Can someone help me make sense of neighbour's adjacent demolition and my ?exposed foundation?

ThisIsWeird

Drtkd said:

Can someone please help me with this because I don't even know who to ask or where to ask for advice.

My house has a rear extension that was built 10+ years ago. It was built on the boundary wall, and the neighbours had an old brick store at the wall too (2 inches gap in between).

Fast forward to now, and the neighbours have now demolished that bunker. This has exposed what looks to me as unrendered breeze block for our extension, the brick layer and no idea what (concrete foundation/floor?).

Their plan is to build a patio in its place, but I dont know if we need to do anything?

• do we need to protect our concrete foundation / brick wall / do something before they build their patio?
  
• do we need to render / protect our external breeze block wall? (got a £500 quote for this!)
• did we need to be informed / is party wall agreement required because its right next to our foundations? 

It might all be okay fine left alone, but would appreciate advice!

Drtkd, could you ask them for full details of their plans? For instance, they aren't just going to put a patio there, as they'd have to cope with the unsightly unfinished wall of you house :-). So, they must have 'something' in mind. I suggest you need to know what. Then, you'll know what solutions are required to protect your wall.
(They presumably needed PP because of the raised height. I doubt, tho', that this has anything to do with Building Control.)
Based on the info they give you, it should become clear whether there is a risk, whether they or their builder have even considered this, and what needs doing about it. Currently, I'd suggest there most certainly is a risk.
Solutions 'could' be as simple as them tanking that wall down to DPC level, and then rendering it to make it look nice. That, I think, should make your wall - above DPC - fully waterproof. Or, they may be planning a raised wall to edge their patio, in which case that would theoretically protect your lower wall, and only their top wall coping would need choosing to deflect any rain away from your wall. 

These are only my ponderings, as I'm not a builder and don't know if they are credible solutions. But any of their plans need to ensure your DPC isn't breached, and also that debris cannot build up in that gap.

So, I'd ask them for full details, inc drawings/sketches, or ask their builder to provide them. Explain you have no issues with their patio per se, but that you have a legitimate concern as you know your property will be at risk from penetrating damp unless the work is done correctly. You simply wish to ensure it is done properly, or else they would be liable.
Best put this in writing, and ensure you have it sent in a recorded manner - eg witnessed hand-delivered, or email, but always nice to do so with a friendly chat too.
If you feel you are being fobbed off, then you may need to go Party Walk Act - I think it may be invokable here.
Do you have Legal Protection on your house insurance? If so, call them up for guidance - it costs nothing. I suspect it'll be similar - you need to recordably inform the neighb of your concerns, ask how they intend to mitigate them, and effectively put them on notice of their liability if any damage is caused. Ie, they cannot later claim ignorance.

Drtkd

stuart45 said:

Is it going to be decking?

We're not sure but will find out. There was talk of it being decking with only minimal foundations. They wanted to still have space under the raised patio / deck to be able to store things.

Why is it important?

Drtkd

ThisIsWeird said:

Drtkd said:

Can someone please help me with this because I don't even know who to ask or where to ask for advice.

My house has a rear extension that was built 10+ years ago. It was built on the boundary wall, and the neighbours had an old brick store at the wall too (2 inches gap in between).

Fast forward to now, and the neighbours have now demolished that bunker. This has exposed what looks to me as unrendered breeze block for our extension, the brick layer and no idea what (concrete foundation/floor?).

Their plan is to build a patio in its place, but I dont know if we need to do anything?

• do we need to protect our concrete foundation / brick wall / do something before they build their patio?
  
• do we need to render / protect our external breeze block wall? (got a £500 quote for this!)
• did we need to be informed / is party wall agreement required because its right next to our foundations? 

It might all be okay fine left alone, but would appreciate advice!

Drtkd, could you ask them for full details of their plans? For instance, they aren't just going to put a patio there, as they'd have to cope with the unsightly unfinished wall of you house :-). So, they must have 'something' in mind. I suggest you need to know what. Then, you'll know what solutions are required to protect your wall.
(They presumably needed PP because of the raised height. I doubt, tho', that this has anything to do with Building Control.)
Based on the info they give you, it should become clear whether there is a risk, whether they or their builder have even considered this, and what needs doing about it. Currently, I'd suggest there most certainly is a risk.
Solutions 'could' be as simple as them tanking that wall down to DPC level, and then rendering it to make it look nice. That, I think, should make your wall - above DPC - fully waterproof. Or, they may be planning a raised wall to edge their patio, in which case that would theoretically protect your lower wall, and only their top wall coping would need choosing to deflect any rain away from your wall. 

These are only my ponderings, as I'm not a builder and don't know if they are credible solutions. But any of their plans need to ensure your DPC isn't breached, and also that debris cannot build up in that gap.

So, I'd ask them for full details, inc drawings/sketches, or ask their builder to provide them. Explain you have no issues with their patio per se, but that you have a legitimate concern as you know your property will be at risk from penetrating damp unless the work is done correctly. You simply wish to ensure it is done properly, or else they would be liable.
Best put this in writing, and ensure you have it sent in a recorded manner - eg witnessed hand-delivered, or email, but always nice to do so with a friendly chat too.
If you feel you are being fobbed off, then you may need to go Party Walk Act - I think it may be invokable here.
Do you have Legal Protection on your house insurance? If so, call them up for guidance - it costs nothing. I suspect it'll be similar - you need to recordably inform the neighb of your concerns, ask how they intend to mitigate them, and effectively put them on notice of their liability if any damage is caused. Ie, they cannot later claim ignorance.

This is so thorough and helpful! We will have a chat with them because we have no idea about their plans (but just found that their planning permission is available online!).

We have legal protection on our house insurance yes.

Who is it that we need to get the opinion of - builder? party wall surveyor? engineer? My worry here is I know next to nothing about this! 

ThisIsWeird

Drtkd said:

This is so thorough and helpful! We will have a chat with them because we have no idea about their plans (but just found that their planning permission is available online!).
We have legal protection on our house insurance yes.
Who is it that we need to get the opinion of - builder? party wall surveyor? engineer? My worry here is I know next to nothing about this! 

Since you have LegProt - well done - I'd be guided by them. It's free, so call them up, explain your concerns, and ask how you should approach this.

Most likely, you'll be expected to make your concerns clear to your neighbour in an evidenced form - generally referred to as 'putting them on notice' - so that the neighbour fully understands your concerns, and that they can be held liable for any outcome - they cannot say 'we didn't know'. So, the responsibility is effectively passed on to the neighbour to come up with an answer as to how they'll ensure your house isn't affected by their work.

A builder or surveyor would be the type of pro to ask about the issue, but I'd not go there for the time being. Just ask your neighbour to ask their builder what their proposal is.

If they come back with anything like, "Oh, they say it'll be fine...", then you need a sterner letter from your LP. And, if this qualifies as a PWA issue, then you can insist on this, engaging a surveyor at their expense, and that surveyor should then handle your concerns and ensure compliance. They'd be foolish to let it go that far, as a PWA surveyor will likely cost them around £1k...

But, I'm not sure if this does qualify as a PWA issue - I think it should - it's close enough to your property, and will almost certainly affect it - but don't know for sure.

Anyhoo, LegProt in the first instance; do exactly as they say, as they may be the group to tackle this for you if needed.

Please keep us updated.

stuart45

Drtkd said:

stuart45 said:

Is it going to be decking?

We're not sure but will find out. There was talk of it being decking with only minimal foundations. They wanted to still have space under the raised patio / deck to be able to store things.

Why is it important?

It's important because people are assuming that it will be a patio with a retaining wall built 2 inches away from your wall, backfilled and slabbed. That would take a massive amount of fill, and settlement would be an issue.
The obvious way to make a seating area is decking. This wouldn't affect your wall, apart from the rain bounce. Being a cavity wall, it can deal with that, but it's worth getting it rendered.

Drtkd

stuart45 said:

Drtkd said:

stuart45 said:

Is it going to be decking?

We're not sure but will find out. There was talk of it being decking with only minimal foundations. They wanted to still have space under the raised patio / deck to be able to store things.

Why is it important?

It's important because people are assuming that it will be a patio with a retaining wall built 2 inches away from your wall, backfilled and slabbed. That would take a massive amount of fill, and settlement would be an issue.
The obvious way to make a seating area is decking. This wouldn't affect your wall, apart from the rain bounce. Being a cavity wall, it can deal with that, but it's worth getting it rendered.

So have had a quick talk to them and it's actually a 5 x 3.5 m wide large 2m raised brick patio that they will be constructing! Won't this surely require excavation right next to the boundary wall? Does this change things?

FreeBear

Drtkd said:

stuart45 said:

Drtkd said:

stuart45 said:

Is it going to be decking?

We're not sure but will find out. There was talk of it being decking with only minimal foundations. They wanted to still have space under the raised patio / deck to be able to store things.

Why is it important?

It's important because people are assuming that it will be a patio with a retaining wall built 2 inches away from your wall, backfilled and slabbed. That would take a massive amount of fill, and settlement would be an issue.
The obvious way to make a seating area is decking. This wouldn't affect your wall, apart from the rain bounce. Being a cavity wall, it can deal with that, but it's worth getting it rendered.

So have had a quick talk to them and it's actually a 5 x 3.5 m wide large 2m raised brick patio that they will be constructing! Won't this surely require excavation right next to the boundary wall? Does this change things?

There will need to be a retaining wall between your boundary and the patio. So there will be excavation of a foundation trench. If the patio was being constructed on a flat area, some 150mm would need to be dug out to allow for hardcore & paving to finish at the same level. But you are on a slope, and the level on the neighbour's side is going to be built up, so minimal digging required.

stuart45

So they are planning to build retaining walls to the height of the black line and fill, and then a brick patio? That's going to take a lot of filling.

happenstome

Did the neighbours get planning permission for this work? It is likely that it would have been necessary for them to have made a formal planning application. If they had applied for planning permission you should have been contacted as part of the process as you are the immediate neighbour. Did they set up a party wall agreement with you? It is likely that they needed to do so.
 Are there other implications in the work, e.g. would it cut out the light your building gets as you may have a right to light too particularly if the extension is a different size from the previous building that was there. Will it cause any permanent structural damage to your property? If the buildings are in a conservation area there may be stricter rules than there are in other areas. 
If they are building it without permission they may be asked to demolish it  by the planning department/council and this too could have a knock on effect on your building's stability. Best to get it sorted out before they do any more of it. 

I had a problem with neighbours, who among other things were doing work adjoining my house. They were  building a patio to a higher level than it was previously right up to a brand new wooden fence I had put there (it was my boundary). I asked the Planning Department's advice.  A planning officer visited them the day after  receiving my request for advice.  However instead of visiting me, as they had said, the planning officer went straight to them and told them what they could and couldn't do.
I don't want to put you off seeking the correct advice, but a word of caution, in my case it led to those neighbours taking revenge on me and  intimidating me so much so that I have had to move house. I think had I said to the planning officer to tread carefully and to inform them that close neighbours have legal rights,  it might not have escalated as much as  it did after her visit.  

happenstome

PS Sometimes there are restrictions on removing buildings. They may not be allowed to just knock something down and build a patio. I once had a garage, in a 1930s house that had been there since the 1950s and I would only have been permitted to demolish it to replace it with one similar. I would not have been allowed to take it down and put a patio or anything else on its footprint.