Living next door to a BTL - my rights

snilloct1957

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Have you written to the landlord to inform them? Care of the property itself, care of the letting agent, care of the address on land registry? To cover your backside consider sending letters 'Signed For'.

If that fails you might take the advice of your buildings insurer.

You have no right to do anything beyond addressing dire emergencies without making reasonable attempts to contact the owner.

Agreed, but the OP is suffering damage to his property in that the water is soaking his brickwork and likely to cost him dear in the long-term. He has made LL aware of the problem by contacting the agent, and the neighbour is sympathetic to the situation. So it's not beyond the realms of possibility that the tenant can give "permission" for a third party to enter the property to fix a leaking gutter. To cover yourself, put it in writing and give a copy to the agent that it is your intent to prevent further damage to your property. If the owner gets nasty about it, ask him why he hasn't solved the problem himself.

00ec25

snilloct1957 wrote: »

OP is suffering damage to his property in that the water is soaking his brickwork and likely to cost him dear in the long-term. He has made LL aware of the problem by contacting the agent, and the neighbour is sympathetic to the situation. So it's not beyond the realms of possibility that the tenant can give "permission" for a third party to enter the property to fix a leaking gutter. To cover yourself, put it in writing and give a copy to the agent that it is your intent to prevent further damage to your property. If the owner gets nasty about it, ask him why he hasn't solved the problem himself.

totally agree

OP has stated he has already cleared "his" side so appears perfectly capable of doing the job himself, in which case, just get on and do it instead of faffing around on the internet

westernpromise

Is there a way you can claim on your buildings insurance policy for this so that your insurance company, rather than you, goes after the landlord to recover their loss?

AIUI this is how insurance works. If an insurer has to pay out they will look at who they can themselves recover from.

davidmcn

westernpromise wrote: »

Is there a way you can claim on your buildings insurance policy for this so that your insurance company, rather than you, goes after the landlord to recover their loss?

AIUI this is how insurance works. If an insurer has to pay out they will look at who they can themselves recover from.

I can't see any likely insured risk, unless you mean pursuing legal action against the neighbours. The sensible thing to do would be to clear the gutters, which is simply a regular maintenance task.

snilloct1957

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Have you written to the landlord to inform them? Care of the property itself, care of the letting agent, care of the address on land registry? To cover your backside consider sending letters 'Signed For'.

If that fails you might take the advice of your buildings insurer.

You have no right to do anything beyond addressing dire emergencies without making reasonable attempts to contact the owner.

westernpromise wrote: »

Is there a way you can claim on your buildings insurance policy for this so that your insurance company, rather than you, goes after the landlord to recover their loss?

AIUI this is how insurance works. If an insurer has to pay out they will look at who they can themselves recover from.

But then the OP would lose his excess and possibly pay higher premiums in the future because of this claim. Better option would be to do it yourself, rather than try to claim your losses back from an ignorant LL who doesn't take the responsibility of property ownership seriously. It is easier to ask for forgiveness than to seek permission.

00ec25

westernpromise wrote: »

Is there a way you can claim on your buildings insurance policy for this so that your insurance company, rather than you, goes after the landlord to recover their loss?

AIUI this is how insurance works. If an insurer has to pay out they will look at who they can themselves recover from.

so you suggest waiting until there is proven damage to the Op's property before doing anything, and then your idea s to drag it out in an insurance claim, instead of just getting on with it now. Brilliant.

martinbuckley

00ec25 wrote: »

totally agree

OP has stated he has already cleared "his" side so appears perfectly capable of doing the job himself, in which case, just get on and do it instead of faffing around on the internet

I'll get on and do it then, and if I break the downpipe or damage my neighbour's guttering, I'll use the defence "A keyboard warrior 00ec25 told me to do it and stop faffing".

Thanks to those who have offered constructive suggestions.

csgohan4

martinbuckley wrote: »

I'll get on and do it then, and if I break the downpipe or damage my neighbour's guttering, I'll use the defence "A keyboard warrior 00ec25 told me to do it and stop faffing".

Thanks to those who have offered constructive suggestions.

If you don't think you can do it, get a professional guttering cleaner, I do for mine, think out of the box as well. We can't all spoon feed you

The tradesman will also have indemnity insurance as well

Fire_Fox

snilloct1957 wrote: »

Agreed, but the OP is suffering damage to his property in that the water is soaking his brickwork and likely to cost him dear in the long-term. He has made LL aware of the problem by contacting the agent, and the neighbour is sympathetic to the situation. So it's not beyond the realms of possibility that the tenant can give "permission" for a third party to enter the property to fix a leaking gutter. To cover yourself, put it in writing and give a copy to the agent that it is your intent to prevent further damage to your property. If the owner gets nasty about it, ask him why he hasn't solved the problem himself.

It has already been going on a month.

Tenant is moving out. Letting agent works for the landlord/ themselves. Either could be unavailable to be a 'witness' should the need arise.

00ec25

martinbuckley wrote: »

I'll get on and do it then, and if I break the downpipe or damage my neighbour's guttering, I'll use the defence "A keyboard warrior 00ec25 told me to do it and stop faffing".

Thanks to those who have offered constructive suggestions.

?
"constructive"? You are the one who mentioned you have already tried to put your ladder up, so I fail to see why you pick on my post when all I did was support the idea that you appear more than capable of DIY.
If as it now appears you post on here because you want your hand held then pay a solicitor to advise you, instead of "keyboard warriors"

reality check:
1. DIY
2. expect a LL who won't even respond to you to do it
3. take legal action against said LL to "force" the issue
4. wait until you have actual damage then let your insurance argue with his insurance

there, 4 "constructive" suggestions which are all you have as options