Neighbours converting loft space

Donnajohnston40

:jHi - we have an open loft with our neighbour. They are converting theirs and have done lots of building works. With the loft being open this has filled my loft space with a thick costing of dirt. This has covered all of my items up there. Please can anyone advise where I stand on this? Thank you

Donnajohnston40

The dust is also coming into my home and getting on my lungs. Thank you

srm1

All of this should have been covered by a party wall award and building plans.
Building control should also be involved.

Remedial clearance of dust and debis would be the responsibility of your neighbour and not the building contractor doing the works.

southcoastrgi

plus you shouldn't have a shared open loft, it should have a fire wall built & then you wouldn't be getting all the dust plus it would prevent a fire from spreading

lstar337

southcoastrgi wrote: »

plus you shouldn't have a shared open loft, it should have a fire wall built & then you wouldn't be getting all the dust plus it would prevent a fire from spreading

Yeah! Who has a shared open loft?

A bit of a security risk isn't it?

calleyw

lstar337 wrote: »

Yeah! Who has a shared open loft?

A bit of a security risk isn't it?

I know two people who live in properties like this.

They are old cottages in a row.

And that is the way they there built back then.

And if you have a bolt on the lock hatch whats the issue?

And one of the properties has been bought in the last year on a mortgage. So the bank don't seem to have a issue with it.

Yours

Calley

srm1

I think southcoastrgi has summed the problem up nicely.

FIRE SEPARATION.
I'm a bit surprised this hadn't been covered under the original building plans, assuming any existed.

Dan-Dan

calleyw wrote: »

I know two people who live in properties like this.

They are old cottages in a row.

And that is the way they there built back then.

And if you have a bolt on the lock hatch whats the issue?

And one of the properties has been bought in the last year on a mortgage. So the bank don't seem to have a issue with it.

Yours

Calley

err , the stuff inside the loft ?

PasturesNew

The fact is the OP has been seriously inconvenienced by the inability of the neighbour to be neighbourly.

They should have built the fire wall second.... first should have been the party wall agreement.

So ... what can the OP do to get the (rude) neighbour to sort it out ... and soonest?

stator

Ask them to get it cleaned up.
If they refuse talk to a solicitor and sue.

Not much else you can do.

You'd also have to worry about neighbours creeping around in your loft space, drilling tiny holes in your ceiling and peeping on you in the bath.

casper_g

While a shared open loft is not that unusual in an old property, the first thing the builders should have done if converting half the loft is to put up a suitable wall between the two parts. This would be useful for fire, noise and security purposes, and I assume would be required under the building regs.

The neighbour should take responsibility for cleaning your stuff. Ask them about this, and also ask about how they are going to separate the loft space, if this isn't obvious already.

If you're not satisfied, you can always call your local building control dept. to ask advice. You could do this without giving your address initially, if you want to avoid causing trouble for the neighbour.