

 

The quotes we have got are to repair the damage and repaint the continuous space. Is this reasonable?

 

Many thanks!

[steampowered]

I'd struggle to put up a shelf to be honest, but from my complete novice perspective, yes if a builder carelessly damages your property it should be put right properly.

 

If you end up in small claims court you'll end up having the argument with him anyway. Perhaps it is unlikely but there is at least a risk that refusing an inspection may come back to haunt you. You could be cross-examined in the court room on why you refused an inspection (though it probably won't matter if there is an independent expert report).

[king12345]

You need to be very careful with cracks.

The plaster needs to be removed from around the cracks to assess whether the bricks have cracked or just the plaster.

If the bricks have cracked then we're talking about very costly structural damage.

If it's only the plaster it will be cheaper to repair.

Honestly, if it's only the plaster you can have just the affected areas repaired and painted.

A colour match is usually identical to the rest of the wall, unless the original paint is quite old.

I agree with the others, you should let him inspect the damage.

But also make sure that your bricks are not cracked, because if they are the cracks will come through the new plaster very soon after repair and only get worse.

[2ltr16valve]

Also. Are you sure the party wall is single brick thickness? As I believed they were double skinned thickness between houses for structural integrity and fire purposes.

[king12345]

Also. Are you sure the party wall is single brick thickness? As I believed they were double skinned thickness between houses for structural integrity and fire purposes.

 

Or 9 inches solid walls (you may call them single skin as there's no cavity)

[gandolfi]

 

 

Or 9 inches solid walls (you may call them single skin as there's no cavity)

 

The wall is 150mm thick Bath stone ashlar Party Wall.

 

How much plaster would need to be removed to see if the stonework is cracked....?

 

Worried....

[king12345]

The wall is 150mm thick Bath stone ashlar Party Wall.

 

How much plaster would need to be removed to see if the stonework is cracked....?

 

Worried....

You need to remove a good couple of inches either side of the crack and expose the stone to check if it's cracked.

Sounds a bit extreme but you need to know if the damage is cosmetic or structural because the remedies will be very different in price.

Better getting a builder to check this out.

They will probably charge a small fee to chisel the plaster and expose the stonework.

Make sure you take pictures before and after and get a report from the builder on why he's chiselled the wall.

Good luck