Poss neighbour dispute

going_nowhere_fast

Asking for anyone with personal experience or who works in this field please.

Lived in current house for many, many years. Never had any problems. 

House next door has been owned by same person all that time. Their house has been neglected internally but has never caused me any issues / doesn't affect neighbouring properties. It's rented. Tenants are lovely people, perfect neighbours to live next to.

Currently dealing with an issue with next door's roof is affecting my property. Owner will not fix it (and I can't do it because it's not my house) so I have no choice but get a third party involved to force them to repair their house to prevent damage to mine.

If I sell my house I have to declare any disputes. 

How do I word this on the form. 

To put things in to context, once next door make the repair to their house there shouldn't be any further problems directly affecting my house. Not had any previous issues.

I want to be fair and honest when completing the form but also don't want to scare off potential buyers.

If it makes a difference, it would likely be a landlord that bought my house who will then rent it out. My house is well maintained and in a good state of repair itself. 

Thanks. 

eddddy

going_nowhere_fast said:

Currently dealing with an issue with next door's roof is affecting my property. Owner will not fix it (and I can't do it because it's not my house) so I have no choice but get a third party involved to force them to repair their house to prevent damage to mine.

How is next door's roof affecting your property?

What have you said to the next-door property owner so far, and what was their reply?

What 3rd party do you plan to involve who will 'force' the next-door property owner to repair their house?

 

user1977

Also, if the roof problem is resolvable, why not do that before trying to sell your house?

going_nowhere_fast

I don't live in a detached house so my house is impacted by the state of repair of the house I am joined to. It has a leak the owner is not prepared to fix which is now so severe it is spreading to my house. Two roofing companies have been to look and confirmed the source of the leak is next door.

Property owner acknowledged the problem when I contacted them about it but refuses to fix it. In their opinion it is their house, and they won't have someone else tell them what to do with it! I have been polite when communicating with them and given them plenty of time to fix their house.

I have started a separate thread (on the DIY board?) asking for advice from anyone who has experienced a similar problem so I'm not yet sure who the third party will be but the repair is required urgently so is going to have to be forced because it can't be left as it is and all home owners have a legal obligation to not knowingly cause damage to houses they are joined to so legally they have to fix it. How to enforce it is another question.

Presumably the third party might be the council / environmental health, home insurance or as a last resort solicitors. I have never been in this situation before so I'm not sure yet. 

The council will definitely end up being involved in some capacity as it is rented and due to the leak being left untreated (it affected that property internally for a long time until it got so bad it affected mine) there is black mould in every room in that house which the owner is well aware of. Just to clarify, I had no authority to ask the owner to carry out work on their property until the point it affected mine. 

user1977

going_nowhere_fast said:

Presumably the third party might be the council / environmental health, home insurance or as a last resort solicitors. I have never been in this situation before so I'm not sure yet. 

This board seems the best one to ask how to resolve it, if that is also something you want to ask here...

Is the neighbouring landlord refusing to allow you even to fix it at your own expense? How big a job are we talking about?

going_nowhere_fast

If it was something and nothing I'd pay and sort it but this the entire length of their guttering, and something under the roof. Can't remember what the roofer called it. If the repair had been carried out 18 months ago it would have been a small job but because it's been left I think it's fair to assume it's going to cost a fair bit to fix now because the damage to his own house is no longer in one spot but now spread across the entire length of it.

Someone on the other thread said council environmental health department will help because it is classed as a statutory nuisance. Advice was they will give him a set period of time to carry out the work and if he doesn't do it they MAY do the work and invoice him. At least I have a route to go down to get it fixed now which is something positive.

I have cried so much worrying about this but the irony is being a nasty person has just cost him more money. If he had fixed the house externally that would have been the end of the matter but because I am having to involve the council I'm presuming the council will force him to repair the property internally now too. There is black mould and mushrooms growing off the walls where the leak originally started, it's on the side of the house furthest away from my house.

How do I factually and honestly explain this situation when selling my house without scaring buyers off? 

Tiny chance it would be bought by a first time buyer, but most likely a landlord.

eddddy

going_nowhere_fast said:

The council will definitely end up being involved in some capacity as it is rented and due to the leak being left untreated (it affected that property internally for a long time until it got so bad it affected mine) there is black mould in every room in that house which the owner is well aware of. 

One route might be to encourage the tenants next door to complain about the mould and damp in their house to their landlord, and then the council.

The council can 'force' the landlord to do repairs to their property, which hopefully would cure the leak/dampness in your house as well.

Normally, it's up to the tenants to complain to the council, but you can ask the council if they will accept a complaint from you on the tenants' behalf (maybe if the tenants are vulnerable etc). But you'd be complaining about the mould and damp next door - not the damp in your house.


Or you can try the statutory nuisance route.

Other than that, it's typically only a court who can 'force' somebody to do something (like repair a roof). You'd need to go to court to get a court order (injunction).

And/or, since you've warned the property owner that their leaking roof would cause damage your property, and the property owner did nothing about it, you could make a court claim for the cost of repairing the damage. 

going_nowhere_fast

The tenants have been asking the landlord for 18 months to fix the leak. They are not interested in complaining about the landlord not carrying out repairs despite the condition of the house and believe me it's bad. The entire house is covered in mould and the walls are wet to the touch. I don't blame them for that because there is a high demand for rental properties here so wouldn't want to be evicted. 

I've been told I can report to the council on my own behalf because it's directly affecting me but I think it does help that it's rented because the council have to step in when they see the condition the tenants are living in so both me and the tenants benefit by the repairs.

I think I can claim from the owner's insurance because they have knowingly damaged my property. Does it affect my insurance if I ask them to pursue this though? Are my no claims affected by me claiming on the landlord's insurance? 

user1977

You don't "claim from the owner's insurance", you claim from the owner. Whether or not they pass it to insurers is their problem.

You might have legal cover under your insurance - do you?

going_nowhere_fast

Would I not have to go down the legal route to claim from the owner and incur the expense in doing that? 

I thought my home insurance would contact his home insurance to ask them to foot the bill.

That's the gist of what I found when searching the internet for the question. Just don't know anyone who has done it so not sure if it would impact my no claims.

I do have legal cover but would prefer to avoid going down that route. The owner has proven themself to not be a nice person. They have already tried to intimidate me to drop this (asking them to fix their house) so I don't want to anger them with legal stuff if it can be avoided and I think it looks worse when selling my house if I have to say I had solicitors involved as opposed to I had my home insurance involved.

user1977

Doing it via insurance doesn't make it any less "legal"! It's the same thing, but with an insurer (hopefully) footing the bill. And no, there isn't some procedure where your insurer even knows who his insurer is, never mind sorts it all out without bothering him.