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Hi,
We own a terraced house in London and last June we started the process of renewing our roof. The works fell under the party wall act and so we asked our neighbours to sign a party wall agreement. We already had a surveyor appointed along with a roofer and builder. We provided our neighbours with details of the works from our surveyor.
After asking us to modify our party wall agreement and delaying the signing of the document for a number of weeks, our neighbour finally decided that they wouldn't sign our agreement but would instead appoint an independent surveyor at our expense. The Adjoining Owners (AOs) surveyor estimated 10 hours of work at £225 + vat an hour. Along with the additional fees our surveyor charged us to liaise with the AO's surveyor, we've had to pay over £5,000 in surveyor fees on top of what we already paid our surveyor for our original survey.
After completing the works and informing the AOs surveyor, and multiple attempts by the AOs surveyor to contact the AOs over a 3 month period, we were finally informed that the AOs were ready for an inspection. As an aside, the AOs were at home during this whole period and so there seems no clear reason why they should delay the final inspection other than waiting for the October rain. It's also worth mentioning that the neighbours also had an old roof and had very recently complained about leaks before we started our works.
In the email to the surveyor, the AOs stated that they had a leak and some damage on their side due to our works and were now ready to arrange a final inspection and sign-off. The next day, before even being to agree on an inspection date, the neighbour put scaffolding up outside their house and then the following day started work on replacing their roof, rafters and all. They also work on the same party wall fixing a crack in their loft.
So, after refusing to sign our party wall agreement and appointing a second surveyor at our expense costing us over £5k, and then delaying final sign-off and accusing us of damage, the AOs put up scaffolding and replaced their roof and did work on the same party wall without even notifying us. No party wall agreement, no surveyor, no nothing.
We are aware that we will unlikely be liable for any damage on their side due to them doing works on their side before final inspection, but we’ve thrown £5k away on unnecessary surveyor fees.
Does anyone know if we can take any legal action and have the AOs compensate us for wasted time and money?
Thanks
We own a terraced house in London and last June we started the process of renewing our roof. The works fell under the party wall act and so we asked our neighbours to sign a party wall agreement. We already had a surveyor appointed along with a roofer and builder. We provided our neighbours with details of the works from our surveyor.
After asking us to modify our party wall agreement and delaying the signing of the document for a number of weeks, our neighbour finally decided that they wouldn't sign our agreement but would instead appoint an independent surveyor at our expense. The Adjoining Owners (AOs) surveyor estimated 10 hours of work at £225 + vat an hour. Along with the additional fees our surveyor charged us to liaise with the AO's surveyor, we've had to pay over £5,000 in surveyor fees on top of what we already paid our surveyor for our original survey.
After completing the works and informing the AOs surveyor, and multiple attempts by the AOs surveyor to contact the AOs over a 3 month period, we were finally informed that the AOs were ready for an inspection. As an aside, the AOs were at home during this whole period and so there seems no clear reason why they should delay the final inspection other than waiting for the October rain. It's also worth mentioning that the neighbours also had an old roof and had very recently complained about leaks before we started our works.
In the email to the surveyor, the AOs stated that they had a leak and some damage on their side due to our works and were now ready to arrange a final inspection and sign-off. The next day, before even being to agree on an inspection date, the neighbour put scaffolding up outside their house and then the following day started work on replacing their roof, rafters and all. They also work on the same party wall fixing a crack in their loft.
So, after refusing to sign our party wall agreement and appointing a second surveyor at our expense costing us over £5k, and then delaying final sign-off and accusing us of damage, the AOs put up scaffolding and replaced their roof and did work on the same party wall without even notifying us. No party wall agreement, no surveyor, no nothing.
We are aware that we will unlikely be liable for any damage on their side due to them doing works on their side before final inspection, but we’ve thrown £5k away on unnecessary surveyor fees.
Does anyone know if we can take any legal action and have the AOs compensate us for wasted time and money?
Thanks
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