Neighbours have removed fencing and knocked down brick wall

Clueless101

The neighbours of my Mum's friend have had all their driveway, back garden and joining pathway dug up to be paved/gravelled. Their houses are not attached - there is a pathway/alleyway between them (joining each front garden to back garden) which is divided in two by a low brick wall with fencing on top. The neighbours ground level is about a foot higher than my Mum's friend's, so it's about a foot high their side and about two foot high her side. The back garden slopes up away from the house, so once the ground is at a higher level than the wall, the boundary is just fence, no wall (hope that makes sense) - basically the wall is only between the houses and front gardens, and not between the back gardens.

Anyway, a few months ago the neighbours mentioned they were thinking of putting down paving and gravel sometime and asked my Mum's friend when she would be repairing the brick wall (a small section had been knocked, so a few bricks were missing). My Mum's friend said that she thought they would be fixing it since the damage was the result of them hitting it with their ladder. She's an elderly lady with health issues, so unfortunately organising the fixing of it hasn't really been a priority for her, plus she'd basically forgotten about it as they haven't mentioned it since.

Today, without warning, the neighbours gardens, existing drive and path have been all dug up, all the fencing removed and the whole wall knocked down. Also, the new bricks (presumably to hopefully rebuild the wall) have all been placed down my Mum's friend's path and in her garden. She did go out and politely ask the builders how long they would be leaving materials on her property as she is having her garden all cut back for the winter next week (which she also told them) and at the moment the gardeners will have no access to the garden. Their response was a vague "not long".

What should she do? If they "make good" then she doesn't really mind - although obviously the neighbours really should have asked before knocking the wall down and the builders should have asked to access her property and offered to move the materials straight away. She doesn't really know what to say and is also worried the neighbour may expect her to pay for rebuilding the wall, something she can't afford. Where would she stand on this, please?

dibuzz

Sounds like they are taking advantage of her being old and alone, they have no right to put anything on her garden.

keystone

Whose wall is it?

Cheers

Ectophile

The first thing you need to find out is if it's the mum's friend's wall, or the mum's friend's neighbour's wall.

If it was the friend's wall, they shouldn't have knocked it down, and since they have, they should repair it properly at their own expense.

If it's the neighbour's wall, they are free to knock it down if they want, provided they replace it with something suitable to stop the ground collapsing.

I_have_spoken

Not sure what the old dear is grumbling about. She damages the wall, then dithers about repairs and now it's be rebuilt at no cost to her. What's not to like?

Clueless101

Well, a few months ago the neighbours seemed to think it was my Mum's friend's wall (hence why they expected her to solely pay for/organise the repair, but they haven't mentioned it since and now this, so maybe they've changed their opinion, I'm not sure). I did look at the deeds at the time and it looked as though it's jointly owned, but I would need to double check this, as I remember it wasn't really very clear.

Clueless101

I_have_spoken wrote: »

Not sure what the old dear is grumbling about. She damages the wall, then dithers about repairs and now it's be rebuilt at no cost to her. What's not to like?

Sorry, my post probably isn't clear enough, it was the neighbours that damaged the wall, not my Mum's friend.

keystone

So here's one analysis then:

The wall goes down the middle. Nobody really knows who it belongs to and as it probably stradlles the boundary it could be either or both.

Neighbour knocks into wall with ladder. Few bricks fall out. That doiesn't just happen witha little knock. So conclusion wall is badly built and fragile as heck.

Neighbour tries snow job on the old girl with a "when are you going to get it fixed" trying to make it her problem to fix the wall they are trying to imply is heres to avoid the cost themselves.

Feisty old biddy says "well you broke it when are you going to fix it"?

Neighbour takes that as permission/instruction to repair wall. Gets builder round on the grand project. Says "oh what about just putting those bricks back in the wall then?" Builder looks at it sucks his teeth, shaes his head (the usual guff) and then announces that the wall is shot and if you want it repairing, because you'll have to have it repairing if you are to contain all this gravel you want me to put down it needs tearing down and starting again.

Neighbour now remembers that they have either been told to fix their own wall or to go ahead and fix the old lady's wall so say OK then carry on because it needs to be done otherwise our gravel will be all over her garden.

Builder doesn't really give a toss where he leaves his bricks but its logical to lay them down where the brickei can easily reache them as he's doing the wall.

Meanwhile nobody is really talking to anybody and its become somebody's fault or problem.

Why should she be worried that they are going to ask her to pay for the wall? Have they said that? Well no because they aren't communicating.

Go round tomorrow and get everyone together for a chat and get some perspective calmly, placidly and friendly-like.

Sorry to be blunt but you are wasting your time creating this thread. All you will get is wildassed speculation because nothing is clear. I suspect you've got the tale via your mum anyway so its third hand by the time anyone here reads it. If someone else can be bothered to do a small analysis of your first post they'll probably come up with a different scenario to mine, who is to say which is correct and then it will all go round in circles.

Cheers

southcoastrgi

I_have_spoken wrote: »

Not sure what the old dear is grumbling about. She damages the wall, then dithers about repairs and now it's be rebuilt at no cost to her. What's not to like?

Clueless101 wrote: »

Sorry, my post probably isn't clear enough, it was the neighbours that damaged the wall, not my Mum's friend.

yes your post was clear enough, it's just that some people need to read through the OP before commenting

-taff

keystone wrote: »

I suspect you've got the tale via your mum anyway so its third hand by the time anyone here reads it. If someone else can be bothered to do a small analysis of your first post they'll probably come up with a different scenario to mine, who is to say which is correct and then it will all go round in circles.

Cheers

Yup, because if even you [the OP you] don't know who owns the wall or is responsible for it, how is anyone else to? Go round and talk to them.

Dimey

Your post was perfectly clear to me OP.

Sounds like someone needs to stand up for the old dear and go visit the neighbour.

Move the builders' bits off the old dear's property.

You do need to establish who owns the wall or whether jointly. But in a way its immaterial now because the neighbour has knocked the wall down completely (without permission or joint agreement) so he has to put it back.

Once you've established what the neighbour intends to do and politely made it clear he has to make good then agree a time when he will have the work completed by and to what standard. Confirm in writing if you have any doubts about the neighbour's trustworthiness.

Take photographs.