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Neighbour not cooperating

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Hi,
a few months ago I noticed a few small dark stains  on the party wall that look like damp stains, like shadows under the paint. They are not even visible unless you watch them from a certaiin position and in certain lighting conditions, but in that case they show clearly. The damp meter (I know, it's unreliable, but still...) confirms the situation, with readings up to 70% in some spots and very low everywhere else.

Over the months the neighbour and I did agreed to have a roofer repair the roof  (a small patch didn't have a membrane) and to cap the chimney pots. A portion of the wall (at the corner, where the paint had peeled off) has since dried out, but another portion that  is 2 metres away from that (taht is where I see the stains) hasn't.
The area with stains spans only around 1sqm, starting from 1/2 metre from the floor. The bottom  part and the part above 1.5 mt from the floor is dry.

A couple of months ago, the previous owner told me that in the past the neighour did some works to his house and that he caused damages to mine, with water suddenly infriltrating in the property from somewhere. They asked him to do whatever he had to do to comply with the regulations but he ignored them, and refused to even file a PWA. I just wish that they had told me before the sale!
What they told me fits with the wet underlay that I found under the flooring when I moved in, that took weeks to dry out completely.

Back to the main point, I've asked the neighnour if he has installed any kind of wet room on the other side of the party wall, but he ignored me completely. I'm more and more convinced that there is something like a toilet or sink because the position of those stains on the wall would fit with the height of a toilet.

What can I do to convince him to cooperate? Is it possible that a water pipe is wetting the party wall?




Comments

  • EssexExile
    EssexExile Posts: 6,460 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Have you tried getting your house insurance people involved? I know people who had water coming from next door and their insurance company handled all the investigations and remedies. In that case the neighbour was cooperative though.
    Tall, dark & handsome. Well two out of three ain't bad.
  • pieroabcd
    pieroabcd Posts: 686 Forumite
    Fourth Anniversary 500 Posts Name Dropper
    No, i haven't tried
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