Problem with neighbour's chimney

chickaroonee

Not sure if this is the right forum, but here goes.

We bought an end terrace fairly recently. It has a loft conversion and there was a very noticeable wet patch on one internal wall, coming down from the ceiling. Our surveyor thought it likely to be down to the neighbour's chimney which is above; we've had a builder round today to inspect the chimney properly and it is clear it's in a really bad state - rubble on top around the pots which has almost completely gone, and the pointing on some of the stones has also gone.

The neighbours have seen the state of their chimney and taken pictures, but haven't said much other than that they're surprised as they've not got any damage in their house. Obviously we will try to resolve this all amicably, but I wondered what our rights/next steps might be if they do nothing.

We're happy to pay to fix our internal damage, but really don't want to pay to fix their chimney.

dotdash79

Get them to try and claim on their household insurance, if they refuse then you might be able to get yours to do the work and claim from them.

Do you have legal protection with your household insurance?

chickaroonee

I have a feeling their insurance won't cover this because it'll come under wear and tear. Our chimney needed some work too, but theirs is in a much worse condition (I saw it myself, it is obviously in need of work). I think the problem is the previous neighbours didn't say anything and they think that because nothing is coming in their side all is fine. We however have a 3 foot wet patch on our wall! Not really surprising though when you look at where their chimney is, as per most old victorian terraces.

Not sure if we have legal protection or not, would have to check. I don't think we could claim on our insurance to fix the chimney, could we? It's not ours.

moneybags_3

I would have thought that if you are insured that you can have your damage fixed and claim from your insurance company. If you have the legal protection insurance then surely your neighbours will have to rectify the problem at their expense once it is proven that the fault lies with their chimney. I could face a similar problem soon regarding my guttering which is on my neighbour's side and keeps getting blocked because of the moss falling off their roof. Their house is rented and they don't care.:eek:

m0bov

You need to get something in writing, to prove what the cause is and then to get a quote. You can then put it in written to your neighbour, asking them to respond, in writing, in say 14 days. This is assuming you don't hear anything.

If they don't act, and your 100% sure its the chimney, then you'll need to either get a solicitor to right a letter before action, or pay for the work and then go down the small claims court. But be sure to get your neighbour a chance, diary any conversations you have and keep details of what is discussed.

chickaroonee

We will definitely give them a chance, I don't want it to get difficult if at all possible.

I already have our surveyor's report which states their chimney is the likely cause, the builder is happy to put a quote for works to their chimney and has shown them (on a cherry picker!) what is visibly wrong. I don;t think it is a case of proving 100% that is the cause of the water damage, because how can you be 100% sure? There appears to be defective work above where it is wet is all we can say for sure, so it is about balance of probabilities.

Our insurance would perhaps pay to fix our internal damage, but I'd rather not claim on that and just do the repairs ourselves. The problem is though what is causing it.

chickaroonee

The builder will happily quote for the work but unfortunately due to the state of their chimney and the position of it it is going to be expensive I think. I got the impression they thought it was the builder touting for work but I really don't think that is the case.

G_M

As others have said you can

* claim on your insurance
* get them to claim on their insurance
* sue them
* resolve through amicable negotiation over a cuppa

Which of these you do, or in which order, is up to you.

m0bov

Have you asked them "what do you intend to do?" yet? That will dictate what you do next, they can always get their own builder in to check.

chickaroonee

Sure I know I can claim on my insurance, but I don't think that will resolve the problem. We need to re-plaster (not that big a deal with all the rest of the work we are doing) - they need to scaffold all round their house and do significant work on their chimney stack. I really doubt that their insurance will pay, it's clearly just long term wear and tear.

I'm trying to be as amicable as possible, I showed them the damage as soon as we moved in and said what the surveyor thought, I even arranged for them to go up on the cherry picker so they could see the damage themselves, but they just kept saying they couldn't understand it as they have had no problems.

chickaroonee

m0bov wrote: »

Have you asked them "what do you intend to do?" yet? That will dictate what you do next, they can always get their own builder in to check.

That's my next step I think. Very happy to get their own builder in, I was finewith who we had but it's of no consequence to us who fixes it. In fact I'd be really happy with them getting someone of their own out to look at it as then they be more inclined to believe them. The only thing is they may have to pay a lot for just a look, might need scaffolding or to hire another cherry picker to get close again.

They're very house proud and have done their house up over a number of years, I think they were shocked that there may be a problem and seemed to have a hard time accepting it - our house has always been the problem house on the street (until we bought it), if that makes sense. Hopefully they'll realise we're not trying to diddle them.