Neighbours building work

GDB2222

Go to a solicitor, and get an injunction, so all the work stops immediately.

Jojomissy

Ok, hopefully we are getting somewhere. The building inspector is coming out first thing Monday when the builders will be back. They were very apologetic about no response and were shocked at the fact the neighbour has not advised the council of the work or spoken to the neighbours.

He has said try and stay somewhere else (probably to cover the council should the building fall down) but unfortunately we are all shielding in the family due to transplants but he has carried on working as a keyworker.

The neighbour has just shown him 3 more new cracks that have appeared this morning so even if it is superficial there will be a fair bit of decorating as it is affecting rooms above and below.

Hopefully we can get reassurance on Monday.

FreeBear

I wonder if it is worth giving the police a call and reporting it as criminal damage....

 They may well say it is a civil matter, but they may pay a visit and might even issue a fine or two under Covid regulations.

fenwick458

Jojomissy said:

 
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.

struggling to understand this bit. so if the party wall is a single brick, presumably your families wiring is on that side of the brick. and if they've taken that much of the brick out then theres nothing of the wall left, and surely there would be visible cracks in the plaster on the other side?

GDB2222 said:

Go to a solicitor, and get an injunction, so all the work stops immediately.

ok but back in the real world, that ain't gonna happen instantly, and the builders will have it finished before the solicitor even starts drafting the letter!

FaceHead

GDB2222 said:

Go to a solicitor, and get an injunction, so all the work stops immediately.

This is the nuclear option, as the solicitors bill will be in the region of £5,000 to get an injunction and make the claim for damages. You can do it yourself of course, but it's a reasonably complex area and the court fees are about £1000 of the above amount. 

Do you have legal cover as part of your home insurance? If so, then this looks like the right option. 

Obviously the builder's workmanship is shocking, but I'm also concerned about the structural design. Given that building regs aren't in place, the builder may be doing the structural design by eye rather than them actually being done by an engineer.  Depending on the age of the terrace, transfering additional load onto the party wall may not be acceptable as it may cause movement and damage. Either way, the design needs to be done by an engineer and signed off by building control. 

Given that the neighbor wants to plough on, the only option might be the damages claim and injunction requiring them to get a design signed off by building control and implemented. 

Jojomissy

Unfortunately both him and next door but one do not have legal cover, that was one thing I asked them to check.

Just to explain, the builders expected the party wall to have a cavity or be thicker I imagine. (This was their excuse). They originally explained she would be best leaving a hip for the steel to sit on but the house was gutted downstairs and she wanted it her way and quickly. They have gone to knock out the area in the party wall for the steel to sit on and realised the issue, tried to chip away at the course of brick and gone too far into the next doors lounge, there is a gaping hole, I have seen the picture.

On my family members side they have not quite gone through but so far that they have reached his cabling which had been channelled on a rewire, so very close to going through. Then they put in acro props overnight and the cracks started both upstairs and downstairs. All though the gaping hole looks scary, it is the cracks which are more worrying as they from skirting boards and ceilings so obvious movement. More cracks appeared as the steel went in and pushed debris into the neighbours lounge.

The builders should have never gone ahead with this, no matter how insistent but obvious they got so far into the job and now want to get out and get paid!

Jojomissy

Update..the council building inspector has been just now as he was passing and was concerned. He has seen the damage and wasn't happy. He has also been to the neighbours house and cannot believe the work the builder has gone ahead with without anything in place.

He knocked on the house doing the work but she would not answer so he said they will have an injunction to enter with a structural surveyor on Monday morning.

Family member seems so relieved. Really grateful for the inspector calling.

fenwick458

how old are these houses with only a single brick between them? must be able to hear everything they do!!

GDB2222

FaceHead said:

GDB2222 said:

Go to a solicitor, and get an injunction, so all the work stops immediately.

This is the nuclear option, as the solicitors bill will be in the region of £5,000 to get an injunction and make the claim for damages. You can do it yourself of course, but it's a reasonably complex area and the court fees are about £1000 of the above amount. 

Do you have legal cover as part of your home insurance? If so, then this looks like the right option. 

Obviously the builder's workmanship is shocking, but I'm also concerned about the structural design. Given that building regs aren't in place, the builder may be doing the structural design by eye rather than them actually being done by an engineer.  Depending on the age of the terrace, transfering additional load onto the party wall may not be acceptable as it may cause movement and damage. Either way, the design needs to be done by an engineer and signed off by building control. 

Given that the neighbor wants to plough on, the only option might be the damages claim and injunction requiring them to get a design signed off by building control and implemented. 

I'd be concerned that a beam will be stuck into the party walls and cause issues in the long term.
I'd get the work halted, and a party wall surveyor in to see what's going on.  And, if the neighbour is in a building site for a few months, Good!!!  

twopenny

You say the house has been gutted. The surveyor is a great idea because she/he will not only look at this but what else she has done in the assessment

In a time of Covid when you can't move out of your home into accommodation and have to stay in there all day this takes a nightmare to a whole different level.