Next door selling, Ongoing dispute.

david29dpo

I can confirm i own the wall and responsibility of it.
The wall is on the boundary but as you properly know the LR plans red line could be blown up to be a foot wide.
The wall is 48 years old.
I will never sell, the house is planned to be rented out in the future.

david29dpo

The house are only worth about 120K his is on at 126K

DaftyDuck

david29dpo wrote: »

I can confirm... i own the wall ... and responsibility of it.
The wall is on the boundary but as you properly know the LR plans red line could be blown up to be a foot wide.
The wall is 48 years old.
I will never sell, the house is planned to be rented out in the future.

Ah, OK, I wasn't sure you'd confirmed that bit. In that case, I'd get a quote in for repair to the wall, just repair and just what the tree has damaged, and ask him to have the tree removed prior to your repair. Rather than write to the agent, I'd initially go and see him. Talk to him. Point out that a hefty and difficult dispute on selling could all be avoided by the owner doing this, and see if agent takes quiet action. Some agents are not actually buffoons.

With any luck, this will exert enough pressure to quietly resolve the matter.

david29dpo

The seller will NEVER do anything, he has made that clear for the last 5 years.
Other than a costly court battle, Blackmail for want of a better word, is the only thing that will work.

david29dpo

You cannot talk to him. Unless is about football, 60in plasma telles and pubs.

DaftyDuck

The seller will NEVER do anything

Then you are on a hiding to nothing, trying to get him to do it prior to sale, aren't you? So, far better to get the place sold, him out, and new (possibly nice) neighbours in. The new owner may be a bricklayer, his partner a tree surgeon, and it will be sorted in a jiffy.

Look, neighbourhood disputes seldom bring anything but trouble to both parties, and normally bring more to the wronged party than the troublesome one (who seldom cares). Always avoid them. They will drive you insane - as evidenced by some posters on this thread.

In this case, you accept he'll never do anything, yet you are setting out to do your best to delay/halt the sale and keep him as your neighbour......

See? That's not rational!

david29dpo

True but still worth a try.

moneyistooshorttomention

I cant say I feel very optimistic that seller will remove the tree - even if it didn't cost him money to do so.

The EA, on the other hand, might well be more approachable and might point out to the seller that he would get a sale quicker if he deals with this matter (including reimbursing OP for the repair to wall) and that buyers would knock off the price of doing the work themselves in the event.

I'm wondering if the house is overpriced by £6k specifically to match the £6k the work would cost? - ie buyer already allowing for a knockdown to the price he expects anyway?

I would imagine most buyers would look at the tree and be mentally "kissing it goodbye" anyway - as they would spot it was knocking over the neighbours wall. I certainly would be - having read so much stuff over the years about trees next to walls isn't a good idea.

EDIT; There's always a chance that new neighbour might be okay about removing the tree/etc anyway - even if they hadn't realised it was creating a problem. Its down to the approach to them to some extent - one neighbour could ask for something and get a "flea in ear" for yet another attempt to influence how the garden is. Another neighbour could (as one of mine has) just ask "I wonder if you were thinking of putting any trees there?" (ie next to their wall) and look, in a very worried/concerned way at their wall and get assured "I don't intend to" (whilst thinking "I can see what a terrible state that wall is in for myself - no chance of putting a tree next to that one. The wall would probably soon fall down if I tried"). Two very different approaches - one works (because its understandable concern), one doesn't (because its yet another order).

david29dpo

I dont believe he has knocked off 6K because of this, just agents overpricing. Trust me, he wouldn't know how!

martindow

Reading your posts OP your exasperation with your neighbour comes through loud and clear.

I think doing anything which could hinder the sale and delay their departure is not a good idea.

In your position I would hope for a quick sale and expect that their buyers are more reasonable people. I would be willing to propose splitting the cost of sorting this. Is it really going to cost£6k? Once the tree is removed won't only a few feet of wall need to be rebuilt, not an entire new wall?