Party wall act council vs private

allen169

I'm currently having an absolute nightmare with my NFH.

Currently I remain a council tenant, with the property next door now a privately owned property (right to buy). Through the thirty years of renting from the council my neighbour has refused all council modifications and repairs to the property and as such, the property is in a severe state of disrepair.

Recently I have noticed that the shared chimney stack to the property is leaning towards the neighbours side along with brickwork missing pointing as well as a complete lack of flaunching to the top of the chimney. I have reported this issue to my local council several times in the past, but they have refused to undertake the work due to the right to buy process of my neighbour, citing that they will not conduct repairs to a property whilst this process is in place.

Yesterday whilst in the garden I noticed cement had fallen from the chimney and the condition of the stack has worsened.

Today I have received a phone call from the council (after again reporting the issue) stating that as my neighbour now owns the property, they are unable to undertake the work to repair the neighbouring side of the chimney. I raised the issue of health and safety with the council, but have been told that as nobody has yet been injured they are not willing to go to the expense of putting up scaffolding to investigate and possibly initiate a repair. The chimney is continuing to worsen. The council also had the cheek of telling me that they find it strange that I have waited until my neighbour has bought the property to raise this as a complaint! I have raised this as an issue numerous times in the past prior to this.

The stack is becoming a death trap with loose bricks and leaning pots, and I'm worried that if the council do not take action something tragic could happen.

To put this into context, three years ago the council began a re roofing program for all properties in the area that were deemed to have damaged and roofs in poor condition. My Neighbour refused this work, and as such now has the original roof tiles, mortar and ridge tiles that were installed back in the 1940's. The neighbouring ridge tiles look as though they are just sat on the ridge, with any pointing between them long gone. Again, the council have refused to act, and now my neighbour owns his property are even more reluctant to act to rectify this problem. My property required structural work due to damage caused by mining in the area, however my neighbor again refused any such work.

The council have confirmed that during the right to buy process, no survey was conducted of the property. I really do fear for my families safety. Only essential work was conducted (with a fight) during the councils ownership of my neighboring property (gas safety checks etc). My neighbour also declined any work to the property to bring it up to the councils decent homes standard. Now it is privately owned I can just imagine the state this building is going to end up in.

My neighbour has threatened to sue me or the local council if anybody attempts to conduct repairs to the properties.

My question at the moment is what exactly can I do ? The property has rotting wooden window frames, a leaning chimney stack, poor and none existent pointing, all of which are continuing to effect my property. The council are refusing to help and do nothing to attempt to assist me in the matter. Does the party wall act come into force here?

G_M

The repairs must be undertaken by the owners of the 2 properties. All you can do is raise the matter formally, in writing, to your landlords (the council), who could then use the Party Wall Act and /or Common Law to force the neighbour to cooperate over repairs.

If this fails, you use the complaints process.

Of course, as landlords, the council have a legal duty to

keep in repair the structure and exterior of the dwelling-house (including drains, gutters and external pipes),

The Landlord & Tenant Act 1985 S 11

So quote that to them!

See also:


* Repairing Obligations: the law, common misconceptions, reporting/enforcing, retaliatory eviction & the new protection (2015)

moneyistooshorttomention

Very odd of your neighbour to talk about him being the one suing.

Correction = you would be the one suing the Council (should their ex property cause you to have problems ever) because their "date of knowledge" this work needed doing was whilst that property was still owned by them. Hope you've kept proof as to when you told them.

I doubt a judge would have much sympathy with the Council for being "weak" enough to go along with this odd neighbours refusal to have necessary maintenance work done on the place.

Right now - go with GM's suggestion as to how to proceed.

allen169

Thanks for your replies,

The councils attitude to this is as there has been no direct effect on my property yet, then they shouldn't have to force any repair. They even stated that a roof tile could blow off the neighbouring roof killing someone. But until it happens, nothing can be done. Ironically the neighbours roof tiles are also loose along with iffy looking ridge tiles. It seems as though it's too much effort for them to attempt to get any repairs done to prevent future damage. Mind you. This is a council who have been in the news quite a lot recently for acting after the horse has bolted.

AdrianC

allen169 wrote: »

It seems as though it's too much effort for them to attempt to get any repairs done to prevent future damage.

I don't think you understand that it's not the council shirking, it's that they CANNOT do anything. It's not their property. If your neighbour wants to let his house go to rack and ruin, then that's frankly his look-out.

The fact that you live in a council-rented property next door is more-or-less irrelevant. Think of the council as being two different entities here - there's the housing department, who own your property. And then there's the environmental health department, who would be the ones enforcing any danger from an unsafe property - and they have the exact same powers no matter what or who lives next door.

It may have been different while the council still owned the place, but if they're trying to get repairs done, and the tenant is refusing them access, then there's not much they can do.

lincroft1710

allen169 wrote: »

My neighbour has threatened to sue me or the local council if anybody attempts to conduct repairs to the properties.

Let him sue, he'll just lose money. He would have absolutely no grounds.

teddysmum

The council are not liable for repairs to a privately owned property(Otherwise we'd all ask for freebie maintenance), but surely they can demand that the neighbour makes his property safe.


There have been stories in the ,media, where councils have done repairs to empty (abandoned ) properties, then billed the owner .

AdrianC

teddysmum wrote: »

The council are not liable for repairs to a privately owned property(Otherwise we'd all ask for freebie maintenance), but surely they can demand that the neighbour makes his property safe.

Yes, once it gets to a point at which it's actively unsafe, health and safety legislation kicks in. If it's simply filthy, then it's environmental health legislation.

There have been stories in the ,media, where councils have done repairs to empty (abandoned ) properties, then billed the owner .

Yes, because councils have been given legal powers to proactively try and get empty properties into use, to resolve some of the housing shortage. This isn't empty, so it doesn't apply.
http://www.emptyhomes.com/what-you-can-do-2/resources/local-authority-powers/

G_M

Can we be clear: where exactly is the disrepair?

If it is your property, or the Party Wall, or your side of the chimney, then your landlord has a duty to repair. If that involves forcing the neighbour to cooperate, so be it.

If the disrepair is soley the neighbour's property, then neither you nor you landlord can force the neighbour to repair his property.

however:

the shared chimney stack to the property is leaning towards the neighbours side along with brickwork missing pointing as well as a complete lack of flaunching to the top of the chimney.

This is a shared chimney, so the council, your landlord, must maintain it.

If it were just 'missing brickwork' on the neighbour's side of the chimney, then arguably it is down to him. But since "the shared chimney stack to the property is leaning " then clearly your landlord's chimney is in a state of disrepair and they must fix it under the Act.

allen169

AdrianC wrote: »

I don't think you understand that it's not the council shirking, it's that they CANNOT do anything. It's not their property. If your neighbour wants to let his house go to rack and ruin, then that's frankly his look-out.

The fact that you live in a council-rented property next door is more-or-less irrelevant. Think of the council as being two different entities here - there's the housing department, who own your property. And then there's the environmental health department, who would be the ones enforcing any danger from an unsafe property - and they have the exact same powers no matter what or who lives next door.

It may have been different while the council still owned the place, but if they're trying to get repairs done, and the tenant is refusing them access, then there's not much they can do.

I understand, however this issue was raised when the council owned the property. The Tennant refused access for them to look and rectify,so the job was cancelled. Now the property is in the tenants ownership the council are denying that the job was ever raised (I have a copy of the job sheet) and that there is nothing they can do. The stack is a health and safety related issue.

G_M

allen169 wrote: »

I understand, however this issue was raised when the council owned the property. The Tennant refused access for them to look and rectify,so the job was cancelled. Now the property is in the tenants ownership the council are denying that the job was ever raised (I have a copy of the job sheet) and that there is nothing they can do. The stack is a health and safety related issue.

What happened when the council owned the property is now irrelevant. It is history.

The property now belongs to the new owner (I assume on a freehold basis? Worth checking as some councils retain the freehold and sell a lease to their houses - this would alter things).

It is extremeny hard (impossible) to force a neighbouring property owner to undertake repairs to their property on H&S grounds.

The issue here is that the repairs are (as I understand it) required to your property (ie the council's own property):-

the shared chimney stack to the property is leaning

The council, as your landlord, has a duty of care to you, their tenant, to maintain the property they let out. As well as a duty under the Act.