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damp from external wall after building work -- claim on neighbours insurance?
Comments
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I'm not sure why the neighbours moving out changes things. Or do you still think you'll be able to claim something from them? To do that, you will have to prove they caused damage. Do you realistically think you can do that?
Even if your insurance did cover fixing the issue (which sounds unlikely), they typically don't cover finding out what the issue is (unless its specifically included in the policy).
Unfortunately, if you want it fixed, you're likely going to have to pay someone to find out what the issue is, and get a quote to get it fixed. That investigation will very likely be destructive at some level.
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If it's your external wall, I can't see how it's your neighbours' responsibility to keep it watertight. The only issue I can see is if they're causing damp by having their hard surface right up to your property with rain bouncing off it onto your wall.
Make £2026 in 2026
Prolific £231.51, Octopoints £4.60, Tesco Clubcard challenges £38.80, Airtime £10 TCB £225.19, Everup £77.04, Roadkill £1.77, Zopa CB £30, Misc £10.11,
Total £629.02 31%Make £2025 in 2025 Total £2241.23/£2025 110.7%
Prolific £1062.50, Octopoints £6.64, TCB £492.05, Tesco Clubcard challenges £89.90, Misc Sales £321, Airtime £70, Shopmium £53.06, Everup £106.08, Zopa CB £30, Misc survey £10
Make £2024 in 2024 Total £1410 70%Make £2023 in 2023 Total: £2606.33 128.8%1 -
Yes, the lean-to has been removed and the OP advised that it was only after this that the damp occurred. Therefore it's likely that the removal of the lean-to either caused the problem or exposed a pre-existing fault. The insurance company will want to know if the fault lies with the neighbour or not before paying out and so they will need to investigate the process of removing the lean-to so they can understand if they are liable.
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Exactly. Although, everyone keeps saying that it isn't the fault of the neighbours, so I'm not sure why the insurance company would need to investigate.
And — isn't this not going to be covered by insurance anyway? Or is there a chance it might?
Just to clear — I'm not saying it's the fault of the neighbours, I assumed it wasn't because it is my wall, but the removal of the lean-to definitely exposed a problem.
The issue is whether what the neighbours builders did to the wall once the lean to was removed, has caused the problem — which I guess is possible, but seems unlikely. They did refurb the wall in some way though, and didn't ask me about that before doing it. I had no idea what work they were doing until it was completed.
I've got someone coming to take a look later today. They do interior and exterior plastering so I assume they will be able to advise what the issue is, how to fix it, and hopefully if it is worth going through my insurer.
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They also refurbed the wall after removing the lean-to. I have no idea what they did, or what the wall looked like before they moved in and removed the lean-to.
The photo in the thread shows the outline of where the lean-to was and the wall looks sound, but what do I know… I do wonder why the builders didn't plaster the wall to match what was exterior to start with, rather than leaving the shape of the lean-to… and if that created a problem…
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The neighbours did refurb the wall after removing the lean-to. I don't know what the wall looked like before this, so have no idea what changed, if anything.
I was not asked about changes, or told the lean-to was being removed, or anything. It was only clear to me what had been done, once I started getting damp and spoke to the neighbours about it, looked at the wall etc.
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I'm not sure that it's a plasterer you need. I would have thought it should be a building contractor. It was a builder we got to render our garage wall.
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Really? I assumed a plasterer was exactly who I needed, but maybe not…
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The plasterers who worked for our builders did plastering and rendering.
Make £2026 in 2026
Prolific £231.51, Octopoints £4.60, Tesco Clubcard challenges £38.80, Airtime £10 TCB £225.19, Everup £77.04, Roadkill £1.77, Zopa CB £30, Misc £10.11,
Total £629.02 31%Make £2025 in 2025 Total £2241.23/£2025 110.7%
Prolific £1062.50, Octopoints £6.64, TCB £492.05, Tesco Clubcard challenges £89.90, Misc Sales £321, Airtime £70, Shopmium £53.06, Everup £106.08, Zopa CB £30, Misc survey £10
Make £2024 in 2024 Total £1410 70%Make £2023 in 2023 Total: £2606.33 128.8%0 -
Yes, this guy does both too…
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