Urgent advice please; builders have built about 10cm onto neighbours' land!

fezster

Sounds to me like an extra row of bricks has been built next to the outer skin of the cavity wall. The outer skin of the cavity wall is ON the boundary.

Neither you nor your neighbour would benefit from this wall, EXCEPT that your builder has built the roof over it (!) Your builder should have built the roof over the boundary wall only.

That's how I see it, but I would suggest obtaining legal advice, or having the roof fixed. The wall being there or not is neither here nor there, as it is just another row of bricks. If the roof was not resting on it, they could be taken away and not affect your extension. Tell your neighbours to remove them if they wish once the roof has been amended.

I_have_spoken

Given the potential for disputes, legal costs and holding up the work I'd bite the bullet and knock down the wall and rebuilt. That's the only way you'll have peace of mind when it comes to selling too.

rosie383

Can I just clarify that it was the architect who suggested that we build up to the side of their extension and we did discuss it with the neighbours beforehand about exactly what we were planning to do.
The architect did not specify that we leave a gap of 10cm. He said that it would not be in either parties' interest to leave the gap between our boundary and their extension wall.
We have by no means been trying to pull a fast one and have consulted the neighbours at every stage and they have been absolutely fine with how things have been done.
It was only when someone else pointed out to them that in fact it looks as if our extension extends into their property by this small margin and could cause problems when either party decided to sell, that they even noticed it.
We will take any of the helpful advice on board and will come to an amicable agreement with our neighbours.

Furts

rosie383 wrote: »

Can I just clarify that it was the architect who suggested that we build up to the side of their extension and we did discuss it with the neighbours beforehand about exactly what we were planning to do.
The architect did not specify that we leave a gap of 10cm. He said that it would not be in either parties' interest to leave the gap between our boundary and their extension wall.
We have by no means been trying to pull a fast one and have consulted the neighbours at every stage and they have been absolutely fine with how things have been done.
It was only when someone else pointed out to them that in fact it looks as if our extension extends into their property by this small margin and could cause problems when either party decided to sell, that they even noticed it.
We will take any of the helpful advice on board and will come to an amicable agreement with our neighbours.

There is no point us getting into a dispute here. I am simply trying to clarify matters. Your drawings should have shown exactly where you were building to. Yet you admit you have gone 100mm past the boundary, and your builder admits this.

Your Archiitect is referred to in #48. You seem contrardictory on how matters came about. If the Architect did say fill the gap, and build the wall, this is insane. It appears the Architect was aware of the boundary location, so what did you get in writing here, if anything?

Equally your reasoning to justify this wall is crazy. Your new wall will be interlocked by mortar and friction with the neighbours wall. There is no way they could remove their wall in future and use your new one without causing serious damage to the new wall - which will also damage your new extension. In addition your new wall has no protruding wall ties for the neighbour to use as a cavity wall, and as an infill wall it is in all probability not adequately built, nor adequately coursed, for this purpose.

In reality you have imposed a useless wall on your neighbours land which will be detrimental to any future alterations to, or rebuilding of, their extension.

You may not like what I am saying but I am viewing this from a building perspective and I am leaning in favour of your neighbour. If partial demolition is required then so be it.

Again this is not a personal attack but I also wonder why you feel your new roof has a right to protrude over your neighbour's roof.

teneighty

I'm struggling to understand what the OP is describing but I will take a stab that the side wall of the new extension has been built astride the boundary making it a party wall. So the outer leaf of the cavity wall is on the neighbour's side and the inner leaf of the cavity wall is on the OP's side.

This is quite normal and does not require you to purchase the neighbour's land as it becomes a shared party wall. In theory the neighbour should pay for half the cost of building the wall but that is usually waived.

To do it without a party wall agreement is rather unfortunate as it leads to these sorts of misunderstandings. Especially if neighbour works in a solicitors office. This could get expensive.

lstar337

Just to play devils advocate, it seems a little odd that...

rosie383 wrote: »

the wife actually works in a property solicitors firm

and yet only noticed this issue the moment that they were able to profit from it.

Maybe your neighbours knew exactly what was going to happen.

rosie383

teneighty wrote: »

I'm struggling to understand what the OP is describing but I will take a stab that the side wall of the new extension has been built astride the boundary making it a party wall. So the outer leaf of the cavity wall is on the neighbour's side and the inner leaf of the cavity wall is on the OP's side.

This is quite normal and does not require you to purchase the neighbour's land as it becomes a shared party wall. In theory the neighbour should pay for half the cost of building the wall but that is usually waived.

To do it without a party wall agreement is rather unfortunate as it leads to these sorts of misunderstandings. Especially if neighbour works in a solicitors office. This could get expensive.

Thank you. This is pretty accurate actually instead of all of my ramblings. Sorry folks.
I think on the day that they raised the issue with us, that we panicked a bit and I didn't have all of the relevant information as I had not dealt with either the architect or builder directly.
So, forgive me for the confusion.
The builder has said that he can trim back the edge of the roof which will make it look less as if it is over their boundary line. I am waiting to speak to the neighbours once they find out what the fees would cost to have an agreement drawn up to 'gift us' the strip at an agreed cost to us.
From some posts on here it seems that perhaps we trusted other people a bit too much. We went on the advice of the architect primarily, the builder and also after consultation with the neighbours.
We have never built an extension before so we were relying on the expertise of people who have experience. In hindsight this may have been wrong.
In hindsight some of my posts here may have been rambling and confused at times but it was never our intention to do anything to the detriment of our neighbours.

fezster

rosie383 wrote: »

Thank you. This is pretty accurate actually instead of all of my ramblings. Sorry folks.
I think on the day that they raised the issue with us, that we panicked a bit and I didn't have all of the relevant information as I had not dealt with either the architect or builder directly.
So, forgive me for the confusion.
The builder has said that he can trim back the edge of the roof which will make it look less as if it is over their boundary line. I am waiting to speak to the neighbours once they find out what the fees would cost to have an agreement drawn up to 'gift us' the strip at an agreed cost to us.
From some posts on here it seems that perhaps we trusted other people a bit too much. We went on the advice of the architect primarily, the builder and also after consultation with the neighbours.
We have never built an extension before so we were relying on the expertise of people who have experience. In hindsight this may have been wrong.
In hindsight some of my posts here may have been rambling and confused at times but it was never our intention to do anything to the detriment of our neighbours.

Good plan. As I said above, get the roof amended (so it is ON the boundary, and not on their side), and leave it at that. If it's a party wall which is astriding the boundary, all is as should be (but you should have had a party wall agreement to avoid this). If it's an extra row of bricks forming a wall beyond the party wall, then the neighbours are welcome to remove it. But given the location between your extension and their extension, I'd say good luck to them in doing so!

It does sound like you've tried to be completely upfront about things, but perhaps through naivety have ended up in a dispute.

rosie383

^^^^^^ Spot on.

cyclonebri1

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

You obviously have decent neighbours,:T, kepp it that way and yourself in the clear by writing up a short document that the 100mm is gifted to you. Get this signed and dated by both yourselves and the neighbours and keep it safely in your possession.
There is no need to get the deeds altered imho.

What you do need to do is bung next door a big big drink, couple of hundred lets say, as they have saved you or the builder a ton of money and to be honest he may even knock something of your bill as his contribution.

Rosie, what do you see wrong with this suggestion, I still think it the best option even after latter posts???

If £200 squids is an issue I can't help, you are headed into much more expensive and deeper territory if you don't resolve it at this stage.