House next door damaging mine

going_nowhere_fast

Has anyone been in a similar situation to me or have any words of wisdom.

The house joining mine has had an ongoing leak from gutter / roof for nearly 2 years. The house is rented. Full of damp and mould inside.

It never affected me personally or my house so have never raised this with anyone. The tenants have asked the landlord to fix it for 18 months. The landlords sends down what seems like 'a bloke from down the pub'. No clue what they are doing so the problem continues. 

Fast forward to November and the leak started impacting my house.

Landlord won't fix it. Trying to intimidate me. Not interested at all. The damage is getting worse but I can't stop it travelling from their house. The damage has grown from a little damp patch to needing replastering since I first told the landlord of the problem. I'm scared the ceiling will eventually collapse.

I was polite in informing them of the problem. Have been patient in allowing them time to get the repair carried out but I can't just accept they won't fix it. What do I do?

Can the council force them to fix their house? 

My house insurance has high excess. Should I be ringing them to ask them to force the landlord to repair their house? Can they do that?

Can I claim the cost of repairs from their insurance because they have taken no steps to fix the problem even though they knew about it? If I did, does this affect my no claims on my insurance?

They are trying to bully me by saying it's their house they will do what they want. They don't care it's causing water coming in to my house. 

I've spent the new year crying over how unfair this situation is and because I don't know how to fix it.

going_nowhere_fast

Forgot to say as well as getting the problem fixed how do I make sure they use a proper company or tradesperson rather than paying a cowboy builder cash in hand to do a rubbish job.

Baldytyke88

Contact your local environmental health dept at your local council as the water entering your properties is classifies as a statutory nuisance.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2208117/damp-caused-by-neighbours-guttering-help

going_nowhere_fast

Baldytyke88 said:

Contact your local environmental health dept at your local council as the water entering your properties is classifies as a statutory nuisance.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2208117/damp-caused-by-neighbours-guttering-help

Thank you so much! That is really helpful.

going_nowhere_fast

Just read that thread. Exactly the info I needed.

Do you (or anyone know) how my home insurance is affected if I ask my insurance company to seek money from the owner's insurance to cover the cost of my repairs? Sounds like they can be forced to pay because the owner failed to carry out repairs since being made aware of the problem. 

Voyager2002

going_nowhere_fast said:

Just read that thread. Exactly the info I needed.

Do you (or anyone know) how my home insurance is affected if I ask my insurance company to seek money from the owner's insurance to cover the cost of my repairs? Sounds like they can be forced to pay because the owner failed to carry out repairs since being made aware of the problem. 

Your insurance company would only get involved if you made a claim: they might then seek to recover their losses from the other party's insurance, but of course you would have lost your no-claims bonus. Does your home insurance include any kind of legal assistance, such as a helpline for legal advice?

Environmental Health is likely to provide a far better solution for you.

going_nowhere_fast

I do have legal assistance but don't know if I can ring them if I've not claimed on my insurance. I'm reluctant to lose my no claims if it's affordable to fix myself but would happily let his insurance pay seeing as he's not fussed about causing the damage. No point if it leaves me worse off though. 

I have made steps tonight to contact the council and emailed photos of the damage too so hopefully they will be in touch soon.

ThisIsWeird

going_nowhere_fast said:

I do have legal assistance but don't know if I can ring them if I've not claimed on my insurance. I'm reluctant to lose my no claims if it's affordable to fix myself but would happily let his insurance pay seeing as he's not fussed about causing the damage. No point if it leaves me worse off though. 

I have made steps tonight to contact the council and emailed photos of the damage too so hopefully they will be in touch soon.

You have Legal Assistance included - well done. Check out the details - see what's covered, and also who it's with; usually they are completely independent of the actual insurance company.
Yes, you can call them at any stage, but the sooner the better - they should be able to guide you on the correct approach to take - they are a 'legal' team. This is a free service - you have paid the premium for it.
Their advice may well be to act via the council in the first instance, as suggested above, but it's worth hearing. Also, you may wish to make a claim for damages against the owner, so see what they say about this too.
Finally, you may wish to make EH aware of your concerns for the tenant's living conditions - hit this unethical owner/LL with all barrels.
I'd first write out a succinct, chronological, bullet-pointed account of what has taken place, as accurately dated as you can recall, and all communications included as verbatim as possible (if verbal), and refering to emails or texts if written. This has gone on for a while, so get your facts sorted clearly, and in a way that you can refer to any point quickly if asked - which you almost certainly will be; "Remind me when you first spoke... What was said by...", etc. include all the 'belligerent behaviour' incidents in the same clear accurate manner, but without over-emoting.
 Eg;
1) Aug 2022 - the tenants in No 3 Acacia Drive - my terraced/semi neighbour - mentioned to me that blah blah, and that they were, unsuccessfully, trying to get the home owner  - their LL - to sort it. 
2) Various attempts were seemingly made to repair the leak, but none were successful.
3) Nov 2024 - water from what I believe to be the neighbouring property began to enter my property. This affected x, y and z. Photos a, b, c etc. 
4) Photos g and h show the exterior of the chimney and roof where I believe the water is entering.
5) I First approached the owner by email - ref E1 - blah blah blah. Owner replied to my email, claiming it had now't... etc. Ref E2.
That sort of stuff.
Please let us know how you get on. 

FreeBear

going_nowhere_fast said:

I do have legal assistance but don't know if I can ring them if I've not claimed on my insurance.

If you are in a union, there may well be a legal helpline you can call. My union helpline doesn't limit advice to just employment issues.

going_nowhere_fast

FreeBear said:

going_nowhere_fast said:

I do have legal assistance but don't know if I can ring them if I've not claimed on my insurance.

If you are in a union, there may well be a legal helpline you can call. My union helpline doesn't limit advice to just employment issues.

Not part of a union but thank you for the suggestion.

going_nowhere_fast

ThisIsWeird said:

going_nowhere_fast said:

I do have legal assistance but don't know if I can ring them if I've not claimed on my insurance. I'm reluctant to lose my no claims if it's affordable to fix myself but would happily let his insurance pay seeing as he's not fussed about causing the damage. No point if it leaves me worse off though. 

I have made steps tonight to contact the council and emailed photos of the damage too so hopefully they will be in touch soon.

You have Legal Assistance included - well done. Check out the details - see what's covered, and also who it's with; usually they are completely independent of the actual insurance company.
Yes, you can call them at any stage, but the sooner the better - they should be able to guide you on the correct approach to take - they are a 'legal' team. This is a free service - you have paid the premium for it.
Their advice may well be to act via the council in the first instance, as suggested above, but it's worth hearing. Also, you may wish to make a claim for damages against the owner, so see what they say about this too.
Finally, you may wish to make EH aware of your concerns for the tenant's living conditions - hit this unethical owner/LL with all barrels.
I'd first write out a succinct, chronological, bullet-pointed account of what has taken place, as accurately dated as you can recall, and all communications included as verbatim as possible (if verbal), and refering to emails or texts if written. This has gone on for a while, so get your facts sorted clearly, and in a way that you can refer to any point quickly if asked - which you almost certainly will be; "Remind me when you first spoke... What was said by...", etc. include all the 'belligerent behaviour' incidents in the same clear accurate manner, but without over-emoting.
 Eg;
1) Aug 2022 - the tenants in No 3 Acacia Drive - my terraced/semi neighbour - mentioned to me that blah blah, and that they were, unsuccessfully, trying to get the home owner  - their LL - to sort it. 
2) Various attempts were seemingly made to repair the leak, but none were successful.
3) Nov 2024 - water from what I believe to be the neighbouring property began to enter my property. This affected x, y and z. Photos a, b, c etc. 
4) Photos g and h show the exterior of the chimney and roof where I believe the water is entering.
5) I First approached the owner by email - ref E1 - blah blah blah. Owner replied to my email, claiming it had now't... etc. Ref E2.
That sort of stuff.
Please let us know how you get on. 

Already got the chronology sorted and although I haven't got proof of how long his property has been leaking (didn't occur to me I would need it) I have made sure to keep all communication about my house being damaged in writing because I envisaged it would end up in a battle to get sorted. I thought it would be the only way I could prove I have given him reasonable time to fix the problem because he would argue he didn't know.

I will dig out my legal assistance details and ring them. Thank you.

I reported to the council last night. My understanding from advice on this forum is that it will be the council's environmental health team that will look into it. Now I'm thinking logically (rather than emotionally) they must be obliged to step in considering the conditions internally next door. 

I will keep you updated.