Damp Wall

thebullsback

Hi ,my neighbour caught me outside my property and asked if I was having any problem with damp in my house particularly a part of wall that separate's us internally.
I told him no not noticed anything but said I would have a good check when I had time. This obviously did not suite him as I'm of the opinion he is wanting to blame someone i.e. me for his problem .
So any suggestions as to how to react when I give him the news that I have no problem in my property and its something on his side which I know he's not wanting to hear.
There are no pipes near where his problem is halfway up the wall in alcove of chimney breast 

Brie

I had a similar issue with a previous property where the neighbours' damp was supposedly due to problems with my leaky roof.  I let them know that my roof wasn't leaking so perhaps it was their roof or somehow something on the join or our 2 homes (semi detached).  They continued to blame me and said I had to fix it.  Given that there was nothing to fix I simply told them to get in a reputable tradesperson to look at the situation from their side and, assuming it was convenient, I would allow the same person to look at things on our side too.  They tried to insist that I should pay this person but I just stuck to my guns.  I never had someone come knocking to inspect anything so have no idea if they actually went down this route at all.

Ultimately it turned out that when the gutting was "fixed" on their portion of the property the down drain was set too high which meant that in extreme rain the gutter filled and overflowed down their front wall just inches from the join of our properties.  Add to that a prevailing wind that pushed towards their house so they got the full force of the overflow.  Waterlogged bricks and some cracks in the mortar let water in to their front upstairs room.  

So the short version is - tell the neighbour to get a pro in to see where the damp is coming from and suggest that once they have the results of that then you will know if there's anything you need to do.  Until then, no you don't have a problem.  

Aylesbury_Duck

I agree.  He may contact his insurers and they might commission someone to investigate.  I presume you'd have to allow reasonable access to allow them to do so.  Until then, if you're confident there's no problem emanating from your side, tell him that.

Ergates

thebullsback said:

There are no pipes near where his problem is halfway up the wall in alcove of chimney breast 

Tell him that:  There's no damp my side and there is nothing there that could be causing damp.