Neighbour's house falling down

Morienos

Sticky one this, I live next door (in a terrace) to a house which is being badly affected by damp, and possibly worse. I've had builders out to fix the cracks which are spreading to my house but there is a finite amount I can do. Our neighbours are very elderly pensioners and there's little or no chance they'll be able to afford repairs to their house, and I can just about afford the repairs to mine. Any ideas? I really don't want to start legal proceedings against the basically sweet old people we live next to.

A.L.D.A

Where exactly is the damp coming from?

Mistral001

There might not be much you can do with regard to legal proceedings anyway. Often it seems to householders that it is next doors fault, in a situation like this, but the legal situation is often quite different. You need the services of a chartered surveyor to advise you here.

nearlyrich

And some so called poor old dears have milions in the bank or even insurance they can call upon worth asking anyway!

meg72

Mistral001 wrote: »

There might not be much you can do with regard to legal proceedings anyway. Often it seems to householders that it is next doors fault, in a situation like this, but the legal situation is often quite different. You need the services of a chartered surveyor to advise you here.

Quite agree but if it does turn out that your neighbours are responsible they may be entitled to a grant,worth looking into when you know more.

wifeforlife

Are you sure they own the property? I usually find the older generation quite good at keeping the house in order. If they do, you may be able to go through both insurance policies to fix any problems.

If they don't own their home, you can contact the local Environmental Office @ the council and they have several avenues they can go down.

I'd ask on the house board here, people there will have loads of experience to help you deal with this in the best way

Cate

Morienos

Pretty sure they have no money because the state of their property would make their own lives awful for them. I've (had) repaired about 3 feet of render on my side and about 6 on theirs because water was pouring into their house. The damp is water coming in because of breaches in the render, not rising damp. Their chimney is going to fall down soon as well.

absoluteutopia

If its that bad they need to be in a fold

Mistral001

Morienos wrote: »

Pretty sure they have no money because the state of their property would make their own lives awful for them. I've (had) repaired about 3 feet of render on my side and about 6 on theirs because water was pouring into their house. The damp is water coming in because of breaches in the render, not rising damp. Their chimney is going to fall down soon as well.

You need some proper professional help here advise you what you can and cannot do with regard to the neighbour's property.

A.L.D.A

Morienos Again where is the damp coming from. Where does it show in your property. Is it roof, walls or at ground level? What type of house is it? How old is it? Does the house on the far side also suffer problems?

Morienos

ALDA its actually water coming through, I think its coming down through the cracks in the shared chimney. House is from 1895, three story terrace.