Boundary advice

Ganga

Who owns the wall,it is either yours or the property next door, if yours you need to stop the construction now.it looks like it is about to fall down anyway.

teneighty

Ganga wrote: »

Who owns the wall,it is either yours or the property next door, if yours you need to stop the construction now.it looks like it is about to fall down anyway.

Excellent question.

The other is where will the rainwater run-off be going?

If it is neighbour's wall and they intend to put up guttering which does not encroach on your property then happy days, nothing to worry about.

If it is your wall or is a shared party wall then bye bye wooden monstrosity. Simple.

djdust

Ganga wrote: »

Who owns the wall,it is either yours or the property next door

Here's what came with the deeds of the house - I'm not sure whether it implies that the wall is 50/50 or if it's mine. Can someone more knowledgeable advise?

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16317927/IMAG0941.jpg

I've indicated where the new building work is in blue...

djdust

teneighty wrote: »

Excellent question.

The other is where will the rainwater run-off be going?

If it is neighbour's wall and they intend to put up guttering which does not encroach on your property then happy days, nothing to worry about.

But, as you can see from the pics, if they put any guttering on where it currently is, surely it would have to..?

Mr.Generous

the wall is bang down the middle of the two properties so jointly owned. Neither of you are entitled to build anything past the halfway point, and as pointed out above the rainwater drainage would be off immediate concern. I would be asking them to stop immediately and re design it so that the complete structure is built on their own side including rainwater goods. They absolutely cannot divert their rain over your side of the wall or build guttering over your side because their roof goes too close to the boundary.

djdust

Ok... just had a chat with the neighbours. They barely speak English which wasn't the best of starts and I didn't even get into the whole area of boundary crossing but I explained that I believed that the wall was unsafe and nothing should be getting built on it while it was in the state it's in. She looked a bit baffled, then said that she could get some concrete put into the wall to "strengthen" it - and get it done on my side too if I wanted. I explained that I didn't really think that would make any difference to the structural integrity of it and they really shouldn't be building anything on it, period. She said she'd talk to the builder tomorrow and cease getting any more work done and get him to have a chat with me over the weekend...

Mojisola

djdust wrote: »

Here's what came with the deeds of the house - I'm not sure whether it implies that the wall is 50/50 or if it's mine.

Is there anything in the written part of the deeds about boundaries?

cloud_dog

djdust wrote: »

Ok... just had a chat with the neighbours. They barely speak English which wasn't the best of starts and I didn't even get into the whole area of boundary crossing but I explained that I believed that the wall was unsafe and nothing should be getting built on it while it was in the state it's in. She looked a bit baffled, then said that she could get some concrete put into the wall to "strengthen" it - and get it done on my side too if I wanted. I explained that I didn't really think that would make any difference to the structural integrity of it and they really shouldn't be building anything on it, period. She said she'd talk to the builder tomorrow and cease getting any more work done and get him to have a chat with me over the weekend...

I think you've skewed the whole issue now to where your neighbour now thinks you are ok with the building work as long as it is safe.

You need to point out that they cannot build over your half of the wall (let alone drainage).

djdust

Neighbour came round and spoke more, she got a bit tearful at one point which, of course, upset me a bit too. I'm not looking to be a pain but I'm concerned that they've gotten themselves a cowboy builder who doesn't have a clue what he's doing. She said she spoke to this builder and passed on my request to talk to him about my concerns. Apparently he's reluctant to talk on the phone and only wants to talk in person. This suits me fine as I don't like phones much either however, he wants to talk to me while he's here between 9 and 5 - which is no good for me at all as I also work 9 to 5 Monday to Friday and can't afford to take time off at the moment. He's apparently going away at the weekend out of town so won't be able to talk to me then. She said she'd see if she could get him to stay a bit later on Monday and I'll hurry home from work then (tomorrow, Friday, is no good for me as I'm off to do another job straight from work). What I'm worried about it, what on earth is he going to be doing all day tomorrow and Monday...? Stay tuned...

cloud_dog

Write down your concerns, simple bullet points, requesting he responds.

EDIT - Your concerns are-

1. Is he aware he has built the structure on your side of the boundary; this needs to be resolved
2. Is he aware that the rainwater runoff will fall on your side of the boundary; this needs to be resolved
3. If he puts guttering in place he needs to ensure the guttering is not on your side of the boundary