Neighbours building work

Jojomissy

A family member has come home to find his neighbour doing work next door, the neighbour is a mid terrace and has a builder removing the supporting wall between kitchen and lounge. No problem with that (but it would have been nice to speak to him) but next door but one came to my family member to say they have come straight through their wall.

He went in to speak to the neighbour but she would not come down, instead screaming from her bedroom that everything was "above board". 
My family member then noticed the wall has been fully taken down without leaving a hip. The party wall is single brick, no cavity and my family members wiring is exposed they have gone that far into the party wall.

The builder said they tried to tell her the correct way was not touch the party wall but she insisted she wanted it wider. 
My family member called the council and the lady checked and said no building regs had been applied for but then advised to email. Due to Covid he has had no reply.

The builders put acro props in for a day and were keen to get the steel in the following day. They seem to be rushing to get the damage covered up. He asked for the builders business card which he has now received but was ignored when liability insurance was mentioned.

He has received no party wall notice and no reply from building regs.
That evening he went upstairs to find lots of cracks appeared in his plastered walls from the skirting boards to ceiling, more have appeared overnight. Downstairs is plasterboard so the only visible area is where the wallpapered plasterboard has come away from the painted wall in the corner of the party wall and hip.

The builder came to see him and said he would skim for him and not to worry. He also said he would repair the other neighbours wall who has a big gaping hole now where the steel has been pushed through.

The builder just wanted to get finished and the neighbour will not talk.

Where does he go from here as even if the builder sorts out the cracks there could be something more structural later on.

He has checked and doesn't have legal cover on his home insurance and the council are not responding.

Many thanks in advance.

FreeBear

I can see this getting messy & expensive very quickly. The neighbours on both sides of this nightmare need to harass the council until they do send someone out. Putting a steel from party wall to party wall is going to need holes to be knocked through both sides. Pad stones must be fitted under each end of the steel, and then the damage made good.

Unbelievable that the individual in the middle thought this was OK, and the "builder" must be a right cowboy for going along with it.... He probably doesn't have insurance or any assets worth going after.

On the bright side, it would be the property owner that would be pursued for any damages - How much her house is worth once the builder has gone would be open to debate... Would it be enough to cover the cost of repairs plus legal bills to both sides ?

Jojomissy

Thanks for your reply.

I have checked the business card late last night, it is double sided with 2 different  company names which rang alarm bells. One was newly set up in Aug 20, the other was close to being struck off in 2016 but since has been declaring between 1k and 13k max on accounts from my little amount of digging. They are members of federation of builders if that means anything? They seem to get their work on Facebook.

The houses are small terraces, probably £130,000 max.
The problem we are having is that they are ploughing ahead with the work to cover up so it might be too late for building control to inspect.

I will ring the council again on Monday to be a little more forceful as my family member struggles dealing with these things and lack of confidence.
She has known exactly what she was doing in the middle of Covid without letting anyone else know.

The builder is keen to make good but I do not trust that there isn't serious damage and he will just cover over future problems.

Thanks again

FreeBear

Claiming to be members of a trade organisation, and actually being fully paid up members are two different things. If this builder really is a member of the FMB, start a complaint (not sure if they will actually do anything).

The holes in the walls your side and the next but one will be difficult to hide - Get plenty of photos, including wider angle shots elsewhere in the house. Also get some shots from next but one's house (get him/her on board and fight as a team).

weeg

The council should have an emergency number for reporting dangerous buildings. Use it. What they are doing isn't ok, and they know it.

twopenny

Don't let the same fellow patch it up.

Could you get a reputable builder to come and have a look, give and opinion and an estimate?

Also if you know anyone with a film camera or get a single use one to take extra photos. I've been told before while suing a company via an arbitration service that digital aren't useful because they can be enhanced.

And you found your info on the builder through Companies House?

Jojomissy

He has rang the emergency number, it goes through to the main switchboard to the original lady who he spoke to unfortunately. She is just customer services but was able to confirm there was no building regulations application.

He sent an email on Thursday morning but not even an acknowledgement unfortunately.

TELLIT01

Take photographs of every aspect of the work you can access.  Every crack, hole, prop etc.  Make notes of every conversation, who it was with, date and time, reason and outcome of the conversation.

Jeepers_Creepers

"My family member then noticed the wall has been fully taken down without leaving a hip. The party wall is single brick, no cavity and my family members wiring is exposed they have gone that far into the party wall.

The builder said they tried to tell her the correct way was not touch the party wall but she insisted she wanted it wider."

Wow. The homeowner and builder are as bad as each other.

It's frustrating watching this carry on with the authorities being slow to engage, so I think (tho' I'm not sure how much difference it'll make) that your family member and the other neighbour need to have conclusive evidence that they are (a) deeply unhappy and worried about this, and (b) have demanded that they stop until the work is overseen by either BC or a surveyor.

The simplest way would be for them both to approach the neighb and builder immediately, with a camera set to record (making it quite obvious what you are doing) and demand that they stop immediately due to the damage being caused to both houses, and your belief that the work is not being carried out to a safe or satisfactory standard. Cite 'lack of Building Notice', 'lack of party wall surveyor', 'lack of adequate support for the steel', the damage being caused and whatever else you can think of. Tell them they have been reported to the LA's BC dept, and have now 'been put on notice' to stop. (Not sure if that phrase is appropriate in this scenario, but it's usually employed when you reasonably anticipate damage will be caused by a person's action; basically, if they continue after this and the damage is caused, they should be in double-poo.

What you absolutely do not want to happen is for this to get drawn out in any way with them claiming they'd 'explained it all to you and you were happy with it...'

And photos photos photos.

Jojomissy

Yes, I did a search from his business card as I noticed he was LTD company. Both are on companies house.
He has just called to say the cracks have gone slightly bigger and now the other neighbour has cracks at floor level.

I have just telephoned the council out of hours emergency on his behalf and been a bit more persistent as they have ignored so far. They are getting a building regs surveyor to hopefully come out today.
If they don't I will contact our local Councillor to intervene. He should not be worrying about this and I know his neighbour struggles with confrontation and socially if that makes sense.

I will keep you all updated

Thank you

Jojomissy

He has told the builders to stop and he had reported to building regulations but they said they couldn't as they needed to get the steel in that day. The homeowner will not converse and hides in her bedroom - don't think she is meek and mild though, she is far from it. She took some of his garden before he moved in his house but he let it lie, I have only just discovered this.

It is so frustrating due to Covid, I am sheilding and I would usually be the one to stand up for him but I cannot visit.

Thanks again