Fixing the house next door

webnibbler

I'm interested to know others opinion of the possible pitfalls of doing work on my neighbouring house. Bit of background -

I live in a semi detached period property, build around 1900. An elderly chap lived next door in the house attached to mine, but he died around three years ago and in his will left the property to his son who lives elsewhere. Since the gentleman passed away the property has been unoccupied and unmaintained and is starting to fall apart. There is a hole in the roof and pigeons have taken up residency in the loft.

I've tried to find a way to contact the owner but the land registry shows an old address for the son who has since moved. Also the council aren't interested as it's a privately owned property.

I'm beginning to consider getting repairs done to the property myself to at least repair the roof and remove the pigeons and maybe even make the property look half decent from the front. But I realise it's a bit of a potential minefield. For a start I'll be trespassing and also there will be indemnity issues. It might be that tradespeople will refuse to do the work anyway as it's not my property.

Has anyone done this? Or found another way to get a property maintained? Thanks.

[Deleted User]

Even if privately owned, your council should have a vacant homes officer who will investigate ownership, and contacting the owner to get repairs done so the house can be inhabited again. Its actually quite a priority nowadays.

It will take time though.

I would advise that you should never repair someone else's house.

rococomaiden

Yes, I don't know who you spoke to at the council but there is a housing crisis and it's in their best interest to reduce the number of uninhabited houses.
It's a real shame there are so many houses just sitting unoccupied slowly falling into disrepair...

lostelephant

I think it's a ludicrous idea... how would you feel if somebody trespassed onto your property and started doing work on your roof without permission? Unfortunately it's not your house, not your problem.

Who are the local council? As previous posters mentioned they really should be interested in this.

davidmcn

Is the condition of next door actually causing a legal nuisance of some sort to yours (e.g. leaky roof allowing damp to come through to your property) or is it just the look of it you don't like?

Obviously the only party who could complain about trespass is the apparently non-existent owner.

sillyhilly

lostelephant wrote: »

I think it's a ludicrous idea... how would you feel if somebody trespassed onto your property and started doing work on your roof without permission? Unfortunately it's not your house, not your problem.

Who are the local council? As previous posters mentioned they really should be interested in this.

Except it is their problem, hence posting on MSE and confirming that the house is derelict, becoming a host for pests and may well be bringing their house value down.

How would I feel if a house I owned was falling into disrepair, and somebody else came onto the property to repair it thereby keeping its value? Pretty damn smug to be honest.

01afraser4

sillyhilly wrote: »

Except it is their problem, hence posting on MSE and confirming that the house is derelict, becoming a host for pests and may well be bringing their house value down.

How would I feel if a house I owned was falling into disrepair, and somebody else came onto the property to repair it thereby keeping its value? Pretty damn smug to be honest.

Whilst it may be unlikely, what if the owner has plans of their own to redevelop or improve the property? Any work done by a complete stranger may hinder this - in which case the owner would not be feeling smug at all, they'd be rather irritated especially if the work does not complement their own plans.

Just because the owner has not been contactable and the property has been vacant for 3 years does not mean there are no plans in the pipeline.

diggingdude

I can see it now. I don't have the money to do up the house I've inherited. Next door neighbour goes and fixes my roof. either Sue the neighbour saying he damaged the rotten downstairs floor. Neighbour has to pay for that as well

sillyhilly

01afraser4 wrote: »

Whilst it may be unlikely, what if the owner has plans of their own to redevelop or improve the property? Any work done by a complete stranger may hinder this - in which case the owner would not be feeling smug at all, they'd be rather irritated especially if the work does not complement their own plans.

Just because the owner has not been contactable and the property has been vacant for 3 years does not mean there are no plans in the pipeline.

I entirely understand where you are coming from, however repairing a hole in a roof to prevent pests from getting into the loft is unlikely to hinder any future development plans. It is highly likely that they wouldn't even know!

G_M

Chase the council.

Vacant Housing Officer - his job is to get empty properties back in use. eg

https://secure.manchester.gov.uk/info/10084/private_landlords_information/5584/empty_properties/2

Environmental Health might also help if there'sa health risk eg damp spreading to neighbouring property, rats/mice etc

webnibbler

sillyhilly wrote: »

I entirely understand where you are coming from, however repairing a hole in a roof to prevent pests from getting into the loft is unlikely to hinder any future development plans. It is highly likely that they wouldn't even know!

This was what I was thinking too, the owner doesn't appear to be interested and almost certainly wouldn't notice if I repaired the roof. Even if he did I could just deny it was me if push came to shove.

It's more out of desperation really, I certainly wouldn't choose to spend my hard-earned on someone else's problem. But with noisy, dirty pigeons in the loft a few feet away and adjoining timbers supporting the roof it's fast becoming my problem too.