Neighbour tarmacked over airbricks - rights?

Tessam

Hi, we only realised 5 years after buying our house that then neighbouring driveway blocked our airbricks on the entire length of the house. I believe this was done before our current neighbour moved in.

We are worried about the damage this could do to our house (built very beginning of 1903).

Can anyone advise what our rights are regarding the airbricks being reinstated please? Do we have to pay for it? Can we access their land?

We thought we had a very good relationship with the neighbours but they just refused us access to their land to put an obscured window in to get some light into a room.
Many thanks!

Davesnave

I have already answered the window question, but the air bricks are different, because opening them up would be maintenance and fall under the Access to Neighbouring Land Act. Even so, if you look it up, it doesn't give you rights to just march onto your neighbour's property chisel in hand. You may need the help of a solicitor, but hopefully not, if you can negotiate over this and the gate on the other thread.

A first step would be to get a written expert opinion showing that your house has been compromised by the raising of the neighbour's ground level. Without that, your case would be more supposition rather than fact, especially as it's taken you 5 years to notice.

Tessam

Thank you very much!

Doozergirl

It's potentially a really serious problem for damp and rot as it's important that your subfloor is ventilated and that your damp proof course isn't breached. It should have been highlighted if you had a decent survey.

It's far bigger than your window problem. Yes, a window can be created from inside. It might not be very pretty on the neighbour's side, but that's their problem.

AdrianC

Let's focus on the airbricks here, not on the neighbour...

If they've been "tarmacked over" by a drive resurfacing, then simply clearing them is going to leave them open - but below ground level.

Anybody else seeing a potential issue with this...? <looks out window at rain>

They're blocked along one side of the house. That leaves two or three sides still open, right? Does that provide adequate subfloor ventilation still?
How long since they were blocked? After all, it sounds as if it was done before both sides in this moved there, and we know that's five years at the absolute minimum. So if there was a ventilation issue, I'd expect to be seeing symptoms of it by now. Have you actually lifted a floorboard and looked?

Norman_Castle

https://www.screwfix.com/p/telescopic-underfloor-vent-black-220mm-x-215mm/12025

AdrianC

Oh, indeed there's things like telescopic airbricks that can be installed - but they're a lot more work than simply clearing a bit of tarmac.

How many courses above the airbrick before you hit the DPM, for a start?
Is the DPM even above the level of the tarmac? If the neighbour's refusing access for maintenance, are they keeping everything clean and stopping anything building up that might bridge the DPM?

Doozergirl

Norman_Castle wrote: »

https://www.screwfix.com/p/telescopic-underfloor-vent-black-220mm-x-215mm/12025

They're clearly made for modern cavity walls and should be installed by design, not as a fix as the rest of the wall and joist construction might still be vulnerable.

The house is most likely solid wall construction. Telescopic vents of any variety aren't going to help any if the tarmac is breaching the DPC and soaking the wooden joists and wall.

Old houses are sensitive.

Tessam

Hi, thank you for your answer. There is only one side left, the front which is also the smaller side. We have a semi-detached house so only have rights and responsibilities of three sides and the third side has an extension that was build way before our time on concrete flooring, effectively blocking it off.

Tessam

Hi, no, it is below the tarmac. Sounds like I need to sort this ASAP. I didn’t realise it was such a big deal, thank you all so much for your replies.

Tessam

Do any of you know what our rights are if the DPC is breached by the tarmac?