Boundary advice

DRP

tonyh66 wrote: »

You might want to email them back pointing out the enclosure of the boiler flue is fatally dangerous. and im sure its against building regulations.
Your on a hiding to nothing here unless you insist that the structure be taken off the wall and the frame built on their side of the wall to allow a gutter to stop water coming into your yard. You might also want to tell your neighbours that having the flue inside will kill them.

^^yep.

Presumably it is a shared wall. You need to lay down their & your rights and responsibilities.

A structure like that, balancing on a wall, fixed by expanding foam just isn't acceptable (plus all the other aspects mentioned above)...

Mojisola

tonyh66 wrote: »

Your on a hiding to nothing here unless you insist that the structure be taken off the wall and the frame built on their side of the wall to allow a gutter to stop water coming into your yard.

This is the only position to take unless you're happy to live with years of aggravation.

George_Michael

Enterprise_1701C wrote: »

I would be seriously concerned about this. I know you have not mentioned it, but one day you might want to sell. Would you buy a house with that construction attached?

I'm not considering selling up and moving for a long time (if ever), but if I was viewing a property and I walked into the back garden and saw that monstrosity, I would be straight back out the front door.
The neighbours may very well be nice people but by allowing that to be built they are clearly showing that they have zero concern for people living next to them.

djdust

tonyh66 wrote: »

You might want to email them back pointing out the enclosure of the boiler flue is fatally dangerous. and im sure its against building regulations..... You might also want to tell your neighbours that having the flue inside will kill them.

Ok, clarify for me, is it already dangerous as it is, or do you mean once the work is finished and it's all enclosed? At this point, I don't know what the finished thing is going to look like, although I'll be finding out when I get home from work tonight... :think:

djdust

Ok, I've replied to the council, I also remembered something else Steve said to me that I can't believe I forgot...

"Hi Paul, thanks for getting back to me and confirming, it's a relief to know that Steve the builder wasn't lying to me.

I've been seeking advice online however and am still very concerned about the following points:

-- this work was started without going through the proper RICS process with regards to party walls between properties. I wasn't given written notice, shown any plans or given any proper assurances at all that this construction would impact on my property.
-- the boiler flue will be a major health hazard if it's enclosed - the work is due to be completed today so I'll find out when I get home if this is the case
-- despite what you were told about repointing the wall, the advice I've been given by multiple sources is that, judging by the photographic evidence I've provided, that wall is unsafe and crumbling heavily and although it may look neater on the neighbours side as its seemingly been freshly painted, it's still fundamentally unstable and nothing should be getting built on it while it's in the state that is is.
-- the guttering is going to very clearly come over my boundary. I was very concerned by Steve's facetious attitude when I explained this to him and he initially told me that, if I didn't want the new build to have any guttering then, fine, he'd not put up any guttering. In other words, he heavily implied that he was perfectly happy to leave the building in a state where all future rainwater from it would come onto my property. He then told me a load of technical jargon that I didn't understand about what he'd do to address my concerns and make the guttering as discreet as possible but he didn't inspire any confidence in me whatsoever and Its my belief that he was just fobbing me off. "

TheCyclingProgrammer

Suggestion: if you're confident it's a party wall, inform them that due to the wall being in a bad (dangerous) state of repair and you being worried that the wall could collapse and cause damage to your property, you or your visitors, that you will be arranging to have the wall demolished.

Inform them that to save on costs, you will be replacing it with a cheaper but equally suitable boundary marker, eg a fence or a hedge.

You will need to serve notification under the party wall act. See 1(b):

http://www.mypropertyguide.co.uk/articles/display/10105/are-my-proposed-works-covered-by-the-party-wall-act.htm



Let them think about that for a while!

TheCyclingProgrammer

You're wasting your time with building control IMO. They aren't going to involve themselves with civil disputes.

DRP

TheCyclingProgrammer wrote: »

You're wasting your time with building control IMO. They aren't going to involve themselves with civil disputes.

I agree with this.

You're essentially wasting time that could be used to stop the work.

cloud_dog

Building Control and boundaries are two completely separate aspects.

djdust

Fair enough, I'm sure the response I get back will be washing its hands of the boundary dispute. I suspect it'll also reiterate that there's nothing wrong with the wall too.