Party Wall/Boundary question

snowwhite8890

Morning all,


Our neighbour is having insulated render around his house. We thought originally is was just at the side and back but it's become apparent it's all over. Which is a shame as we are a row of 5 terraced houses dating back to 1911.


I understand that you don't need planning permission to render so there's not a lot we can do about it at the front, however, I think they may have crossed the boundary at the back with it. Their wall sticks out a couple of foot further back than ours and, where they're rendering round the corner, the render will encroach about 4-5 inches on our back wall. Can they do this? We've had no notification from them apart from a quick knock on the door the night before asking if they can access our garden to put up scaffolding.


Not one to kick up a fuss but feel like we're losing a little bit of our garden, albeit a little piece.


Thanks,
Polly

moneyistooshorttomention

Sounds like they are trying to pull a fast one - to only ask literally the night before if scaffolding can go up is naughty.

Rendering a house in the first place probably doesn't count as "necessary maintenance" (ie that thing in the Access to Neighbouring Properties Act that allows access to a neighbours property for "necessary maintenance" - but not "improvements").

Is that scaffolding up? Did you agree to it going up?

Any "terms and conditions" you are going to state to the neighbour at this point had better be in writing (copy kept) to prove exactly what you have (and haven't) agreed to.

I'm guessing you have one of these tiny backyards that come with Victorian terrace houses? and yep...some of them are so tiny that you really cant afford to lose any space in them - and you have the right to refuse to do so.

snowwhite8890

Thanks for your reply.


Yes the scaffolding is up. They asked if they could access our garden as the scaffolding needed to go down our side of their conservatory. Which we were fine with, however, it sticks right out into our garden.


It's not the scaffolding I'm really bothered about, it's the 4-5 inches of foam currently bolted to their wall that comes all the way down their wall to pretty much floor level in our garden. They've yet to actually render it which I'm assuming will encroach a little bit more and will sit flush against our back wall. My concern is they've come over the invisible 'boundary' into our, yes, small backyard!!

stator

They can't put external solid wall insulation on a wall where it will overhang someone else's property.
Tell them not to. If they do it anyway then you may have to take them to court.

DRP

stator wrote: »

They can't put external solid wall insulation on a wall where it will overhang someone else's property.
Tell them not to. If they do it anyway then you may have to take them to court.

and do it quickly - verbally , and in writing!!

bugslet

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Sounds like they are trying to pull a fast one - to only ask literally the night before if scaffolding can go up is naughty.

.

stator wrote: »

They can't put external solid wall insulation on a wall where it will overhang someone else's property.
Tell them not to. If they do it anyway then you may have to take them to court.

When I had soffits/gutters done last year, the people doing it only advised me they would need to cross into the neighbours garden at the front the night before - and it was late, about 9.30! I ended up putting a note through the door as I get up early and they are retired.

Wasn't pulling a fast one myself, or being naughty.

I agree with stator about not being allowed to overhang someone else's property. If you have a good realtionship with your neighbour, I'd ask them first if they are aware that the builders/renderers have encroached onto your back yard. I always try to think the nicest about my neighbours and give them a way out, rather than get stroppy from the off.

DRP

bugslet wrote: »

...
I agree with stator about not being allowed to overhang someone else's property. If you have a good realtionship with your neighbour, I'd ask them first if they are aware that the builders/renderers have encroached onto your back yard. I always try to think the nicest about my neighbours and give them a way out, rather than get stroppy from the off.

Absolutely.

IN my experience, often trades go by the motto 'it's not my house', so take the easy option and don;t think of the consequences

snowwhite8890

Thanks all!


Think it's best I have a subtle word with them tonight and see if they're aware of the situation and state that it's something that's concerning us. Fingers crossed it doesn't get ugly!

DRP

snowwhite8890 wrote: »

Thanks all!


Think it's best I have a subtle word with them tonight and see if they're aware of the situation and state that it's something that's concerning us. Fingers crossed it doesn't get ugly!

good luck and please keep us posted.

Davesnave

If they don't apply render around this corner, they may find it hard to maintain the integrity of the coating, as there would then be an exposed, unfinished end.

There might well be some kind of profile that can be added to overcome this problem, as this must be quite a common situation, but if they haven't allowed for one, or installed at the correct time, you could be throwing the contractors an interesting curve ball!

snowwhite8890

Spoke to the neighbour last night and aired our concerns. He was apologetic and told us to have a think about what we wanted to do. He just assumed it was ok and it hadn't really crossed his mind.


Told him this morning that we wanted it taking off that part of the wall which overhangs our garden. It doesn't really bother us now but, should we want to extend, or sell, then we're not sure where we'd stand. He's now told us that the people doing the work don't see a problem with it. I've told him then that we'll have to get a conveyancer over as we want to know where we stand at the moment legally with it.


The annoying thing is it's actually a good friend doing their EWI purely by chance. Will see what the conveyancer says...