Neighbour's chimney collapsing and roof in bad state of repair

Vector5

We live in a semi and own our own home. The house adjoining us is rented out. The chimney is crumbling at the top and the roof is in a bad state of repair. The man who owns the house has never repaired anything over the years.
It looks like it's in a bad way. Is there anything we can do?
Could it adversely affect our property?

TripleH

Without seeing a picture, could the chimney collapse and fall on your roof?

Do you have any details of the landlord?

Any evidence you can get (date stamp photos etc) do so now.

I would send a friendly letter keeping proof of postage to the landlord  saying you're a bit concerned about x,y,z. Keep this as your proof you have taken action to minimise your losses. You can't make him repair his house but if your house suffers damage you can pass on to your insurance that you let the other owner be aware of issues and let your insurers deal with him.

(Above is how I would tackle the situation, happy to be corrected if I am giving bad advice because I haven't had to deal with this).

FreeBear

TripleH said: You can't make him repair his house but if your house suffers damage you can pass on to your insurance that you let the other owner be aware of issues and let your insurers deal with him.

You can report dangerous structures to your local council (usually via Building Control). They can send out a surveyor who will assess the situation and the risk/danger. Depending on the risk, BC can take action to secure the area and pass the bill on to the LL. Alternatively, BC can send an enforcement notice to the LL to make repairs.

The tenants can also raise issues with the council (Environmental Health) if the building defects are causing health problems.

TripleH

Thank you Freebear.

Op, as per above. Still date stamp photograph any suspected damage in your property as well. It might take a while for them to come out but I'd you can send photos, you can evidence that you took action even if others took longer to act.

Get a delivery receipt on any emails sent and keep for your records.

eddddy

If you think that the neighbour's chimney or roof is likely to do damage to your house (e.g. by falling, letting damp in etc), you should put the owner or their agent 'on notice'. i.e. tell them about the problem.


Then, if they don't act in a reasonable way to sort out the problem, and damage occurs to your house - you can claim damages from the owner for negligence.


FWIW, if their chimney fell onto your roof, it's unlikely that you could claim on your buildings insurance - it's not an insured risk, and I doubt it could be classed as accidental damage.