Neighbour damaged my garage roof - Small Claims Court?

Squidd52

Our garages were joined together and back in March he demolished his in order as to not have to pay any up keep on it.

Doing this left my garage totally open to the elements and has damaged part of the facia on my side. I asked him about a month ago if he was going to make it weather tight he said the firm who did it promised what they did would have no effect or leave any damage to my garage and he would contact them again but I've heard nothing. 

If he refuses do you think I could go via the small claims court to recoup my costs if I opt to get it repaired myself?

Hoenir

Have you informed your insurers? 

WIAWSNB

Do you have legal protection in your home insurance? If so, call them up for advice.
Clearly your garage is going to suffer as a result - the joists ends and roofing sheeting materials are fully exposed for starters. 
Is that a single skin wall - the one that was internal, and is now ext? I'd have thought a good chance of penetrating damp there.
The cut roof can presumably be sorted using a suitable overlapping fascia board, but would need sorting properly to keep rain out, and not just look good.
If you have LP, then call them first. Possibly inform your actual insurance company, too, as I guess you should advise them of any changes that could affect the integrity of what they are supposedly covering in their policy.
Armed with them saying 'it needs sorting', you could get a couple of quotes from reliable roofers detailing what needs doing, and with quotes, and give the owner a fixed date to respond positively to sorting it, or else you'll have it done and will sue - which you will almost certainly win.
Of course, if he says "he'll" sort it, you'd need to remind him it needs doing properly, as outlined in your quotes. Just sticking a plastic trim over that won't stop roof rain getting through.

Boohoo

Squidd52 said:

Our garages were joined together and back in March he demolished his in order as to not have to pay any up keep on it.

Doing this left my garage totally open to the elements and has damaged part of the facia on my side. I asked him about a month ago if he was going to make it weather tight he said the firm who did it promised what they did would have no effect or leave any damage to my garage and he would contact them again but I've heard nothing. 

If he refuses do you think I could go via the small claims court to recoup my costs if I opt to get it repaired myself?

You say your neighbour demolished his part as "he not have to pay any upkeep on it"

I take it that they own the garage?

Have they demolished their part so they can park a vehicle in its place or was the garage in bad state and needed lots of work.

Did they tell you what they were going to do in advance or just knock it down with out you knowing?

Phone your LP asap if you have it.

Squidd52

Hoenir said:

Have you informed your insurers? 

Not yet but will do.

Squidd52

Unfortunately no legal insurance, the outer garage wall is a diff brick than the inner one which is now the outer on one side. I guess the outer ones are less porous than the inner ones which are now totally open to rain and damp.

I've contacted a roofer that replaced my home roof a few years back so will get a few prices and will speak again to my neighbour today and explain how I'm feeling about him leaving it how he has.

We both own our homes so the local council couldn't get involved, he's now just using it as an extra drive way.

The garages were structurally sound just the roofs that were the weak points, his side worse than mine. I did ask him 2 years ago when I had some spare funds if he wanted to split the bill 50/50 and get the whole roof replaced then with mine but he declined.

And no he never told me in advance it was getting done.

WIAWSNB

Squidd52 said:

Unfortunately no legal insurance, the outer garage wall is a diff brick than the inner one which is now the outer on one side. I guess the outer ones are less porous than the inner ones which are now totally open to rain and damp.
I've contacted a roofer that replaced my home roof a few years back so will get a few prices and will speak again to my neighbour today and explain how I'm feeling about him leaving it how he has.
We both own our homes so the local council couldn't get involved, he's now just using it as an extra drive way.
The garages were structurally sound just the roofs that were the weak points, his side worse than mine. I did ask him 2 years ago when I had some spare funds if he wanted to split the bill 50/50 and get the whole roof replaced then with mine but he declined.
And no he never told me in advance it was getting done.

See what your insurance co says, then - they will likely tell you it needs sorting, so you use this as your 'justification' to your neighbour, if needed.

Your roofer should report the situation with your roof at least, and will hopefully also be 'builder' enough to advise on the exposed wall, or you might need to get a general builder out, too, to do this (it might need a render, for example). 

Get your quotes. And then - after trying the friendly chat route - it'll have to be a 'letter before action', I guess; 'sort it, or else'. If he fails to do so, then you'll need to do it and then sue. But, make sure you get each step sorted correctly. I think that's the general process, but have it confirmed. 

And, for pity's sakes, add LP on renewal, if not before. 

TELLIT01

That roof and fascia looks pretty rotten anyway.  

Section62

Squidd52 said:

Unfortunately no legal insurance, the outer garage wall is a diff brick than the inner one which is now the outer on one side. I guess the outer ones are less porous than the inner ones which are now totally open to rain and damp.

I've contacted a roofer that replaced my home roof a few years back so will get a few prices and will speak again to my neighbour today and explain how I'm feeling about him leaving it how he has.

We both own our homes so the local council couldn't get involved, he's now just using it as an extra drive way.

The garages were structurally sound just the roofs that were the weak points, his side worse than mine. I did ask him 2 years ago when I had some spare funds if he wanted to split the bill 50/50 and get the whole roof replaced then with mine but he declined.

Check your deeds to find out who owns the wall which was internal but is now external - it might be shared, but sometimes one or the other side has sole ownership.  The deeds may also have some reference to an obligation to continue to provide support/exclusion of rain/damp between the two properties (generally, or specific to the garage).  Do you know which of yours and the neighbours was purchased from the council first?

Depending where the boundary is, you may need his permission (regardless of how grating that might be) to have work done yourself to make the roof weatherproof as some of the work required is likely to be on his side of the boundary.

As well as getting the roof sorted in terms of weatherproofing, you also need someone to check the building remains structurally sound following partial demolition.  It is likely the roof was secured to the outside walls, but possible the interior wall (effectively a partition wall) doesn't have a full connection to the roof.  You may need 'restraint straps' added to help make sure the roof and wall both stay where they are meant to be.

You also need to get the brick pier (which was internal, seen in the last picture) checked to make sure it is properly bonded/tied to the rest of the wall, rather than just being a stack of bricks as the picture might suggest.  Ideally the top two or three courses should be removed - to make it easier to redo the roof edge - and the top of the pier should be finished with a tile, lead, or something else which slopes away from your garage to prevent pooling and carry water away to the outside.

Squidd52

Just had a roofer come round who previously replaced my home roof and gave me a price for a full roof and to fix it. Full roof £3600 and to fix it £450.

Asked my neighbour to come out so he could explain what needed to be done which he did. He had been quoted £150 from the firm which completed the demolition of his garage and after leaving the garage in the state they did I've no confidence in them doing a decent job for £150.

Things did get a touch heated and he stormed off.

I knocked back on his door to apologise but he was having none of it and shut the door in my face. My proposal to bring an end to it all was for him to use the £150 to buy some storm dry for the exposed wall and I'll just get my whole roof replaced. I'd even do the storm dry myself...

casper_gutman

Wow, you were being very reasonable to offer that. Not sure I'd have been as nice!

I suppose you could look at it as the roof needed doing anyway, so the difference between your roofer's 'fix it' proposal and the neighbour's guy's price is 'only' £300.

If you can easily afford it then I suppose you could possibly take the view that it's worth writing off that amount for the sake of a good relationship with your neighbour?