Damp on extension wall due to high ground level from neighbour's side

TranceNRG

Hi ladies and gents,
I'm after a bit of advice. I have some damp along the bottom of my wall in the extension (which also had some damp proofing done about a year ago) at the back of the house. This wall forms the boundary so is a party wall roughly about 5m long. Neighbour doesn't' have an extension had have old sandstones laid right against this wall. The ground level (including the sandstone patio) seems much higher than my side.
I am pretty sure the damp is due to the high ground level and the face there's no gap between sandstones and the wall.

Currently there are tenants in the house next door. One of them mentioned that they had damp issues in the kitchen so the owner got someone to remove a row of sandstones along the wall outside the kitchen (which is perpendicular to my wall) and back fill with pebbles.

I rang the owner of the property a couple of months ago about creating a french drain from their side to resolve the damp issues on my wall. I offered to pay for the work. At the time she said she had no objection as long as I paid for it.

I got my landscape gardener to give me a quote to remove a row of sandstones (the row right next to the wall is already half the width) from neighbours patio, dig to 20-30cm and back fill to look exactly like their existing french drain. This came to £320.

I contacted the owner about a month ago to arrange a time but she and her husband said they weren't too keen on doing any work that might affect their ability to develop their property in the future. I assured that this work wouldn't' affect their plans.
Recently she's been in touch with one of her lawyer friends and said that they don't want to go ahead as this will give me rights to their property (I think she mentioned easement). I said I was happy to sign any legal document that says I don't have any rights to their property. She was going to go back to her friend and let me know but I haven't heard from her yet.

I am not sure where I stand on this from a legal point of view. Can I force her/take her to small claims court if something from her side is causing damage to my property?
Is she right about this easement claim? Is there a way to get around that?

thanks.

Cakeguts

If you build an extension against some higher ground so that the wall of your extension is lower than the ground level then you can't ask your neighbour to alter their ground level to suit your extension. What you have to do is to waterproof the walls of the extension like you would do to the walls of a cellar. Your extension should have been built taking into account the ground level of the neighbouring property.

How did you manage to build an extension right onto the boundary? As you have done this you can't tell the neighbour what they can or cannot have in their garden. Your house wall is the boundary so they have put their paving slabs up to that. Why shouldn't they it is their garden? You are trying to dictate what they can or cannot have in their garden.

TranceNRG

I should have been clearer. I bought the this flat (ground floor garden flat) couple of years ago. I believe the extension was built in the 80s and the neighbour added the patio much later though I can't prove it.

I had some damp proofing work done when I bought the place but obviously this hasn't fixed the issue and I don't want ot get these guys again (I wasn't hapy with their work, don't trust them, had arguments with them, etc).

Anyway is there a way to get around the 'easement' by signing a legal document?
I don't want any rights to their property, I just want to sort out the damp issues and it's an easy fix from outside.

Cakeguts

TranceNRG wrote: »

I should have been clearer. I bought the this flat (ground floor garden flat) couple of years ago. I believe the extension was built in the 80s and the neighbour added the patio much later though I can't prove it.

I had some damp proofing work done when I bought the place but obviously this hasn't fixed the issue and I don't want ot get these guys again (I wasn't hapy with their work, don't trust them, had arguments with them, etc).

Anyway is there a way to get around the 'easement' by signing a legal document?
I don't want any rights to their property, I just want to sort out the damp issues and it's an easy fix from outside.

No there isn't. You can't sort out your damp problems by putting drains on their land if they don't want you to. You have to sort out your damp problems by sorting out your wall.

TranceNRG

Well the damp is clearly caused by high ground level on their side. When I was buying the flat at the time the surveyor also mentioned the ground level was high.

This is a really easy thing to do and I've offered to pay for it.

I'd rather fix the root cause. But you've made your position clear.

Can anyone else comment whether I have any other options?

TranceNRG

The extension wall is just an extension of the party wall, I belive that's how extension are normally built on terraced houses.

So what you are saying is the neighbor can do anything from their side (and potentially cause problems in my building) but I can't do anything about it?

Cakeguts

Start again. How will a drain in the garden of the house next door solve the problem of the ground level being too high up your wall? The only way you lower the level is if you lower the level of the ground in next door's garden. Why would next door agree to you lowering the level of their garden so that they have to step down into it in all so that you don't have to get the inside of your wall waterproofed properly to stop damp coming through?

Cakeguts

TranceNRG wrote: »

The extension wall is just an extension of the party wall, I belive that's how extension are normally built on terraced houses.

So what you are saying is the neighbor can do anything from their side (and potentially cause problems in my building) but I can't do anything about it?

The neighbour hasn't done anything. What has changed is the extension wall.

Doozergirl

How much higher is their ground level to yours?

If it's more than a few inches then a french drain on that side isn't going to help.

Doozergirl

I think people are being unfair. If it is the party wall then the neighbours do have an obligation not to carry out work which is likely to damage the party structure. It goes hand in hand that the patio had to follow the extension as the extension can't be built without disturbing patio.

They rely on the same goodwill from from the people sharing their other party wall, no doubt.

In London, by far the most sensible option is to extend down the party line. People do not have the luxury of space and the party wall approach does afford more protection than any other in such tight proximity.

However, if this is anything more than a very minor infringement of the original DPC then the solution will need to be tanking from inside anyway.

G_M

I too think responses are harsh.

In legal terms, it may come down to which came first: OP's extension or the neighbour's patio?

If the neighbour (or his predecessor) built a patio up against an existing extension, then they had a duty not to cause damage to the extension by breaching the damp proof course level.

In that case, there is no need for OP to offer to pay for remedial work - that seems overly generous though may have been a diplomatic initial approach.

OP could write (or get solicitor to write) to the neighbour, informing him that the patio is causing damage and insisting that
a) neighbour takes action to stop causing damage (damp), and
b) cover the costs of internal redecoration caused by the damp penetration (and any other consequential costs).

Ultimately, OP could take neighbour to court.

As always with neighbour issues, negotiation leading to an amicable agreement is of course far preferable. OP seems to have tried this.

Perhaps the time has come to be a bit more assertive/threatening, whilst still holding out an olive branch by informally making clear that you'll be satisfied if one line of sandstone is removed and French drain installed. Perhaps this time offer to pay half, to push home the message that neighbour does have liability.