Party Wall issues

PennysIntoPounds

We had decided to offer that amount for plants @Boohoo so good to know that's your thinking too. I like the suggestion of doing things in phases but he already said he's going legal if we don't agree to his demands within seven days so we feel like we should offer our full and final response in that time...

Sorry, will try to do box pics tomo

Yorkie1

If you start making offers to contribute at all, it would be wise to head any such offers with "Without prejudice".

https://www.lexisnexis.com/en-gb/legal/glossary/without-prejudice

PennysIntoPounds

Thank you @Yorkie1

Section62

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82144192#Comment_82144192

I'm not a lawyer, but on the legally related stuff I've been involved in the advice I've had from solicitors suggests using 'without prejudice' with care, and only if it is necessary and tactically useful.

If the OP offers £1000 now but the issue still ends up in court, it may be (probably will be) in the OP's interests for the court to know they made an early offer of payment. In which case 'without prejudice' for a simple letter conveying the offer probably won't gain very much, so long as the letter doesn't also include discussion of the other issues of contention.

Adding unnecessary legalese can also have the wrong effect on the recipient - it can give the appearance of being up for a fight (note the OP's "pompous ai generated legalese" comment in the first post for an example)

It would probably be better to make sure the letter says the offer is made "without admission of liability" (and not 'without prejudice') because this - if shown to the court - would show the OP is being reasonable by offering some goodwill, but is not accepting liability for the neighbour's claims.

(professional legal advice should be sought to confirm)

PennysIntoPounds

Thanks @Section62. We're going to address all of the issues neighbour raised in our reply as he's imposed this seven day deadline and we don't want to annoy him further by seeming like we've ignored the points he's made

Yorkie1

Good alternative suggestion @Section62 - yes the key thing I was aiming at was not inadvertently being taken to admit liability.

Chief_of_Staffy

Are the plants actually damaged? What happened to them? Plants don't die because they get dusty. As for the scaffolding, he can't sue for being irritated. Sue and win, I mean, you can sue for anything. Provable losses, gross inconvenience, trespass or breach of contract with consequences, that's pretty much it, and from what you say none of these apply. He can't prove the works caused a pre-existing crack to widen and whilst I don't quite understand the electric box issue, ultimately if it's on your property then it's none of his business. Your neighbour, sorry to say, is an entitled bully and I suspect you'll find the more you give in, the more he'll demand. If it were me I'd assess the damage your building work has caused, if any, total it up and offer to pay him that. He can either accept or refuse.

WIAWSNB

Does anyone know the remit of a PWA Surveyor here, especially regarding the crack in the wall?

They seemingly took photos of the crack, so were aware of its presence. Surely the surveyor's job is to determine the cause - whether the new build had an impact, and what is therefore reasonable to resolve it?

And if they are being 'useless', who does that get escalated to?

The one-week deadline to respond seems unreasonable, especially if it involves complex matters like assessing structural issues. Of course we don't know when the issue began to be discussed and investigated in earnest, but imposing an unreasonable deadline does not add credibility to his claim.

Section62

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82144423#Comment_82144423

Are the plants actually damaged? What happened to them? Plants don't die because they get dusty. As for the scaffolding, he can't sue for being irritated. Sue and win, I mean, you can sue for anything. Provable losses, gross inconvenience, trespass or breach of contract with consequences, that's pretty much it, and from what you say none of these apply.

The work was being done under the PWA, although it isn't entirely clear how the PWA was engaged. Because the PWA is involved, I don't think the situation is as clear as you suggest. For example, you say "gross inconvenience", whereas the PWA says "unnecessary inconvenience". Solicitors could have great fun arguing whether scaffolding being up longer than agreed(?) caused "unnecessary inconvenience" or not. We've not started to get into why the scaffolding was up for so long.

He can't prove the works caused a pre-existing crack to widen

This is for the PWS to decide.

and whilst I don't quite understand the electric box issue, ultimately if it's on your property then it's none of his business.

Yes, the electric box thing is not clear. But if, for example, the position of the box makes rainwater splash onto the neighbour's building wall then it would be his business. Being on the OP's property doesn't make a difference if it is causing damage to the neighbour's property.

Your neighbour, sorry to say, is an entitled bully and I suspect you'll find the more you give in, the more he'll demand. If it were me I'd assess the damage your building work has caused, if any, total it up and offer to pay him that. He can either accept or refuse.

That's the crux of it - will paying him a bit make him go away. The PWS should be sorting a lot of this out, but the costs of the PWS and/or solicitors arguing this out can quickly rack up. Having the PWA engaged potentially makes this higher risk to the OP than the average neighbour dispute. The opinion of the PWS - particularly about the crack - is the important thing here.

LightFlare

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82144085#Comment_82144085

did you/have you done or said anything to try and placate him during the process ?

He could just be really annoyed that things went massively over time, caused unexpected disruption and possibly damaged his property whilst experiencing silence from you.

Were you popping round once a week to update him/have a chat with maybe a bottle of wine etc - or just ignoring him ?