Scaffolding 'etiquette'

marc3

Having some building work done involving scaffolding.(likely to take about a month )

enjoy fairly good relationship with neighbour and have advised them in general terms of this and on the surface they seem ok (things can change )

builder/scaffolder has now given a bit more detail and they now say scaffolding -a few horizontal poles only -will need to encroach over neighbours property-albeit above head height ( a bit like trees and hanging branches )
there is also a possibility,that because of narrow access and some -a couple of the horizontal poles of the scaffolding may just need to touch the neighbours house wall in a couple of places.

I obviously will be letting them know-but is there a genral rule/law on this ?

if it does overhang-or need to touch-can the neighbour object and refuse permission.

as above-it will overhang,and may/may not just touch their wall.

again-relationships are good-but i am conscious that things can change, so i wish to do this absolutely correctly and also know my exact position.

advice/info/legalities of this very welcome.

thanks

G_M

Yes they can object, and ultimatly yes, they can get a court order making you stop work/remove the trespass.

Likewise you can go to court and seek permission to access the neighbours land for repairs to your property.
Access to Neighbouring Land Act 1992


But the solution is neighbourly understanding and cooperation!

Loopy28

My neighbours had scaffolding a while back for solar panels, they mentioned that this would need to be done and asked our permission for two of the poles from the scaffolding to go over our fence and in to our garden. We said that wouldn't be a problem and that was the last we heard, no date given etc

Until I arrived home from work one day to find a works van on my drive so I couldn't park on it, my back gate was open with scaffolding taking over my entire garden while they erected it and at this point they told me my sky dish was covered and I would not be able to watch sky until it was taken back down.

Obviously this whole situation frustrated me and I went straight round to my neighbours to 'express my dissatisfaction'. It caused a lot of bad feelings as they had not communicated any of this to me. Had they explained the extent to which the scaffolding would affect me, I would have consented to it and at least would have been prepared but I was very annoyed with my neighbour that they felt it acceptable to let them park on my drive, to open my back gate to allow them access to my back garden etc and to not communicate that the scaffolding would take over quite a lot of my house and would not allow me to watch tv temporarily.

So what I am trying to get at is explain to your neighbours the full extent to what it will affect them, the importance to you of this work being undertaken. I would be surprised if they refuse if they are properly informed.

marc3

thanks,agree and will be doing exactly that.

good relationships can change though,and am just trying to establish my legal/back stop position,and so i don't miss a trick, what(if anything) i need to do by law/formally to advise.

i must admit-friend or no friend-if shoe on other foot-i would feel a bit uncomfortable where poles are actually touching my walls,and we all know that one month can turn into two months this time of year,so i am trying to ensure i do this absolutely corretly,and indeed ,whether i -via our scaffolder- can simply have the poles touching my neighbours property as is being proposed

tealady

Hi
If your neighbours do agree I feel a "thank you " bottle of wine (or whatever gift you feel is appropriate)from you to them would be a good idea.

anna42hmr

tealady wrote: »

Hi
If your neighbours do agree I feel a "thank you " bottle of wine (or whatever gift you feel is appropriate)from you to them would be a good idea.

I agree, also you may not get to find out the true effect it has on them as may have a small amount of inconvenience, for example when previous neighbours of my parents had scaffolding up for work on their roof, the scaffolders used too big planks for the area, so was partially in front of our house as well.

As a result caused two things on our property - blocked out some light in one of the rooms (not major as was only a box room that was hardly used but only had a small window). And two due to the position of the scaffold vs our sky dish, it also caused problems with us receiving a signal for some channels (which at first we thought there was a fault with sky itself but after the scaffold was removed it worked perfectly well again).

Next door offered to speak to the scaffold co to see if they get it moved slightly/reduced in size but we told them not to bother - though a bottle of wine for mum and cigars for dad were dropped round by them a couple of days after the scaffolders and builders left which was a nice touch in my opinion.

eddddy

Loopy28 wrote: »

... the scaffolding would take over quite a lot of my house and would not allow me to watch tv temporarily.
...

anna42hmr wrote: »

...And two due to the position of the scaffold vs our sky dish, it also caused problems with us receiving a signal for some channels (which at first we thought there was a fault with sky itself but after the scaffold was removed it worked perfectly well again).
...

Just a comment on this specific issue...

Most satellite dish installers will temporarily move a dish from a wall and attach it to the scaffolding instead. (I guess you should check with the scaffolding firm as well.)

But around where I am, it's likely to cost around £60 to have it moved and another £60 to move it back (plus cost of a bracket).