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

rosie383

Thanks CB. That is what we are going to do as it really does seem like the most sensible course of action.
They have asked for £1k which we really don't have at the minute. Hopefully they will settle for a bit less than that and we will be more than happy to give them cash, get it done and dusted.
We haven't been here long but have a good relationship with all of the neighbours. I can't abide the idea of a falling out. Never mind the implications of future sales. We really don't want to upset anyone!

Furts

rosie383 wrote: »

Thanks CB. That is what we are going to do as it really does seem like the most sensible course of action.
They have asked for £1k which we really don't have at the minute. Hopefully they will settle for a bit less than that and we will be more than happy to give them cash, get it done and dusted.
We haven't been here long but have a good relationship with all of the neighbours. I can't abide the idea of a falling out. Never mind the implications of future sales. We really don't want to upset anyone!

You will hate me for saying this, but I regard £1000 as a reasonable and realistic sum. The neighbours have you cornered fair and square and could be asking far more.

It is a bitter pill to swallow but remember you built cheaply, and there is always a risk attached to this. Again, before you shoot me down you could have sought proper guidance on the boundary, you could have sought the Party Wall Act, you could have sought inspection of the work, you could have engaged a Surveyor, or a Clerk of Works... I will stop there.

By not doing any of this you showed a saving and good for you. But if a bill now comes in for £1000 you are still quids in, and this should be covered by the contingency you had for the building works. I accept you may have spent the contingency, but this is an accounting matter for you, and not the concern of the neighbours.

cyclonebri1

I agree but it's a big step from not being bothered to asking for a grand. However what price peace of mind for the future.

Anyway my valuation was only 400% out on this occaision;);)

phil24_7

Just to add something. A render line is no guarantee of a boundary. These could easily have been moved when houses have been maintained or re-rendered. Maybe this has happened, so the neighbour actually has 100mm of your wall rendered in their finish?!?!

moneyistooshorttomention

Furts wrote: »

You will hate me for saying this, but I regard £1000 as a reasonable and realistic sum. The neighbours have you cornered fair and square and could be asking far more.

It is a bitter pill to swallow but remember you built cheaply, and there is always a risk attached to this. Again, before you shoot me down you could have sought proper guidance on the boundary, you could have sought the Party Wall Act, you could have sought inspection of the work, you could have engaged a Surveyor, or a Clerk of Works... I will stop there.

By not doing any of this you showed a saving and good for you. But if a bill now comes in for £1000 you are still quids in, and this should be covered by the contingency you had for the building works. I accept you may have spent the contingency, but this is an accounting matter for you, and not the concern of the neighbours.

Hence why I thought £1k is not unreasonable in the circumstances.

That's the thing though - ie what is reasonable (in the vast majority of peoples eyes) and what you can actually afford/feel you can afford may well differ.

Unfortunately for you - that doesnt change the actual Fact that £1k isnt unreasonable per se.

Sorry...

Furts

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Hence why I thought £1k is not unreasonable in the circumstances.

That's the thing though - ie what is reasonable (in the vast majority of peoples eyes) and what you can actually afford/feel you can afford may well differ.

Unfortunately for you - that doesnt change the actual Fact that £1k isnt unreasonable per se.

Sorry...

It is a very reasonable sum based on technical grounds. OP has created a swine of a job for the neighbour should they wish to do works to their extension. A totally unrealistic proposition to be put in, and I maintain the neighbour would be entitled to say pull it down and put it right. Indeed, if it went to Court this is a one scenario that I foresee.

Even worse, once the wall is sorted out if the neighbour wanted to build up and create an extra storey OP has effectively prevented this because of her overhanging roof. This is a monstrous imposition on a neighbour,

Sorry, but I am 100% behind the neighbour on this one.

keith969

While this may be true, it would appear that the OP relied on their architect and/or builder for the work to be done correctly. Whether it's worth trying to get one or both of them to admit fault and correct or compensate for the error is another matter.

moneyistooshorttomention

Furts wrote: »

Even worse, once the wall is sorted out if the neighbour wanted to build up and create an extra storey OP has effectively prevented this because of her overhanging roof. This is a monstrous imposition on a neighbour,

.

I know exactly what Furts means on this - because it was fortunate that I was keeping a close eye on what a neighbour was doing on their land. If I hadnt been - then there would have been "overhanging" to some extent over mine and that would have caused my builder quite a bit of hassle doing some work on my own land.

As it is - I managed to prevent that overhanging and my own work was as straightforward as it was supposed to be.

(Fortunately - I'd read quite a few threads on MSE about work a neighbour has had done on their place causing problems with doing one's own work subsequently and thus was aware of potential problems).

teneighty

Furts wrote: »

It is a very reasonable sum based on technical grounds. OP has created a swine of a job for the neighbour should they wish to do works to their extension. A totally unrealistic proposition to be put in, and I maintain the neighbour would be entitled to say pull it down and put it right. Indeed, if it went to Court this is a one scenario that I foresee.

Even worse, once the wall is sorted out if the neighbour wanted to build up and create an extra storey OP has effectively prevented this because of her overhanging roof. This is a monstrous imposition on a neighbour,

Sorry, but I am 100% behind the neighbour on this one.

Yes and no. I think we established that the wall is a new party wall built with the written consent of the neighbour. Not a very well worded consent and unfortunate that it wasn't done with a party wall agreement but a written agreement none the less. So the wall is fine.

The roof overhang on the other hand is a big no no. In this situation the new wall would normally be taken straight up to form a parapet so the neighbour has a flush unobstructed wall that they can build up to and raise up if they decide to.

The options available now are to cut back the roof so there is no overhang or buy the air rights for the overhang. Maybe that is what the £1000 is for and not the wall at all.

moneyistooshorttomention

teneighty wrote: »

The options available now are to cut back the roof so there is no overhang or buy the air rights for the overhang. Maybe that is what the £1000 is for and not the wall at all.

That's how I've been reading it as being.

Hence why I think £1k is actually a very reasonable price to pay for the fact that the neighbour (or anyone subsequently buying their house) will find life noticeably more awkward to alter their own house in the future should they decide to. To the extent they may not even be able to implement their own decisions about their own house. They may decide to add a storey to that bit of their house and feel unable to do so after all because of this - which could even lead to them moving house when they hadnt decided to do so themselves!

In the neighbours position - I would be charging a LOT more if I were prepared to allow the overhang to continue (in my case because of awareness that I might lose a future buyer or two I would otherwise have had for my house iyswim).