Neighbours ajoined garage about to collapse - what can we do?

gracie83

We are at the start of having our garage replaced and this morning we had the builders around to give us a quote. We have a shared wall between our garage and next doors garage. The builder was shocked at the state of next doors garage. The roof is collapsing and they have no guttering. The water which floods their garage is causing damp problems on the shared wall which is entering our side of the wall. They builder has told us that because it is so bad we will have to create our own wall in the garage which of cause means losing space in the garage. We will also have to have the guttering sorted so we will be providing the guttering for both our garage and their garage. At the moment there is no guttering on their side. The house is currently vacant and it owned by a private landlord.

Will us providing their guttering provide any problems in the future?
Is there anything I can do with the council as the homeowners lack of maintenance is resulting in a smaller garage now as the shared wall is unusable?

Twopints

I think they meant: can they get the council to do anything about the landlord's lack of maintenance. I don't know the answer though.

Optimist

If poor repair of the next door garage is causing damage to the party wall I would suggest your first point of contact should be the owner of said property. I would firstly get another couple of quotes just to confirm the first builders impression

Edit you might also wish to read the following about the party wall act

http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/planningandbuilding/pdf/133214.pdf

bryanb

I can't see the council being interested, Optimist seems to have the best suggestion. If you build your own wall, remember that your guttering overhanging next door's land could cause problems in the future. Best to try for an amicable settlement.

titewad_2

bryanb wrote: »

If you build your own wall, remember that your guttering overhanging next door's land could cause problems in the future. Best to try for an amicable settlement.

If the existing garages have a shared/party wall,then surely that is on the boundary of both properties.So if the OP then builds his garage with his own walls,that would be on his property, and taking into account the builder is going to need room to work,then the new wall will be probably 2 feet inside the existing party wall line.Any guttering would be completely on OP's land??

rdpro

just out of interest, are the garages integral with the houses or free-standing? If non-integral, would party wall rules still apply, and shouldn't the deeds show which party was responsible for the wall upkeep?

prudryden

rdpro wrote: »

just out of interest, are the garages integral with the houses or free-standing? If non-integral, would party wall rules still apply, and shouldn't the deeds show which party was responsible for the wall upkeep?

I believe party wall rules would apply just as they do with party wall fences.

bryanb

titewad wrote: »

If the existing garages have a shared/party wall,then surely that is on the boundary of both properties.So if the OP then builds his garage with his own walls,that would be on his property, and taking into account the builder is going to need room to work,then the new wall will be probably 2 feet inside the existing party wall line.Any guttering would be completely on OP's land??

But would he be able to open his car doors if the garage is 2ft narrower?

titewad_2

bryanb wrote: »

But would he be able to open his car doors if the garage is 2ft narrower?

probably not, I think that is why he/she is asking

[/quote]Is there anything I can do with the council as the homeowners lack of maintenance is resulting in a smaller garage now as the shared wall is unusable?[/quote]

rdpro

prudryden wrote: »

I believe party wall rules would apply just as they do with party wall fences.

Not true - if the deeds show external boundary walls/fences are the responsibility of X neighbour rather than Y owner, then the neighbour can be forced to repair.

In my deeds, I'm responsible for the rear, front and left boundaries, and so on down the row of terraces (like a big E without the - )

prudryden

In a Party Wall Fence, the fence is on the boundary with both neighbours owning each side... when there is no mention in the deeds who owns the fences, which is very common, you then have to refer to the Party Wall Act in order to change or tear it down.

Also, even if your deeds say you are the owner of a fence, if doesn't mean you have to repair it or even keep it. You can tear it down if you want and have a row of daffidiles.