Help! Damp caused by neighbours pathway

rhijk · 15 October 2019 at 2:32PM

Looking for advice on a few points please!

We recently moved into an end terrace Victorian house. We had a RICS building survey done on the house which picked up high damp levels downstairs. The survey picked up that our dining room wall had previously been tanked but the tanking was defective and needed to be repaired. Before we purchased the property we asked the vendors if they still had the warranty for the tanking but they said they were not aware that tanking had been done.

In the past month there's been a lot of rainfall and we noticed that patches of moisture would appear on the dining room wall every time there had been heavy rain. We had a look at the roof and the guttering near this wall and couldn't find any problems.

We have since had two damp specialists visit who have confirmed that the damp on the dining room wall is being caused by the neighbours side access pathway. Their pathway is approximately at least a foot higher than the ground level for our house and goes above our damp proof course.

The neighbours pathway is made from poured concrete and it is very mossy which suggests it is not draining well. The water is soaking into our wall above the damp proof course causing the damp patches to appear in the dining room.

The paint and plastering is cracking on the dining room wall and we are unable to decorate until the damp issue is resolved.

I know the issue can be patched up by re-doing the tanking internally again but I know that this is not really a long term solution. The ideal solution would be for the neighbour to lower their ground level to 6 inches below our internal floor level but I don't think this is realisticly feasible. It seems like the most effective solution could be to dig a channel down the neighbours passageway to the side of our house and install a french drain.

My questions are:

1. Should the RICS building survey picked up the fact that the ground level for the neighbours side access passageway was 1 foot higher than our house?

2. Do we have a right to complain to our surveyor and receive compensation?

3. What sort of contractor should I use to install a french drain? The damp specialists would only provide quotes for tanking. Would a hard landscaper, ground works specialist or builder be suitable for this work?

4. As it's the neighbours passageway that's causing damage to our house, would they be liable to fix this issue? The passageway was built before we moved into our house but it definitely would never have been this high originally. I also don't know if the current owners for the house next door installed the concrete pathway or if this was done prior to them moving in.

5. Should we get our wall tanked externally? I think this would be more effective than internal wall tanking but I would be worried about trapping the moisture that is currently present inside our wall.

Thanks for taking the time to read.

Fire_Fox · 15 October 2019 at 4:33PM

Would the RICS surveyor have been able to view the neighbour's side access pathway from the street, the garden or a window in the property? Or is it hidden behind walls, hedges, a tall gate or close fencing?

Being instructed by a prospective buyer rather than the homeowner, they don't have the right to go 'behind the scenes' (eg. lift carpet, trespass on private property). Were there any backside-covering comments in your survey about the other side of the damp wall?

I would not begin by complaining, but instead by forwarding all the relevant information (quote reports/ supply digital photos) and ask for the RICS surveyor's comments. Until you have consulted your surveyor I would hold off on the other decisions.

rhijk · 15 October 2019 at 4:49PM

Would the RICS surveyor have been able to view the neighbour's side access pathway from the street, the garden or a window in the property? Or is it hidden behind walls, hedges, a tall gate or close fencing?

Being instructed by a prospective buyer rather than the homeowner, they don't have the right to go 'behind the scenes' (eg. lift carpet, trespass on private property). Were there any backside-covering comments in your survey about the other side of the damp wall?

I would not begin by complaining, but instead by forwarding all the relevant information (quote reports/ supply digital photos) and ask for the RICS surveyor's comments. Until you have consulted your surveyor I would hold off on the other decisions.

Hi Fire Fox - thanks for the reply

Unfortunately it was not easy to view - the neighbour has a big gate in their pathway which obstructs the view. The wall which separates our gardens is about 6 foot in height from our side so you can't see over it and onto the path very well.

There is however some evidence of the variation of ground level on our shared garden wall (which is made of brick and painted white). On our side, the bottom 4 rows of bricks is a very mouldy deep dark green colour where it is below the next doors pathway. Although I guess it may not be straight forward to diagnose that the reason these bricks are green is because of the variation in ground level.

The surveyor did recommend in his survey that we get a separate damp report done (unfortunately we didn't do this before we purchased the property). The surveyor made no comments about being unable to view the side wall externally though.

TELLIT01 · 15 October 2019 at 6:11PM

Too late now, but you really should have investigated the cause of the damp, and the cost of resolving the issue before you bought the house.
The best way to get a permanent solution would be for the path to be removed and rebuilt at least 15cm (6") below the damp course of your property. It should never have been butted against your property at that level, but the clock can't be wound back. The alternative is tanking which, if done properly will solve the problem but is an expensive and messy process.
I don't think you have any claim against the surveyor, particularly as you ignored his advice to get a damp report done.

daveyjp · 15 October 2019 at 6:24PM

Absolutely no claim against the surveyor. They did their job, identified damp which you will have been advised to investigate before purchase, you failed to do so.

Solution is to remedy the problem causing the damp and as this is a nuisance caused by your neighbour it is for them to sort out.

rhijk · 16 October 2019 at 8:33AM

Thanks for the brutally honest replies... I had a feeling that we wouldn't be able to claim against the surveyor but you would have hoped they would have picked on the difference in ground level between the two properties or at least mentioned that the wall couldn't be viewed properly in the report.

Anyway it seems our next steps is to agree with the next door neighbour about the works to be done to fix the issue. We would like to speak to some contractors about the work to be done and costs involved first though. So far, we have had two quotes back to do tanking (which we would only use as a back up option if we can't get the path lowered or a French drain installed).

We haven't spoken to our neighbour about the issue yet. We have only spoken them to gain access to their pathway to inspect the wall. We get along with our neighbours well so far so I'm hoping they will agree to get the work done once we get more quotes back.

Who do you think will be best to contact for installing a French drain? We have contacted one French drain specialist in the area, but I assume hard landscapers should also be able to carry out this type of work?

shortcrust · 16 October 2019 at 12:17PM

I had exactly the same situation in my house. It was also causing issues for the neighbour so - without any prompting from me - they had a sort of tarmac membrane put over the path and a few inches up the wall. It’s now dry as a bone.

martinthebandit · 16 October 2019 at 12:28PM

invite neighbours round for tea, cake and a chat and ask them if they are happy for their path to be sorted to stop it causing problems for you, I expect, unless you use really high quality tea and really posh cake, that you will end up paying for the work to be done.

It'll most likely be cheaper than tanking anyway.

G_M · 19 October 2019 at 2:52AM

martinthebandit wrote: »

invite neighbours round for tea, cake and a chat and ask them if they are happy for their path to be sorted to stop it causing problems for you, I expect, unless you use really high quality tea and really posh cake, that you will end up paying for the work to be done.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

G_M · 19 October 2019 at 2:54AM

As above.

Do you know when the path was laid? If the neighbour did work (new path) which causes damage to your property, you can claim the cost of putting it right or, in this case, force them to put it right (since it seems the problem is on their land).

I assume the boundary between the properties IS your external wall and the entire path belongs to the neighbour?

rhijk · 29 November 2019 at 5:12PM

Thanks for all of the replies!

Just an update - we had some work done to their path earlier this week. We had an ACO drain installed next to our wall down the length of their path. There was an existing strip of concrete render at the bottom of the outside of our wall which was cracked which we've had repaired and also heightened a tiny bit to try and angle the water away.

It's early days but I'm hopeful that it's already beginning to work. We had a lot of rain mid week and no new damp patches on the inside of our wall. Plus the damp patches we have had since we found the problem are now fading away and our dehumidifier is giving lower readings in that room for the first time since moving in.

Next step will be getting the wall replastered but we shall wait for the wall to dry out more first and see if any more damp reappears after it rains again.

G_M wrote: »

As above.

Do you know when the path was laid? If the neighbour did work (new path) which causes damage to your property, you can claim the cost of putting it right or, in this case, force them to put it right (since it seems the problem is on their land).

I assume the boundary between the properties IS your external wall and the entire path belongs to the neighbour?

That's correct - it's our wall but their path. We didn't ask them to pay any of the costs as we weren't sure when the path was installed and want to try and keep a good relationship. We were just happy they agreed to getting the work done.

Hopefully no more damp problems and we will be able to redecorate soon!

Help! Damp caused by neighbours pathway

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free