Party Wall confusion

esso

Hi all, hoping someone can help us to clarify a party wall problem and next steps. Apologies first that it's lengthy but hopefully explained clearly!
The property in question is semi-detached so clearly we share a wall with neighbour. However neighbour's house is not the same height as ours - it's a hilly area and is lower - and our front elevation sits slightly forward from neighbour's, maybe 12" (the style in which they were built). Hubby is refurbishing internally and painting externally (innocuous light grey) ready to rent out again. Chimney is shared and runs through the party wall and needs repair. The only way to repair it properly is to access neighbour's side from our roof and his roof and also to paint the part of the wall that is above his roof line and the part that extends beyond his external surface at the front.

Neighbour has suddenly become difficult stating he objects to hubby accessing his roof unless absolutely necessary (goes without saying that we would erect scaffolding/use cat ladders) and does not want his section of the chimney painting together with the 12" or so mentioned above, painting either. To all intents and purposes while the chimney is shared, the way it's built it appears to be wholly part of our property.

He's hand delivered two letters, the latter of which he's clearly taken advice (poss CAB or copied and pasted from Internet forums). We have reassured him that we will use the correct structures to access his roof and also that we will NOT paint his half of the shared chimney. Not painting his half would in our view mean an almost 'stripe' effect, i.e., the middle section left unpainted. He's cited future maintenance and future owners (of both properties) as potential disagreements over who's responsible for costs. He admits that a Party Wall Agreement is a costly process, wants 'to avoid further disharmony' and wants us to pay for a Party Wall Agreement to solve this.

We are of course concerned that a simple refurb has the potential to end up in a nightmare-ish legal battle. We also don't want the neighbour to make life difficult for tenants. Can anyone advise any further please?

markin

If its bare brick you could use a clear brick sealer instead.

Ectophile

The trouble with painting brickwork is that after a few years it will look tatty, and you'll have to go up on the roof and paint it again. And again. And again. And once it's painted, the paint will never completely come off.

Chanes

Ectophile wrote: »

The trouble with painting brickwork is that after a few years it will look tatty, and you'll have to go up on the roof and paint it again. And again. And again. And once it's painted, the paint will never completely come off.

Yep, people forget it is a commitment to maintenance when they use paint, I have seen people painting over KRend which can be a really awkward surface to paint over! Best to look for alternatives unless you like painting...