Property damage from neighbour's building work.

[Hels55]

Last September our neighbours began construction of a loft conversion. We received no notice apart from the evening before the scaffolding went up. There was no party wall agreement as our houses are joined terraces but are the end of 2 sections of terrace houses, so each has a separate wall, nor was there any formal discussion about what work was to be carried out before then. We did not sign anything - we were concerned by the lack of notice we had been given for such major building works directly next to our house.

The scaffolders erected the scaffolding and attached a fair-sized section of it to our roof without asking our consent. We advised them that we were not happy about this.
Our neighbours, did not seem au fait with the normal procedure. They pleaded ignorance and blamed the loft company. We were not comfortable with this and, as a precaution, took photos of our property in case of any future problems. We'd had some repairs done earlier that year and we already had pictures of our roof intact. We spoke to our regular roofer about the situation who dropped by and told us that the scaffolding should not be on our roof, did not need to be on our roof and advised that we ask them to remove it. We did this but they did not remove the scaffolding.

During the first period of bad rainfall after completion of their work and removal of the scaffolding, water began pouring into our loft room. The wall and plaster was damaged as well as some audio equipment we had up there. We had to have it repaired as quickly as possible to prevent further damage as it was so bad. We had to have scaffolding specially erected and it cost us a lot of money. It was clear and confirmed by our roofer that the flashing had been pulled away from the edge of the parapet. We took photos of this which we found corresponded with where the scaffolding had been placed.

We contacted our neighbours, sending before and after photos of the roof, scaffolding and damage - we emailed both neighbours at their home and work addresses, but we have received no reply or acknowledgement .

Their building work has cost us our summer family holiday. We do not see why we should have to pay the cost of the fallout from their home improvements. Sadly they do not even see this as worthy of a response. Is there anything we can do about this?

[des8]

Hi and welcome.
Not a happy turn of events.

If I was in your position I would write to your neighbours (yet again) setting out your position.
Tell them you hold them liable for all your costs of £xxxxx, and if they do not respond within 14 days you will initiate court action.
As they own a house it is reasonable to assume it is insured and that the insurance includes public liability. so also advise them to inform their insurers

[Hels55]

Thankyou. DES8. That's sound advice. We will give that a try.

[Diana M]

A quick thought (I've not read the facts in any detail) but would your own home insurance have covered the cost of the damage (the internal damage from water etc) and then they in turn could mitigate the loss by claiming off your neighbours.

If your neighbours' loft conversion contractors are a reputable company then they should have Professional Indemnity insurance for the damage they caused with their scaffolding.

Or if the scaffolders were a third party (not scaffolding erected by the actual contractors) then they too should have PI insurance.

The only problem I foresee is the time lapse since the incident (seven months?).

Does your buildings or contents insurance policy include Legal Expenses cover which could fund any legal action you may need to take to recover the money you've paid out? If so it may require you to report the incident to them in a timely manner though. There's no harm in asking them.

You may be facing a game of pass-the-parcel with insurers!

Di

[Ripped-Off]

Professional Indemnity Insurance does not normally cover this kind of damage, that would typically be Public Liability insurance which covers claims for the cost of a claim made by someone who has suffered injury or property damage caused by a company.

I find it surprising that you did not know about the work beforehand, but then again that would depend on the size of the conversion. I think anything over 40m3 requires planning permission. It certainly requires building regulation approval if it is a liveable space.

i would take Diana M's advice and contact my insurers. Even if you do not have legal expenses cover you might still be covered by the buildings insurance. I would ask my insurers to fix the problem, but, presuming you are insured, that will cost you your no-claims discount at the next renewal. The alternative is to take des8 advice but that is likely to be a nightmare. If I was your neighbour I'd be muddying the waters by suggesting that the work you had done was inferior and it was that work and not his that caused the leak. In any event, you would probably strain or completely ruin any relationship you have with your neighbours.

[des8]

If Hels55 did not inform their insurers of the damage within a reasonable time (appears not to have done so as reinstatement works have taken place already) the insurers may well decline any claim.