party wall act

kajay

Hi, our neighbour has had repairs done to his side of shared chimney with some pointing and a few bricks put back in place. There was no repairs needed on our side, but he wants us to pay half towards his bill because we share the chimney. He used a roofing contractor that charged more than it should have cost, and didn't get quotes in as the first roofer said the chimney was dangerous and needed doing straight away. So he told them to go ahead with the work immediately. We don't think we should have to pay as our side is fine. Are we liable to pay half of his bill?

david1951

So he says you owe him for repairs made to his house, due to a fault with his side of the chimney?

Sounds like he is bonkers.

TheGardener

If there is a party wall agreement it will be in your deeds (I've only ever had one house that had one) - if there isn't one, then your neighbour should have discussed it with you and agreed between you who/how much etc. If he didn't then its kind of his problem. However, disputes with neighbours is not a good way to go. I would get some quotes and offer to pay him half of whatever a reasonable quote should have been. I'd also get the work checked if poss to make sure it was done properly.
I don't think there is any liability as such.

Doozergirl

Your question has nothing to do with the party wall act.

The party wall act protects neighbours in the case that an adjoining owner carries out work that affects the structural stability of the party wall or wall near to the boundary. A party wall agreement is drawn up specific to the work about to be carried out and it has no value once work is complete.

You have a simple case of your neighbour having a repair carried out. PWA is irrelevant. If you think that you have benefitted from the work to the stack then it would good to pay towards it. What I don't understand is if they only had their side repaired, what's happened to yours?

moneyistooshorttomention

So he just told you after the event then?:eek:

If he wanted 50% of the cost from you - then you were due for 50% of the "say" about this in advance. That is - you got to make 50% of the suggestions as to which firm would quote for the job/50% of the say as to which firm to use etc etc.

Doesn't sound like you were given your opportunity to have your share of the say.

So - if he did it all on his own - then that means he pays all on his own.

He has a bloomin' nerve to expect you to pay towards his decisions.

I've had a similar stunt pulled on me - and my response was not a polite one and boiled down to outright refusal.

G_M

Why is yur post headed "Party Wall Act"? Did he serve you a notice under the Act before starting work? It sounds like he did not.

If there is a party wall agreement it will be in your deeds

Even wierder. The Act is nothing to do with what's in the Deeds.

The only way he could make you pay would be to
* take you to court
* prove that you caused the damage to his property or
* prove that he did work to your property, with your agreement

Sounds like that would fail.

In your position, as he's a neighbour, I'd recommend the copyrighted G_M tea'n-cake approach.

Invite him round, serve tea and cake, and explain in a friendly way why his repairs are not your responsibility, and if they were he should have discussed it with you first and jointly agreed a contractor and price.

Some pointing and a few bricks was clearly not urgent and couls have waited a few weeks for quotes and agreement.

Was he by any chance approached speculatively by a 'passing builder' who 'happened to spot the dangerous problem' and offered to fix it straight away..........?

Davesnave

TheGardener wrote: »

I would get some quotes and offer to pay him half of whatever a reasonable quote should have been. I'd also get the work checked if poss to make sure it was done properly.
I don't think there is any liability as such.

What is going to be quoted for if the work has been done and the OP's side is OK?

As there is no liability, it would seem wasteful of a tradesperson's time to go down this particular route.

A good pair of binoculars will allow inspection of a chimney stack with reasonable clarity

TheGardener

In one property I owned, there was a party wall agreement (not 'Act') detailed in the deeds which formalised repairs to the 'party wall' and a shared chimney. I am aware this is not the norm/routine. However, the OP may have found as I did, this detail if they looked - it could be the other party knows there is one?
I was being polite about the liability - of course there is none (assuming there is nothing in the deeds)
Animosity between neighbours is not a great way to go and can be the source of much distress and angst on this board - I was suggesting a diplomatic solution by getting some idea of costs to do it properly by a reputable tradesperson - not that hard without being a timewaster - and then offering 50% of that cost.
It was just a suggestion - not some legal declaration...

Davesnave

TheGardener wrote: »

Animosity between neighbours is not a great way to go and can be the source of much distress and angst on this board - I was suggesting a diplomatic solution by getting some idea of costs to do it properly by a reputable tradesperson - not that hard without being a timewaster - and then offering 50% of that cost.
It was just a suggestion - not some legal declaration...

I prefer GM's tea 'n cake approach.

While it's good to avoid unnecessary friction, allowing a neighbour to walk all over you by presenting a fait accomplis like this, is just an invitation to be further taken advantage of.

Neighbours who are inherently reasonable do not put someone in this position in the first place, nor do they ask for payment for work carried out exclusively on their own property.

How do I know? Mainly because I faced the situation of an eroded chimney stack on my semi-dee in 2005, which I wanted to rectify before selling. The first thing I did was contact my neighbour to see if he was willing to share costs, and if so, to determine when he'd like the work to be done.

It was an easy thing to get prior agreement on.

I'm not saying don't pay anything, but certainly not hal,f and only after a meeting where one's views on matters of possible joint responsibility can be made crystal clear.

moneyistooshorttomention

Davesnave wrote: »

I prefer GM's tea 'n cake approach.

While it's good to avoid unnecessary friction, allowing a neighbour to walk all over you by presenting a fait accomplis like this, is just an invitation to be further taken advantage of.

Neighbours who are inherently reasonable do not put someone in this position in the first place, nor do they ask for payment for work carried out exclusively on their own property.

Exactly:T

When I had some work done on my current house (rather blimmin' expensive work at that:eek:) that I could have justifiably asked another neighbour (a normal one - not one of my nfh!) for a contribution towards I made a decision about it. That decision was not to even ask them for a contribution - at any point. They've got the benefit of my having done this work - at no cost whatsoever to them.

I just looked at it as "I want all the say about how and when it's going to be done - and, if I'm the only one paying for it = that's exactly what I get and it's done the way/timing I decide". So that's the plus point to that - though it would have been nice to get the hundreds of £s contribution I could have reasonably asked for towards it (before the event of course).

Anyway - this way I can ask for any favours that don't put them out - but would help me in the future.:D. It's called enlightened self-interest...