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Liabilities/responsibility for trees on your property - neighbour damage

Tygermoth · 2017-01-25 13:00:42

Hi All We had a visit last night from the neighbour whose three storey town house is at the far end of our garden. Their side wall is our ‘back fence’ if you will. The other two walls of the garden are high brick with sturdy wooden panel inserts - we don’t have a back gate. They have discovered a nasty damp issue after…

Comments

Article50 Posts: 25 Forumite

11 February 2017 at 10:51AM

I dont think anyone is advocating the need to take the issue of access to court, certainly not at present. OP has inherited a problem most certainly not of his making. My own view is that the issue may not have "just" been discovered. If the damp has caused such damage as indicated I am sure you would smell it inside a house. Has the sofa really not been moved in all that time ?

Hopefully OP will have some dialogue with the neighbour and gradually glean more details, if it transpires it is an old issue then OP's vendor has some explaining to do.

In the meantime and when appropriate OP could compromise by laying a 2ft strip of gravel below air brick level on the wall and neighbour picks up all costs of rectification to his wall,gutters and internal structures and damage. Other contributory factors could also be that the NHBC certificate has expired and/or the original builder has gone bust.

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AnotherJoe Posts: 19,622 Forumite

11 February 2017 at 7:40PM

Article50 wrote: »

I dont think anyone is advocating the need to take the issue of access to court, certainly not at present. OP has inherited a problem most certainly not of his making.

Her own making

My own view is that the issue may not have "just" been discovered. If the damp has caused such damage as indicated I am sure you would smell it inside a house. Has the sofa really not been moved in all that time ?

Hopefully OP will have some dialogue with the neighbour and gradually glean more details, if it transpires it is an old issue then OP's vendor has some explaining to do.

I would say they dont, they've gone and dont need to explain anything.

In the meantime and when appropriate OP could compromise by laying a 2ft strip of gravel below air brick level on the wall and neighbour picks up all costs of rectification to his wall,gutters and internal structures and damage. Other contributory factors could also be that the NHBC certificate has expired and/or the original builder has gone bust.

Nooooooo !!! :eek::eek: OP absolutely should not be doing this work. That is for bullying neighbours contractors to do.

If OP does it, then responsibility for it working or not is down to her. Steer clear !!

Her only responsibility is to allow bullying neighbours contractors access, and out of goodwill, allow them to run a drain on her land, close up air bricks, maybe resite DPC. etc.

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Tygermoth Posts: 1,413 Forumite

12 February 2017 at 9:57AM edited 12 February 2017 at 10:03AM

I have just bought a house that ate all my savings, i have a tree to pollard. windows that need sorting, a empty living room as we havent had the pennies to buy any furniture and a boiler that's intermittently going off......

Trust me, i will not be paying toward anything unless i am legally obliged to!

(ps, i am happy for the neighbour to access - no flue blocking or requests to move his guttering but if he tries it on re us paying to open up his air bricks then hes going to get a firm no)

Please note I have a cognitive disability - as such my wording can be a bit off, muddled, misspelt or in some cases i can miss out some words totally...
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Article50 Posts: 25 Forumite

12 February 2017 at 11:21AM

For AnotherJoe.

Suggest you read notes for the completion of form TA6 in conveyancing. Sellers failing to disclose details including neighbour disputes can be sued.

Over and out

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GDB2222 Posts: 26,488 Forumite

12 February 2017 at 11:35AM edited 12 February 2017 at 11:54AM

Tygermoth wrote: »

I have just bought a house that ate all my savings, i have a tree to pollard. windows that need sorting, a empty living room as we havent had the pennies to buy any furniture and a boiler that's intermittently going off......

Trust me, i will not be paying toward anything unless i am legally obliged to!

(ps, i am happy for the neighbour to access - no flue blocking or requests to move his guttering but if he tries it on re us paying to open up his air bricks then hes going to get a firm no)

Liability relates to the house, not the owner. So, even if something happened before you took over ownership, you might well end up liable, without any recourse to the previous owners. From that POV, I'd uncover the neighbour's airbricks and bring the soil level down below the DPC ASAP.

You'd normally be covered by your household insurance, but at the very least that will cost you the policy excess.

BTW, this si a very good source of information. http://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/phpBB2/index.php

No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?
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AnotherJoe Posts: 19,622 Forumite

12 February 2017 at 4:13PM

Article50 wrote: »

For AnotherJoe.

Suggest you read notes for the completion of form TA6 in conveyancing. Sellers failing to disclose details including neighbour disputes can be sued.

Over and out

Why do you think there was a neighbour dispute?

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AnotherJoe Posts: 19,622 Forumite

12 February 2017 at 4:15PM

GDB2222 wrote: »

Liability relates to the house, not the owner. So, even if something happened before you took over ownership, you might well end up liable, without any recourse to the previous owners. From that POV, I'd uncover the neighbour's airbricks and bring the soil level down below the DPC ASAP.

You'd normally be covered by your household insurance, but at the very least that will cost you the policy excess.

BTW, this si a very good source of information. http://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/phpBB2/index.php

Why should the OP uncover the neighbours airbricks? Maybe the builders built it like that. What proof is there they didnt?
Once they do uncover and treat, they are effectively admitting liability and taking on future liabilities.

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Tygermoth Posts: 1,413 Forumite

22 February 2017 at 2:11PM edited 22 February 2017 at 5:22PM

Just a little update re the tree.

In a totally unrelated conversation with the council she mentioned us being in a conservation area. I advised I was aware parts of the local area and parks close to me were under the banner of a conservation area as we were a new build estate I didn't believe its extended to us. (my incorrect train of thought was how could it, you cant conserve something by slapping 150 houses on it, right?)

Well I was wrong - and when I checked my deeds it does clearly advise this. So I am really angry with myself as I am normally very meticulous with such things. I should have also paid more mind to Daffy Duck and Article 50 - though the tree doesn't have a TPO its is classed as a protected tree

So the tree trim has been put on hold and I submitted a planning application to the local council yesterday to agree my schedule of works. I have been advised of a response time of 10 weeks.

I popped round to the neighbours last night and advised of the delay and was told that I was going back on what I had promised... he was looking like he was going to ramp up to having a go but their house phone rang and he basically shut the door in my face.

One thing to note - we have had a number of clear warm days the damp patch on the wall has not cleared, reduced or dried. The water that was being thrown back up and onto the wall from the broken guttering has dried so below the patch is dry - so it now looks like a damp black/green bullseye sat half a foot up the wall. This seems to suggest there is another damp problem that was being masked by the gutter issue.

Please note I have a cognitive disability - as such my wording can be a bit off, muddled, misspelt or in some cases i can miss out some words totally...
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Chanes Posts: 882 Forumite

22 February 2017 at 3:14PM

To the OP, your patience and perseverance are a credit to you; I read so many badly thought out ramblings about what people want to do or actually to a neighbour, it's a breath of fresh air to read a measured and fair response.

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Article50 Posts: 25 Forumite

22 February 2017 at 5:40PM edited 22 February 2017 at 5:42PM

At least you know the exact situation regarding the tree. I am really surprised your neighbour hasn't mended the guttering though. Any one else I am sure would make arrangements with you for contractors access to get it fixed and at least eliminate a possible source of damp, less than an hours worth of work I would think.

I agree with you I think he could well know the cause of the problem.

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