Should neighbour have come through my side of wall?

TomsMom · 21 August 2012 at 4:40PM

Attached to my house is a cottage which is being renovated to be used as a holiday let. Both houses front onto a public footpath, no gardens. On my side is a drain which only had both our downpipes from the guttering emptying into it. My house is rendered and painted, there is a concrete upstand around the drain which is painted to match my house. My side there is my hallway, the other side is their bathroom.

I have no idea where the waste water from the neighbour's bathroom discharged to before but now a hole has been knocked through my rendering and a waste pipe has been inserted, discharging into the drain, along with a copper pipe which I understand is the boiler overflow (I think that is the right term??) and there is damage to the concrete surround to the drain where a fair size chunk has been knocked out.

I don't have a problem with the waste water discharging into this drain but I'm a bit miffed about the hole in my wall. My son has been along and cleared out all the large pieces of rubble which were left in the drain, had the drain cover off and put his hand down to clear the drain of the smaller stuff and made sure it is all draining away properly. He did mention that instead of knocking through and putting the waste water pipe there it would have been possible to put this into his stack pipe, but what's done is done.

I live on my own but my son has spoken to the owner and asked if he will be making good the hole around the wastepipe, also the damage to the concrete around the drain, to which the answer was "it will be sorted" and my son told him we have paint left over so he can also make that good.

If this was me having this job done I would have spoken to the owner to see if there was any objection to knocking a hole in his side so I see it as a neighbourly consideration to discuss this but is there any sort of legal obligation that he should have done this before going ahead?

I'm not looking for trouble and I don't want to fall out with him as I have been getting on OK with the owner of the cottage, but he has already fallen out with the neighbour the other side over an issue with him building up the garden against her house wall and planting shrubs which could potentially cause root damage to her foundations, has built raised decking in the garden which would allow anyone sitting on it to see straight into her living accommodation and he is trying to claim a small piece of the public footpath behind her house as on his deeds so he wants her gas meter moved (council has confirmed that it is public footpath). He has been quite agressive with her and it seems that if he is challenged he starts to apply bully-boy tactics. He hasn't discussed anything he intends to do with either of us although we will both be affected in some way.

PasturesNew · 21 August 2012 at 4:42PM

Is it your wall if their interior is the other side of it? Or have you simply rendered over some of their property too to make yours look wider?

diable · 21 August 2012 at 4:51PM

I can't remember but isn't waste and rain water meant to be discharged differently?

The only advice that I can give you is to tell him to put it all back as it was as he hasn't asked for permission in the proper way, people like your neighbour bully people and I can't see him repairing any damage if he is to be a pain then get it sorted out sharpish.

Also take note of way pasturesnew said.

southcoastrgi · 21 August 2012 at 4:54PM

Yes I tend to agree with the above I cannot see that if he has drilled through his wall internally that it emerges on your side externally unless it was drilled at quite an angle, maybe that looking from the front you think it's your side but in fact it's his & you have painted the wall on his side ?

keystone · 21 August 2012 at 5:08PM

I am going to assume that it IS your wall.

There are two ways of dealing with a person like this who is clearly never going to stop.

the first is to me meek as a lamb in the interests of peace and quiet accept that he will continue with his present behaviour which will become more and more upsetting for you and that your chances of him "sorting things out" are next to zero.

The second is to play hard ball because that is all he will understand.

In pursuit of the latter write him a letter saying that you give him two weeks to remove his trespassing pipe work and make good the wall. If he does not do so within the timescale (which is not unreasonable) then you reserve the right to and will employ another contractor to remove said items and caarry out the repair work. Having done so you will then send him a bill for the work which will include an allowance for your time and trouble and if he does not settle the account in, say, 30 days you will pursue an action in the County Court to recover your money.

Secondly inform him that you are considering an action against him and his contractor (contractor must have been on your land but you can't prove that he did but it doesn't matter as he employed the contractor and is responsible) for trespass in the first instance, criminal damage by the contractor and incitement to criminal damage by the neighbour.

However, before you do that then perhaps a visit to your solicitor for half an hours advice would be appropriate. Add his bill to the neighbours account.

The neighbours problems on the other side are theirs not yours but it would be as well to advise them that if he has bridged the damp proof course by building up the soil then there is a very strong likelyhood of penetrating damp against which the prospect of a small heated discussion about removing it will pale into insignificance.

Sorry if that appears brutal and you will probably feel very uncomfortable about doing it but it is the only way to deal with people like this.

Cheers

TomsMom · 21 August 2012 at 5:14PM

PasturesNew wrote: »

Is it your wall if their interior is the other side of it? Or have you simply rendered over some of their property too to make yours look wider?

The rendering was done before we bought the property.

I've taken some photos to show what I mean and make things clearer.

Picture shows the two properties. Cottage painted black with sloping slate roof is next door, taller property painted cream is mine and shows the downpipe, drain is directly underneath this downpipe. It doesn't look as though the rendering was taken over some of their property.

This picture shows the very small black stack pipe (gas pipe is above it) which the surveyor told us would need to be replaced as we were getting sewerage smells in our hallway when the previous owner was there, son says it could possibly have some sort of one-way valve fitted??? Also shows the hole is on my side.

PHOTOS REMOVED BECAUSE SOME PEOPLE EXPERIENCING !!!!!! POP UPS

Hope that is a bit clearer.

Sorry, answers have come really quick, need to catch up

ETA, if you click the photos they come up quite big, sorry I've not used that image hosting site before, my normal one isn't playing today!

ETA Don't click unless you have pop up blocker, apparently naughty pop ups appear

ic · 21 August 2012 at 5:24PM

Just a warning for anybody clicking those links from work for bigger pics, they fire up !!!!!! popups...

Looks to me like they've come through the wall at a bit of angle. The two pipes leading to the drain are probably a pressure release and condensate drain, both running from a new boiler.

TomsMom · 21 August 2012 at 5:28PM

diable wrote: »

I can't remember but isn't waste and rain water meant to be discharged differently?

The only advice that I can give you is to tell him to put it all back as it was as he hasn't asked for permission in the proper way, people like your neighbour bully people and I can't see him repairing any damage if he is to be a pain then get it sorted out sharpish.

Also take note of way pasturesnew said.

I don't know if waste and rain water should be discharged differently. My son does bathroom and kitchen fitting so I can ask him, he may know. My son will keep an eye on this and wont let him get away with not making it good, he's a bit like a dog with a bone at times :rotfl: .

southcoastrgi wrote: »

Yes I tend to agree with the above I cannot see that if he has drilled through his wall internally that it emerges on your side externally unless it was drilled at quite an angle, maybe that looking from the front you think it's your side but in fact it's his & you have painted the wall on his side ?

Looking at the photos as the houses are at two different levels (next door is lower down than mine), and I think you might be able to see that where it is painted is definitely my house and doesn't encroach on his. I'm not sure how it's come through my side though, I haven't seen inside the cottage to know how it's been done. The plumber was here on his own yesterday, I think I may have missed my chance to ask him about it (he's friendly enough).

keystone wrote: »

I am going to assume that it IS your wall.

There are two ways of dealing with a person like this who is clearly never going to stop.

the first is to me meek as a lamb in the interests of peace and quiet accept that he will continue with his present behaviour which will become more and more upsetting for you and that your chances of him "sorting things out" are next to zero.

The second is to play hard ball because that is all he will understand.

In pursuit of the latter write him a letter saying that you give him two weeks to remove his trespassing pipe work and make good the wall. If he does not do so within the timescale (which is not unreasonable) then you reserve the right to and will employ another contractor to remove said items and caarry out the repair work. Having done so you will then send him a bill for the work which will include an allowance for your time and trouble and if he does not settle the account in, say, 30 days you will pursue an action in the County Court to recover your money.

Secondly inform him that you are considering an action against him and his contractor (contractor must have been on your land but you can't prove that he did but it doesn't matter as he employed the contractor and is responsible) for trespass in the first instance, criminal damage by the contractor and incitement to criminal damage by the neighbour.

However, before you do that then perhaps a visit to your solicitor for half an hours advice would be appropriate. Add his bill to the neighbours account.

The neighbours problems on the other side are theirs not yours but it would be as well to advise them that if he has bridged the damp proof course by building up the soil then there is a very strong likelyhood of penetrating damp against which the prospect of a small heated discussion about removing it will pale into insignificance.

Sorry if that appears brutal and you will probably feel very uncomfortable about doing it but it is the only way to deal with people like this.

Cheers

I understand exactly what you're saying and this is my worry. I don't want to be bullied and my son will take control. I have discussed bridging of her damp course with the neighbour the other side so she knows it may be a problem, she doesn't like arguing and is finding this very upsetting but she will have to sort it out herself.

ETA: Contractor didn't have to come onto my land as that is a public footpath.

TomsMom · 21 August 2012 at 5:32PM

ic wrote: »

Just a warning for anybody clicking those links from work for bigger pics, they fire up !!!!!! popups...

OMG, I'm so sorry, as I said it's the first time I've used that site

.

I did click them to see if they worked but I didn't have anything pop up on my computer.

Does anyone know of a free hosting site that doesn't require registration that I can use, I normally use Tinypic but it's not working properly at the moment.

Looks to me like they've come through the wall at a bit of angle. The two pipes leading to the drain are probably a pressure release and condensate drain, both running from a new boiler.

Is the white pipe a normal waste water pipe?

keystone · 21 August 2012 at 5:48PM

Use imageshack.

Misunderstood from your earlier description. I though it had come through a wall separating the properties. Like to see the bigger pics first before changing my earlier post.

Yes it does look like 32mm waste pipe which is fine but the pushfits aren't acceptable if its the condensate drain - the stuff will rot the seals and the condensate should not be discharging into a surface water drain anyway.

Whats the black pipe that appears to be running horizontally across the back of his property in the first pic or is it the copper PRV discharge pipe looking different because of the different angle/lighting?

Cheers

flashg67 · 21 August 2012 at 5:59PM

Images open fine with no nasties for me?

Should neighbour have come through my side of wall?

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