Party wall legal question

perizadah

Hi,

Wondering if anyone can help me. I live in a Victorian terrace with a 50's extension on the back, one wall of which is built along the boundary with the neighbour. They haven't extended so that side of the wall is just their garden wall.

We recently had an electrician over who said that the wall was very damp, to the extent that the tiles were in danger of falling off the wall, and he recommended that we look into the cause. On going over to the neighbours and asking to see the wall from there side, we can see that they have covered their side of the wall with pebbledash which is now very cracked with gaps in exposing the wall, presumably causing the damp in our kitchen.

My understanding is that if they had not put any covering on the wall there would be no damp issue, as any water would be able to evaporate, but that the pebbledash is non-porous so that once water gets in it cannot get out, trapping the moisture within the wall. I therefore believe that the neighbour's actions have made the wall damp but looking at the party wall act, given that they have no "benefit" from the wall (as to them it's just their garden boundary) it's not clear that they are liable for any costs?

I've checked the house insurance and our legal cover doesn't seem to include this so any thoughts would be really appreciated!

G_M

I suspect you are asking whether the neighbour is liable for all the costs resulting from their installation of the pebbledash?


You could certainly try a claim, initially by asking them to pay and ultimately through court action.


* you'd need proof (not just opinion) that the damp was the result of the pebbledash
* I suspect you'd need to show negligence - not just that the neighbour installed the pebbledash, and allowed it to fall into disrepair, but that they could reasonably have foreseen that damp would result


I suspect any court action would be protracted, highly stressful, and the outcome uncertain.


Ideally reach an amicable agreement, probably to share the costs eg neighbour pays to remove the pebbledash and make good the wall their side, you pay for any internal damage your side.


You may even need to offer to pay half the pebbledash costs in the interests of dealing with this amicably.


Look at it from their point of view :
in their minds, that side of the wall was 'theirs';
they 'improved' the wall their side (so far as they are concerned);

they have no problem and are happy with the status quo


You may need to even suck up the entire cost.


But by all means get proper legal advice and see if you have a stronger legal case than I am suggesting.

unforeseen

I would think you not only need to prove the neighbour pebbled a shed it but it was the current neighbour that did it.