Damages to neighbour - no Party Wall Act!

[jaydhoni]

I had a question which you might be able to help with. First time poster, and first time property buyer, where I may have made a mistake!

I had some work done to my terraced house, where the Party Wall Act was required, but I did not get a Award drawn up. I was aware of planning permission however, and got a Lawful Development Certificate.

My neighbours are claiming the work caused some damage caused by builders I employed. In the absence of my award, I understand my cheapest option is to accept that I caused the damage and have it put right.

I feel they are claiming more than has actually been damaged, but there's nothing I can do to contest it.

My question is this:

Am I required by law to pay my neighbour to get work done by a contractor of his choosing; or

Can I use my own contractor to carry out the work at my own cost?

The latter is working out much cheaper, but the neighbour is insistent on using a contractor of his choosing, which is much more expensive.

Where do I stand?

Jay

 

[southwesterly]

This isn't really a planning issue, a Party Wall agreement is a stand alone thing more connected with building regulations, but it's sounds like it's a 'simple' dispute between neighbours which you could preferably resolve by mutual agreement or involve solicitors/lawyers. Best to try to agree as the legal route could be expensive.

 

[^woody^]

The PWA is irrelevant if you did not use it

You are responsible for any damage which you cause to a neighbouring property, whether an PW Award is in place or not

What you need to determine is whether

- there is damage
- whether it was caused by you, or the work you did

and then - whether you are actually responsible for it and any repairs.

If, for sake of argument you are responsible, then you can either agree to do the work via your contractor, or pay for the neighbour to get his own contractor (settle the invoice) or offer an agreed amount of money to cover the work. You are not responsible for compensation or other money other than the cost of putting the place back into the state it was before the damage

If the neighbour wants get his own contractors, then insist on at least three quotes, and if you suspect the quotes may be inflated, then get the work priced up yourself to use as a guide. You are not obliged to let him get who he likes, and charge what he likes.

But make sure that there is damage first, and that your work caused it.

You may be covered by your house insurance

 

[indus]

I've just had a Party Wall Award drawn up. The PWA surveyor took photos of the inside and outside of the adjoining property and documented any preexisting damage/wear and tear.

This of course is so that we have a baseline to compare to should my neighbour claim I have caused damage.

If your neighbour claims you have caused damage then it is really up to him to prove this ie the burden of proof is on him.

Just because you did not enter into a PWA does not make you guilty nor have you broken any 'laws'

My understanding is that you are in the position of power. It would be up to your neighbour to take you to court and PROVE that you had caused the damage. Unless he has before and after pics or there is something else you have done which is very obvious this will be problematic for him.

If I was in your position I would be calling the shots. If you are offering him something reasonable by way of compensation it would be in his best interest to accept otherwise he has to take you to court and start to prove things which he may not be able to do.

Please do let us know how you get on, I'd be very interested to know

 

[jaydhoni]

Thanks both for your replies.

I have determined that some of the work was caused by my contractor:
1) a small hole due to the damproofing drill going through the party wall (albeit done by a very well known company!!),
2) making a 1-brick wide hole into a room when inserting a beam.
3) Damage to chimney when inserting supporting beams, at the chimney breast.

However, in addition to this, he is saying that we damaged the lean-to at the rear (we only removed the two walls at our side, leaving the rest untouched). The quotation he has provided also includes other work which is completely wrong and nothing we have done could cause that!

It's good to know that the burden of proof is on him but he has recently instructed a solicitor and PWA surveyor, whom I think they will be relying on his "expert evidence" to prove that my work caused the damage.

He will not have "before" pictures, but does have "after", which I am yet to see and he could use.

I have got three quotes from him (reducing the cost by some 50% compared to the first he sent), and will follow your advice, and get some of mine too. The first quote was charginf £400 for repainting one wall!

I understand he is being unreasonable but having read on the internet, I am afraid the judge may penalise my harshly for not having a party wall act drawn up, so would rather bite the bullet and limit my losses.

I'll write back to him at the moment, highlighting that I am offering more than what the law requires but if he takes it further, I may not allow him to use a contractor of his choice.

I will keep you updated but there may be some time before this is sorted, so be sure to to "follow" this thread, and if anyone else wants o share their opinion, I'd welcome it!!

 

[^woody^]

I am afraid the judge may penalise my harshly for not having a party wall act drawn up

No he wont. He can't.

If cases like this end up at court, it is not about penalising anyone. Its about putting the claimant back into the position he was in before the damage occurred. That is all

And BTW, any claims made against you, you would counter-claim back against your contractors who caused the damage

In fact, you would deny liability and the neighbour would have to sue you and the contractor(s) as co-defendants. And you would argue that the contractors have either acted outside their remit (so to absolve you of any responsibility) or that they were negligent (so that the neighbours claims are recoverable from the contractor(s)). Either way, you don't pay anything if the neighbour wins a claim

If you think that Solicitors may get involved, then be very sure not to make any admission of responsibility at all (actively deny responsibility), but agree to help out and do everything in "good faith" as a "good neighbour". State this at every opportunity

The neighbour should not really get his own surveyor, and this can't be relied upon. Only if the claim progresses would it be for the court or Solicitors to agree a single joint expert to comment on the damage and cause. What this means in practice, is that you should not have to pay any costs of the neighbour's appointed surveyor