Should neighbour have come through my side of wall?

TomsMom

Leif wrote: »

I'm probably saying the obvious, but you never know. The censuses go back to 1841, although you have to pay to access them. I think the Ancestry web site also has some old documents.

Thanks. I haven't looked so don't know if they would help, but if they were business places and not dwellings then I'm thinking there wouldn't be anyone to go on the census. I think the archives are probably my best bet for now.

molerat

Looking at the pictures I believe that the edge of your rendering and your upper floor is level with the inside of his wall and your rendering line is over the party wall. His downpipe is therefore on the party wall. An easy way to check would be to measure the distance from a window opening to the inside wall and transpose that measurement to outside. You will then see where the walls lie. Is there any distance from his bathroom window to the wall inside, I think there is as there is no way he could have installed those pipes otherwise.

TomsMom

molerat wrote: »

Looking at the pictures I believe that the edge of your rendering and your upper floor is level with the inside of his wall and your rendering line is over the party wall. His downpipe is therefore on the party wall. An easy way to check would be to measure the distance from a window opening to the inside wall and transpose that measurement to outside. You will then see where the walls lie. Is there any distance from his bathroom window to the wall inside, I think there is as there is no way he could have installed those pipes otherwise.

Thanks for that. I've now had a chance to measure. The distance from my landing window to my inside wall is approx 41". Transposing that measurement to the outside leaves approx 18" of my rendering to the edge of my upper storeys. These are solid stone houses and the walls can be up to approximately 24" thick. That makes me think it's my wall.



His bathroom window has a distance of approx 18" to his inside wall. My son saw a 4" pipe in his bathroom running along the inner wall against my wall (i.e. not under the window but his wall that is the other side of mine). That's the black stack pipe coming out of the wall underneath the gas pipe.

Hope that all makes sense.

I've got my car back now, I shall go along to the library tomorrow and see if I can find anything useful in the archives.

TomsMom

An update for those following.

The archives unfortunately didn't go back far enough - only to 1901 and these properties date to about the mid 1800s.

My solicitor wrote to the neighbour enclosing photographs, pointing out that as my property is one storey higher than his then the upper storey wall is mine, therefore the lower storey wall must also be mine and his house tied into it, the dividing line being where my rendering meets his black painted stone. Neighbour was requested to remove the pipework and make good the wall.

Neighbour's response was to screw up the photos and throw them into my garden. Just about sums up his childish attitude. I returned the photos to the solicitor and am waiting to see what he advises now. I have no doubt that the pipes wont be removed and there will be no making good of my wall.

On hearing about the photo incident, my son got very irate and went to talk to the police again and our local PCSO came round to talk to me. He said it was a civil matter (which I knew this would be) but as they'd spoken to him before about the Public Order offence then he'd go round and speak to him again and phone me later. The outcome was that the neighbour "didn't agree or disagree" that he threw the photos into my garden but did say "Maybe I've done some things I shouldn't have done". PCSO said to him "Don't let me have to come back and discuss harrassment with you". PCSO has told me that if ever I feel vulnerable or feel I'm being harrassed in any way then to let them know.

And the best news of all, I saw someone from the local estate agents at the property on Friday and thought maybe they were going to be used as letting agents as it's going to be a holiday let. Seems like I was wrong as apparently it's going on the market :T . Not quite sure why, maybe he hasn't been able to officially "steal" the piece of land at the rear of the house the other side to build his balcony with spiral staircase down which would have acted as the second exit from the property, which is apparently a requirement for letting properties. Or maybe he's realised his attitude wont be tolerated round here. His latest outburst was in the local shop where he bought his kitchen from and because he hadn't ordered the plinths it seems it was the shop owner's fault. He's been going in and telling the assistants "Tell that effing c**t <name> ............." Mmmmmmmmm, nice!

The renovation isn't complete yet so not sure when it will go on the market, but it's been lovely and quiet the last few days as he's not been back since the weekend.

southcoastrgi

lets hope it gets sold soon & you can go back to a nice peaceful life, well done to your son on going to the police i'm not sure i would have been so sensible

Leif

Good for you, he sounds decidedly uncongenial.

cyclonebri1

Only when you get an obnoxious neighbour do you fully realise the misery they can cause.

Hopefully you have a result and get a better lot next time.:D:D

TomsMom

I thought I would update in case anyone was wondering what had happened.

There were a couple more incidents involving the police but they had got the measure of him. I was called a retard (how disgusting, and this from a pyschologist :eek:) and I was also told I was being taken to court although he wouldn't tell me what for - of course that was more hot air coming from an orifice other than his mouth!

The property did go on the market and a buyer was found within a week :T.

Nasty Neighbour told many lies during the selling procedure, including the fact that I had told my solicitor that I had dropped my objection to the pipework and damage to my wall (as if!). The purchaser's solicitors wouldn't allow exchange of contracts whilst there was still a dispute.

I had a meeting with the prospective purchasers to discuss the way forward and as he is a builder he was willing to do what he could and my son was willing to help. We got in touch with the original heating engineer/plumber who, it turned out, had his own problems with Nasty Neighbour. Plumber offered to redirect the waste water pipe to discharge directly into the stack pipe, and turned the overflow pipe around so that it ran the opposite way and any discharge would be onto the path underneath their bathroom window. He also offered to fill in the hole and repaint.

As the prospective purchasers were very nice people looking for an outcome suitable for all concerned then I agreed to the proposal with the proviso that if the sale fell through then I would not be prepared to make this compromise with Nasty Neighbour and we would be back to square one where I would want the pipes completely removed.

The work was done:



and completion took place a couple of weeks ago with the new owners using it as their holiday home with plans to come every couple of weeks.

Plumber didn't actually do the painting but that's a minor point and something I can do myself when the weather gets better. It didn't get re-rendered but I think once painted it might not be noticeable.

Nasty Neighbour never had any intention of ever conceding that he had done wrong and had no intention of making good the damage, he completely got away with it and it cost me over £200 to get nowhere.

The decking he erected has also been removed, it was on the other neighbour's deeds, plus the deeds for the cottage, that it must remain as a garden and no structure must be built on it. Unfortunately it cost the other neighbour hundreds of pounds in solicitor's fees to get that sorted.

On the day my nice new neighbours took possession they found quite a few problems including leaking taps, inadequate plumbing for the dishwasher and washing machine, failed double glazing units (no guarantee on them as Nasty Neighbour installed them himself) and the programmer for the central heating installed in the loft requiring them to climb through the hatch and poke it with a stick to reach it, and the walls hadn't been plastered, just had lining paper put up and painted. Now why am I not surprised to hear this!

So at least the nightmare has ended and as I believe in karma I'm sure Nasty Neighbour will get his come uppance sometime, I just hope it's soon and it's worse than what he put me and my other neighbour through.

Thanks to everyone for their support and advice while all this was going on.