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Dispute with neighbour over our builder -help!
yasj
Posts: 26 Forumite
We had a loft conversion done in September and all went well-until now.
we had a damp patch on the new wall and got the builder in to have a look. They explained the what needed to be done and one of the things were a few broken slates on next doors roof whilst they were up there.
They also suggested we tell our neighbour that at some stage she would need to get the cement fillets redone on her own roof.
Now, we have a fantastic relationship with her so I asked the builder if they would do it whilst they were up on the roof if my neighbour wanted. They agreed and said the cost would be £500.
I spoke to her and told her and suggested that she may want to get her own roofers to have a look as well as it was a lot of money. I forgot to tell her about the slates as the builder had mentioned it in passing.
she has since got two roofers in and they have both told her about the broken slates and that her cement fillets were fine. and that our builders had left debris in her gutters.
When she told my dh he apologized and promised to get it all fixed asap.
few days later we got a letter saying she wanted to use her own roofer as she did not trust our builder and that we would have to pay!
we asked to sit down over a cup of coffee and said that in the first instance we would like the opportunity to fix the work and if an assessment by her roofer showed that it was not to standard then we would agree to her using him and we would sort it.she finally agreed but has served us yet another letter!
At the end of the day, our builder has agreed to fix it at no cost as it was his problem, but she is not budging as she feels the builder should have told her about the broken slates.
I have said sorry to her so many times and tried to make her see that i cant speak on his behalf but as a working mum with a 4 and 5 year old, i simply forgot to tell her.
she is holding that against us and is now refusing access to her roof -which means our roof cant get repaired.
where do we stand?we have offered to fix everything in the first instance which would not cost us anything. we have offered to pay for her own roofer if she is not happy with the works and feel we have been very reasonable.
can anyone advise?
we had a damp patch on the new wall and got the builder in to have a look. They explained the what needed to be done and one of the things were a few broken slates on next doors roof whilst they were up there.
They also suggested we tell our neighbour that at some stage she would need to get the cement fillets redone on her own roof.
Now, we have a fantastic relationship with her so I asked the builder if they would do it whilst they were up on the roof if my neighbour wanted. They agreed and said the cost would be £500.
I spoke to her and told her and suggested that she may want to get her own roofers to have a look as well as it was a lot of money. I forgot to tell her about the slates as the builder had mentioned it in passing.
she has since got two roofers in and they have both told her about the broken slates and that her cement fillets were fine. and that our builders had left debris in her gutters.
When she told my dh he apologized and promised to get it all fixed asap.
few days later we got a letter saying she wanted to use her own roofer as she did not trust our builder and that we would have to pay!
we asked to sit down over a cup of coffee and said that in the first instance we would like the opportunity to fix the work and if an assessment by her roofer showed that it was not to standard then we would agree to her using him and we would sort it.she finally agreed but has served us yet another letter!
At the end of the day, our builder has agreed to fix it at no cost as it was his problem, but she is not budging as she feels the builder should have told her about the broken slates.
I have said sorry to her so many times and tried to make her see that i cant speak on his behalf but as a working mum with a 4 and 5 year old, i simply forgot to tell her.
she is holding that against us and is now refusing access to her roof -which means our roof cant get repaired.
where do we stand?we have offered to fix everything in the first instance which would not cost us anything. we have offered to pay for her own roofer if she is not happy with the works and feel we have been very reasonable.
can anyone advise?
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Comments
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""few days later we got a letter saying she wanted to use her own roofer as she did not trust our builder and that we would have to pay!"
from her point of view this is eminently reasonable.... looking at it from her point of view... your builders left mess in her gutters and said work needed doing for £500 which 2 others said did not need doing - i would be thinking "cowboy roofers" if that was me.....
if you did not tell her originally about the broken slates of course she is going to think that your roofer did that also...
i dont know how you agree this.. but for the sake of good neighbourly relations - i would come up with some money if i were you0 -
I agree with Clutton and would simply pay for the tiles to be replaced by another roofer.
Perhaps you could agree with your current roofer that they knock a bit off of your bill as they were the catalyst in all of this.0 -
Well, i wouldn't just go handing over money But it's not unreasonable that the neighbour wants to use a different builder as her confidence in your guy has been compromised.
if i was you my first step would be to have a word with my builder, explain that as a result of the tiles he broke the neighbour is unhappy with him and doesn’t want him to fix the damage but would he be prepared to contribute towards the cost of someone else fixing them.
The builder might refuse, having offered to fix them already for free he may feel your neighbour is being unreasonable.
If he refuses, and given that you have indicated that you would be prepared to pay to fix the damage i would suggest a reasonable compromise between using your builder or her builder would be to sit down and try to agree to obtain 3 quotes from 3 reputable local tradesmen/companies and that you will pay the lower or middle quote, providing that you are both satisfied with the choice of builder/roofer.
Having said all that i'm not sure how or why this is stopping you from completing on your side as you do not need your neighbours permission to work on your roof. You simply have a duty of care to your neighbour not to disturb or damage their roof or property in any way. If you do you are liable to pay to fix that damage, although if your builder is a good one he'll take that cost as after all it was he and not you that caused the damage and as a professional he shouldn't have done that.
All in all it's going to take some more negotiating between you, your builder and the neighbour but my advice is try to keep this amicable, if you do it will all get sorted a hell of a lot faster and cheaper.
Good luck......."A wise man once told me don't argue with fools because people from a distance can't tell who is who"........0 -
Bunch of flowers, box of chocs, contrite expression and offer to pay for her builder."If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." -- Red Adair0
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Have you thought about getting a second opinion on your roof too?
I would be a bit leary of a builder that......
a. damaged neighbors roof, didn't say anything to her and didn't repair it
b. said your neighbors roof needed a repair that really doesn't
c. left debri behind knowing it could cause a problem.
d. not sure he did a good enough job if you have a leak already
Those are just red flags in my book and I would want to make sure my roof was water tight.0 -
Have you thought about getting a second opinion on your roof too?
I would be a bit leary of a builder that......
a. damaged neighbors roof, didn't say anything to her and didn't repair it
b. said your neighbors roof needed a repair that really doesn't
c. left debri behind knowing it could cause a problem.
d. not sure he did a good enough job if you have a leak already
Those are just red flags in my book and I would want to make sure my roof was water tight.
If I've understood the OP correctly...
a. Builder advised there was damage, but didn't CAUSE damage
b. Builder advised OP to... "tell our neighbour that at some stage she would need to get the cement fillets redone on her own roof"
c. Agreed
d. Builder was investigating cause of leak. No indication he had done previous roofing work on OPs property.
Perhaps the OP could clarify before there is further confusion.0 -
Have you got legal cover on your home insurance? Let them deal with it and don't get involved.0
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In response to some of the queies:
*our builder did our whole loft conversion and has done a fantastic job. The tiles (I think there are 2-3) on her roof broke whilst they were doing our work.
I can see that it comes across as cowboy builders-but they are a reputable company whom our neighbour was quite happy to ask to do her own little jobs no her own house whilst they were here. Again I see how she sees it when 2 other roofers have disagreed. However she just does not accept -the suggested repairs on her cement roof fillets were a recommendation-not an aim to get the job.
The work they recommended on her roof was nothing to do with our work-an observation they made whilst up there and told us about. we are on very good terms and have shared all tradesmen in the past, hence i did what we always do and help her out.
granted debris on roof was the builders but we have said that will be taken care of .
the repair on our roof is where the two roofs meet hence aceess on her roof is necessary at some point during the repairs.
my poin is how much more reasonable can we get? the original builder wants the opportunity to do the fix, and suggested himself that she can get video assesment or someone up there to assess the work. if still not satisfied then we can look at the other option.
Is that so unreasonable-that she threatens to refuse access to repair works that were scheduled for tomorrow?0 -
i suggest you research the Access to Neighbouring Land Act 1992 - this act stops neighbours from being bloody-minded and stopping essential repairs being done if access is via another's property - i dont know if it applies to roofs or not... worth a look.....0
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my poin is how much more reasonable can we get? the original builder wants the opportunity to do the fix, and suggested himself that she can get video assesment or someone up there to assess the work. if still not satisfied then we can look at the other option.
Is that so unreasonable-that she threatens to refuse access to repair works that were scheduled for tomorrow?
As you ask the question... a lot!
You've offered to rectify a situation caused not by your neighbour but by you and your builder using the cheapest option available to you. That seems the least you could do.
Your neighbour, and you accept this point of view, would rather not use your builder due to the previous issues. That seems pretty reasonable to.
At the end of the day, you are squabbling over £500.
Might be worth remembering that you will keep your neighbour for far longer than you will keep your builder.... AND he doesn't live next door.
Look at a couple of other recent threads and ask yourself if THEY would have settled on £500 for a good relationship with their neighbour?0
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