What should I pay under partywall agreement

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Hi

Hope someone can help. We have renovated our house. We had a party wall agreement in place with the neighbours. The work has been assessed and no structual issues have arisen. However do to the weather and our house not having a roof we have some small issues of damp on their walls which has dried out and some plaster needs replacing. We also has a water leak that ruined about 1meter of their hall carpet. We have happy to pay for any repairs and issues caused by us however I have been given quotes which i think are unreasonable. They are wanting us to pay for paint all the walls in the rooms effected which is ok with us as paint will not match but also for all the woodwork in the rooms where their has been no damage. They also have given us a quote to replace the carpets in the hall 2 sets of stairs as its the same and 2 lots of landings. Would it be unfair to challenge this or under the agreement so I have to replace all this. Bear in mind the current carpet and paintwork is over 10 years old.

Thanks

martindow

These people are going to be your neighbours for the foreseeable future so you need to do your utmost to sort this out amicably.


I can imagine that there are justifiably annoyed that your works have damaged their house. They are not going to be keen on having a hall carpet that doesn't match the stairs and landings. They don't sound unreasonable to me.



Did you do this work yourself or did you employ a builder? A decent builder is responsible and should have insurance in place. I would expect them to settle the costs or claim on their policy.

Comms69

Smilefb wrote: »

Hi

Hope someone can help. We have renovated our house. We had a party wall agreement in place with the neighbours. The work has been assessed and no structual issues have arisen. However do to the weather and our house not having a roof we have some small issues of damp on their walls which has dried out and some plaster needs replacing. We also has a water leak that ruined about 1meter of their hall carpet. We have happy to pay for any repairs and issues caused by us however I have been given quotes which i think are unreasonable. They are wanting us to pay for paint all the walls in the rooms effected which is ok with us as paint will not match but also for all the woodwork in the rooms where their has been no damage. They also have given us a quote to replace the carpets in the hall 2 sets of stairs as its the same and 2 lots of landings. Would it be unfair to challenge this or under the agreement so I have to replace all this. Bear in mind the current carpet and paintwork is over 10 years old.

Thanks

No it's not reasonable, again this is betterment and it applies as a principal in law, not just for landlords.


That said, they're going to be next door for years to come and animosity is not what you need.


What's the value they're asking for?

CarrieVS

Perfectly reasonable to replace the entire carpet so that it matches. If it's ten years old - presuming the undamaged part looks ten years old - you would have a point if you asked to divide the cost of it as it may have been near the end of its lifespan anyway. However, you might want to weight the division a bit towards yourselves if you want them to agree to it, and to remain on good terms. Your works are obviously causing them inconvenience, so if you tried to insist on working it out in strict "no betterment" terms they will probably not be happy.

I'm not entirely sure about woodwork in undamaged rooms. Is that so all the woodwork in the house will match exactly from room to room? I've never come across the idea of repainting trim all through the house because one room needs doing. Do they seem that fastidious about their house in general or do you get the impression they're trying to take advantage?

I don't think I'd be too happy about paying for that except in the damaged rooms, especially if it was close to needing doing anyway, but again, you're inconveniencing them for works that aren't for their benefit, so it may end up being a question of pay up or be on bad terms with the neighbours.

G_M

Surely this is a matter for your, and their, Party Wall surveyors to sort out?


Don't get involved.

Doozergirl

Has anyone suggested cleaning the carpet? Carpets can and do often get wet or things spilled on them. They aren't always condemned as a result.

I've had to deal with the aftermath of a door left open for days next to virtually brand new £75 a square metre wool carpet. There was staining, we had carpet cleaner in and it disappeared.

It's fair for you to repaint to whole room but for them to pay to paint their own woodwork. I can't imagine any properly glossed woodwork would actually get damaged at all by rain. If the carpet cleans up then pay for skirting to be done too.

How long did it actually rain on their stuff for? It's not like we've had the worst weather over the last few months.

Doozergirl

Also, the thing about stair carpets is that they're laid in small pieces, so there's little need to replace the entire thing. Stairwells against party walls probably don't get much sun either, so little in the way of bleaching.

If the carpet is new, there should no discernable difference after a few weeks once the extra fluff makes its way out. If the carpet is ancient, how do they reasonably complain that the new bit is too nice?

If you look at the walls of your own rooms, each wall will actually appear a slightly different colour. It's perfectly feasible to paint one wall and not the others if it isn't old, old. Same with stairs. The landing strip will always appear a slightly different colour to the first riser.

If the carpet is new, there should no discernable difference.

If you have a PWA then your PWS will have been through these negotiations many more times than you. And be less emotive.

Smilefb

Hi

They are asking for £5000 for the painting and the carpet replacement.

We dont want to be difficult neighbours, our partywall surveyor has commented that the request is beyond the normal but we said we would do a little more then what is basically set out because we will be neighbours. They have then hit us with these estimates.

Our builder is more then happy to claim on his insurance but he is also arguing that what they are asking for is beyond anything they have seen before.

We want to do the right thing but dont want to be taken advantage of.

G_M

our partywall surveyor has commented that the request is beyond the normal

You need to get your surveyor to do more than 'comment'.


This is precisely the purpose of PW surveyors! To determine what work needs to be done to protect the other party, and what costs are resonable.


He should be liaising with the neighbour's PW surveyor and between them they should reach an agreement. It's what you are paying them for.


Or if you and the neighbour agreed to use a single PW surveyor between you, then it is his job to objectively determine the outcome for you both.


Stop getting involved!

Doozergirl

G_M wrote: »

You need to get your surveyor to do more than 'comment'.


This is precisely the purpose of PW surveyors! To determine what work needs to be done to protect the other party, and what costs are resonable.


He should be liaising with the neighbour's PW surveyor and between them they should reach an agreement. It's what you are paying them for.


Or if you and the neighbour agreed to use a single PW surveyor between you, then it is his job to objectively determine the outcome for you both.


Stop getting involved!

The problem is also that PWS cost a lot of money and every minute costs insane amounts of money for not a lot of result. I'm guessing this PWS has some common sense. They're like lawyers - you can 'win' something but the fees eat the gain. The flaw inthe party wall system is that one side pays everything so it's hard to look after your clients' interest without costing them more than the damage. If the PWS says the request is heavy, it's heavy and probably not worth involving themselves in the argument when the PWS fees to fight it cost the same as the cost of capitulating.

PWS is right that £5,000 is a lot. One has to be a good neighbour, but it's hard when neighbour is taking the proverbial. You already know you're not going to be best friends, regardless of financial outcome.

Are you in London, OP? My experience of the PWA is that no one really cares outside of the geography where there are interesting amounts to be gained from the Act. I live in the Midlands where no one talks about it and (invorrectly) builds 30cm off the boundary to avoid the conversation and work in London where everyone needs their own personal surveyors, a light specialist and a five figure cheque. There's no in between.

You have to try and deal with it reasonably, without incurring additional cost.

Can you post the damage here for some reassurance? I've never had a claim made against us in a PWA case, so £5k sounds pretty special.

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