Neighbours scaffolding extended over my property

littlerock

Neighbour informed us some months ago he was having his roof retiled and a loft built. Nothing about needing access to our property (we both live in semis, there is a space between the outside of our two houses divided into two access passages by a brick wall).

When it went up the scaffolding extended to some extent over our side passage and I was also concerned about the impact on the glass roof of our conservatory. I spoke to the neighbours about this and a couple of boards were placed over our conservatory roof where they were working. They were removed around 10 days ago and not replaced.

This morning there was some banging around and came out later to see the scaffolding poles had been extended right out across our passage to give his builders better access. In the places the poles are braced against our house's outer wall. We were never asked if we minded. There are no ground level supports on my land, they are all on his, but the entire scaffolding now extends over my side passage.

I spoke to council who said if I wanted to complain I should do so in writing but that complaints could take a month to address. The scaffolding has been there for over 6 weeks now.

I own my house and my neighbour owns his. We have always got on OK until now but he is a bit "gormless". What are my rights about this if my conservatory is damaged? Also can he put up his poles against my house wall without my permission?.

macman

Firstly, it's got nothing whatsoever to do with the council, it's purely a civil matter.
If the conservatory is damaged, then the builders or neighbours will be liable and can be the subject of a claim for damages by you. You cannot make them protect the roof during the works-though you can of course cover it yourself if you wish.
You can remove, or request the removal of anything that overhangs the boundary, whether it touches the walls or not.. But if this set up is purely temporary, wouldn't a chat with your neighbour be the best course of action first?

littlerock

I tried that the first time around I objected to the poles over my side passage and told the scaffolders that I should have been asked (my neighbour was conveniently out). They said they did not know who to ask (hello I live next door and was in). I did manage to catch his wife and told her of my concerns and two panels of mdf appeared on my conservatory roof. These were there for the last month or so and were taken away about a week ago and have not reappeared. So knowing my concerns I would at least have expected my neighbour to mention it when the scaffolders came back and extended completely over my side passage and braced it onto my house.

missile

Not sure whether you want an apology or the scaffolding removed? .....


You could take photos and ask your solicitor if he can instruct neighbour / builder to remove scaffolding which extends over and above your property.

wealdroam

Littlerock, didn't you get suitable reassurances on your earlier thread?

littlerock

Well I took photos and spoke to the scaffolders and the owner, back then, and thought it was resolved but now they have extended ti right out and braced it onto my house without any consultation at all so I am concerned that they took no notice of my last comments and I might have to take further action. I have taken photos as advised.

wealdroam

So why do we need a new thread?

DTDfanBoy

Your neighbour probably should have asked you, but given your previous complaints about nonexistent issues they were probably reluctant to do so.

What harm is the scaffold actually doing, provided you don't often stand in your side passage specifically to view the sky I can't see the scaffolding being above your property actually causing you any sort of problem.

stockton_2

Where I live there is a mix of flats and commercial premises. The commercial premises have scaffolding erected sometimes months before any actual work is carried out. It can be another month or two before the scaffolding is taken down. A couple of years ago my satellite dish was blocked by the scaffolding above our own flats and I had to get a new dish erected.

At the moment there is scaffolding next door and the tenant below me has had both his sky dish and terrestial signals blocked. He is currently only able to get a few weak channels.

Everyone is very aplologetic and there is talk of re-siting his dish but nothing has been done so far and the problem will only be resolved when the scaffolding has gone.

Your "problem" is not so bad, by comparison. You have not mentioned your TV signal being affected and the scaffolding will surely go as soon as the work is done.

You seem a bit miffed because your neighbour did not ask your permission to encroach on your side of the house. I can see why and it could easily have been avoided. Unfortunately not everyone is blessed with social skills and it seems your neighbour is lacking in that department.

DRP

If it is "braced" on your house, then just make sure it isn't causing any damage.

Other than that (and being miffed that your neighbour hasn't been more communicative), I'd say it is juts a neighbourly thing to allow next door to work on their house.

esmerelda98

Stop being so flaming British, all hand-wringing and namby-pamby. Lots of grumbles behind the scenes but no meaningful action. They aren't taking you seriously because you aren't presenting yourself as a person to be taken seriously. And this interaction could set the whole tone for the way they treat you and your property throughout the build. If they cause damage they'll probably just fob you off because you have shown you can be fobbed off.

I would write them a letter giving them 24 hours to remove their scaffolding from my property entirely. I would hand deliver one copy and I would send the second by registered post. This gives the impression that you are prepared to use legal avenues to seek redress if necessary and you are creating a paper trail in the event that that is necessary.

The letters are bit irrelevant, except to show you are trying to be reasonable. After 24 hours I would then, without further notice, remove the scaffolding on my property and place it on their property. It is not that I would not allow them to have any scaffolding overhanging my property, but I force them to ask, and I certainly wouldn't allow it to abut my property. The point is to make it clear to both builder and neighbour that I am a tricky customer to be treated with kid gloves/respect, delete as you prefer. Not to be walked all over in the name of being a good (spineless) neighbour. If they have poor communication skills, now is a good time to learn.

Sadly, if you have assertiveness issues, I'm not sure you will be able to do what you need to do to give you peace. I think it is best to prevent any damage to your property rather than go through the hassle of trying to claim compensation later on. If the damage is serious they could try all sorts of devious tricks to avoid paying out.