URGENT Joint wall demolition going on now, need help

dori2o

I posted a few weeks ago about the garden wall between my garden and the next doors. The Deeds clearly state that the wall is joint, neither property has single ownership of the wall.

The neighbour informed me verbally that they intended to pull the wall down and replace it with a fence and that I was not expecetd to pay towards it but could make a contribution if I wished.

I was told by the neighbour that they would inform me when the work would start, but they havent, because it has started this morning.

I came downstairs to find men in my back yard without my permission. I have now padlocked the gate.

No party wall agreement has been submitted.

My concern is the company doing the work. They did work at my parents house last year and within 12 months the fence panels are rotting and falling apart. I have serious concerns over their quality. This will afterall affect my home.

What rights do I have to stop this build, or to ensure that the work done is to my high standards, not their cowboy ones?

I have taken pictures of the garden and the wall prior to work commencing.

My other concern is the pillar at the end of the wall which holds the gate, I do not want this to be demolished, it is over 100 years old and still in very good condition. I want this retained.

Any advice on this very much appreciated.

Doozergirl

The wall might be joint but the fence will belong to your neighbour.

It's one of those strange scenarios where communicating with people gets you closer to what you want.

It sounds like you're happy for the wall to come down. Go and speak to the neighbours about the pillar.

In terms of their choice of contractor - aren't you in the situation of beggars not being choosers? If you're paying, you get a say, if you're not, you accept the removal of an old wall and the new fence with grace. Perhaps a better contractor could be afforded if you put something into the pot.


If you can't afford that and the new fence rots, it's their problem to deal with, or you offer to buy a new fence yourself at that time.

I don't really think you're in a bad position.

As for party wall agreements. Really? It's like using a cannon to kill a fly.

dori2o

Doozergirl wrote: »

The wall might be joint but the fence will belong to your neighbour.

It's one of those strange scenarios where communicating with people gets you closer to what you want.

It sounds like you're happy for the wall to come down. Go and speak to the neighbours about the pillar.

In terms of their choice of contractor - aren't you in the situation of beggars not being choosers? If you're paying, you get a say, if you're not, you accept the removal of an old wall and the new fence with grace. Perhaps a better contractor could be afforded if you put something into the pot.


If you can't afford that and the new fence rots, it's their problem to deal with, or you offer to buy a new fence yourself at that time.

I don't really think you're in a bad position.

As for party wall agreements. Really? It's like using a cannon to kill a fly.

Surely the wall and the pillar forms part of my property, and any damage to said property must be put rights should it not? Despite the fact I am not paying surely I have a say in the quality of finish and if it's not right I should be able to have it put right.

Why should my garden be left looking like a sh*t tip?

I understand that the only way to stop them now is to get a court injunction, as there is no enforcement procedure in the PW Act.

I also have concerns over a sewage drain/inspection pit that is located less than 1m from the wall. If this is damaged who is liable?

Surely as this is MY land and I own half of the wall I have some say.

I don't care who the fence belongs to, I won't be maintaining it if the quality is as I expect it to be. I will however be drilling into the concrete posts and putting battens along the length of the fence and putting up reed/bamboo screens.

no1catman

What is wrong with the wall, that they feel it needs to come down and be replaced by a fence?
Do they want extra height? If so, leave the wall and have fence on top of it i.e. posts his sided - with the feather-edge over the wall.

dori2o

no1catman wrote: »

What is wrong with the wall, that they feel it needs to come down and be replaced by a fence?
Do they want extra height? If so, leave the wall and have fence on top of it i.e. posts his sided - with the feather-edge over the wall.

Thats what I wanted to do.

Some years ago before we bought our house someone who lived here kept birds in an aviary. That aviary is now our 'shed', it's a brick built building that is situated where the old outside loo was.

She person who lived next door (prior to my neighbours) complained about the noise and so the person who lived in my house, being a bit of a bodgeit, built a single skinned brick wall on top of the original double skin wall to help reduce the noise.

It wasn't well built and it has been wobbling, but only the extended bit.

The original wall has stood for more than 100 years and was tied into the house (not no more as it's gone).

My idea was to take down the top 2 ft from the wall, use the Newhey brick from what was taken down to cap the top of the wall, and put a 2/3ft fence on top.

I'd even agreed that the fence posts would be screwed into the wall on my side, so in fact they would get the use of the top of the wall to put planters on etc.

I priced this up at £450 plus a skip. My B-I-L was willing to come an labour for a day (for next to nothing), I had a brickie friend from the pub lined up to cap and point up the wall on both sides, and the fence panels could be bought from any decent timber yard along with the posts.

They are paying £1300 to take down and remove a wall, put up concrete posts, put in 2 concrete bases per panel, and put in 5ft x 6ft panels.

The jobs already gotten bigger as when they took the wall down I don't think they expected it to be tied into the house, which of course it was. There is now a massive hole in the side of the house where the wall used to be tied in. They are currently in the process of making this good. Luckily they kept a pile of the bricks from the wall so at least the patching up will match the rest of the house and it won't have a section of engineering brick in there.

We just don't have £650 to spend on a wall. the next time we have any money like that it will be to buy a new boiler as the one we have is garbage, but it was free when fitted under the Warmfront scheme (Ravenheat CSI 85). But we could have stretched to £225/£250 if they had gone with my suggestion.

The problem now is who's going to paint the damn thing every year? I'm disabled and have mobility issues, they are both in their 70's and have issues, so unless we pay someone to do it the panels are going to rot, and being in a Terraced back to back with a railway line it's like a wind tunnel in our back, so the wind is going to affect the panels. Especially the panels this company supplies. They are garbage. My Mum and Dad had off them last year and they weren't happy with them when they first put them in but they refused to come back. Less than 12 months later they are all rotten despite having been painted with 2 coats of good quality paint on both sides.

I'm tempted to go to a friends garage and get some used engine oil, mix it with some fence treatment, and paint the panels with that. Good old fashioned creosote, lasted years.

wealdroam

Here's the original thread:

Neighbour replacing boundry wall with fence

Not sure why we need a new thread.

From what you have said today, it appears that your only grievance is that they didn't tell you before they started work.

About your sewage drain/inspection pit, if that is damaged then clearly whoever causes the damage is responsible for putting it right.

dori2o

wealdroam wrote: »

Here's the original thread:

Neighbour replacing boundry wall with fence

Not sure why we need a new thread.

From what you have said today, it appears that your only grievance is that they didn't tell you before they started work.

About your sewage drain/inspection pit, if that is damaged then clearly whoever causes the damage is responsible for putting it right.

There is that, plus finding workmen in my back yard without anyone asking permission first.

But also it's the company that is doing the work. I have seen their work, it isn't pretty. My concern mainly is over the finish.

We don't have the most glamorous garden in the world. There's no grass, there's no flower beds, it's just a concrete slab (as whoever lived here before took up the Yorkshire stone flags which most of the other gardens still have), but it's neat, tidy and functional.

What I don't want is for it to look a complete mess when it's done. What redress do I have?

If I'm not happy with the finish what can I do? Do I have any rights to ask the contractor to put it right or is my argument with the neighbour? Do I even have an argument?

I intend to either screw battens to the concrete posts, or wedge them in between in order to put up bamboo screens along the length of the fence, which is what I was going to put up against the wall and which we have already bought (before being advised that the wall was being knocked down)

littlerock

if builders have been on your land without your permission that is illegal and a trespass. They need a wayleave to come onto your land if you have not verbally agreed this.

I am not clear about earlier poster's comment that wall is jointly owned but fence is neighbours because they are paying for it, apparently without your buy in. If it is shared wall, then constructions on party wall line should surely be by mutual agreement? Otherwise what is to stop you taking down neighbour's fence and erecting your own, using same argument ?

Doozergirl

The neighbour's fence should, in theory be on their side of the boundary. Then the OP could erect their very own fence on their side and it wouldn't matter what condition the neighbour's fence was in. Most people don't feel the need for two fences and share over the boundary.

Boundaries and fences are different things. As are walls. You have to share a boundary, but one party can own a fence if they buy it. One is imaginary in reality, the other is property. If the wall is joint but doesn't exist anymore, it can't be joint. Then there is just a boundary.