Boundary advice

moneyistooshorttomention

Reaction - "yeh right".

Sounds like he's trying to flannel you.

It would have been as well to ask him for the name/official title of this supposed Council official that came out to have a look. Now just why do I have the feeling he would probably say he couldnt remember...:cool:

Guttering "as small as possible" and gave you some techie talk - yeh right again. Guttering is what it is and I don't recall noticing any variation particularly in size of guttering:cool:

and...yep.....looks like they've ignored the LEGAL necessity for doing the Party Wall type stuff about informing you.

I wouldnt believe a word the builder says personally.

I am wondering whether you need to get a surveyor in? Think there are ones that specialise in party wall type issues?

djdust

My first port of call is gonna be the council. To be honest, I think he was telling the truth. I was advised that my email on Friday would be forwarded to the "Building Control" dept. so it does makes sense that an officer from there would be called a "Building Control Officer". If I speak to this bloke though and he tells me the wall is fine and this is not an issue... well, not sure what to do then...

Mojisola

djdust wrote: »

If I speak to this bloke though and he tells me the wall is fine and this is not an issue... well, not sure what to do then...

They still have no right to come over the boundary so you can ask for the construction to be altered so that everything, including the guttering, is on their side of the boundary.

I would also be asking exactly what the downpipe is going to discharge into - is there an open drain on their side of that wall?

djdust

Mojisola wrote: »

They still have no right to come over the boundary so you can ask for the construction to be altered so that everything, including the guttering, is on their side of the boundary.

I cannot rid myself of the feeling that it's gonna end up over my boundary anyway. To be fair to the neighbours, they do seems genuinely concerned about my concerns and are not in any way trying to fob me off. I get the feeling that Steve will disappear very shortly though and adopt radio silence once the job's done and he's been paid.

Mr.Generous

there are in fact 3 std sizes of guttering (more when you get into commercial size stuff) Mini-line, Standard and Deepflow. To stay on their own side they'd have to use microscopic guttering not yet for sale, so its irrelevant. Can we have another picture of progress please?

shaun_from_Africa

djdust wrote: »

I get the feeling that Steve will disappear very shortly though and adopt radio silence once the job's done and he's been paid.

What you really need to do is to make your neighbours understand that irrespective of how much they have paid for the work, if when it's finished it encroaches on your property or doesn't comply with the requirements of the party wall act, it will end up getting removed at their cost.

djdust

Mr.Generous wrote: »

there are in fact 3 std sizes of guttering (more when you get into commercial size stuff) Mini-line, Standard and Deepflow. To stay on their own side they'd have to use microscopic guttering not yet for sale, so its irrelevant. Can we have another picture of progress please?

The pic hasn't changed since the other day really:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/16317927/ext3.jpg

Mojisola

djdust wrote: »

I cannot rid myself of the feeling that it's gonna end up over my boundary anyway.

Only if you let it happen that way.

DTDfanBoy

And have you actually established who owns the wall in question yet, it's a bit pointless discussing party wall matters when it's quite possible that the wall is owned entirely by your neighbours.

shaun_from_Africa

DTDfanBoy wrote: »

And have you actually established who owns the wall in question yet, it's a bit pointless discussing party wall matters when it's quite possible that the wall is owned entirely by your neighbours.

If, as the plan that was with the deeds show, the wall is running exactly along the boundary then it must be assumed that it is a party wall if half of the wall is on each property.
If the wall was owned by the neighbours then it should be entirely on their side of the boundary and not running along it with half on each side.
If this matter ever got as far as legal action, unless there is clear evidence that the wall was built and paid for by the neighbour and it is entirely on their land, a judge would deem it to be a party wall.