water in cellar (neighbour problem)

[Guest]

Re: water in cellar (neighbour problem)

Then you need to approach him and tell him what you have done, what it has cost you and that you are looking to him to reimburse you and to fix the problem so it does not happen again. If he does not cooperate, then you will issue a claim against him for the full sum, plus costs and interest.

This link Land Registry may help you trace his address.

[marsaday]

Re: water in cellar (neighbour problem)

UPDATE

i now have the persons home address and so can issue a letter to him explaining things.

i spoke to him last night and he hung up eventually.

he has put a sump into his cellar right next to the party wall and so this will continually be wet and will seep through into my property (i saw this yesterday when the electrician let me have a look)

he also has no power on at the moment and so the water is again increasing and is not being pumped away. he says tenants will be moving in, in sep.

this problem will not go away because i am always at the mercy of him leaving the electric on if the property is not occupied.

i have to remove damp plaster board again from the corner where the water come in. i will also have to install some new tanking membrane onto the steps this time as the work i did was not sufficient last time. i may also need to put in my own pump. i think is is best to do these things so as not to rely on his methods of removing the water.

any more advise on what i should and shouldnt write in the letter?

[Guest]

Re: water in cellar (neighbour problem)

The letter needs to be simple, short and factual. Begin by setting out the facts, such as what you have done, how much it has cost you and how effective it has been, or not been and then tell him what you expect him to do. Inform him that if he does not do these things, you will be left with no alternative to have remedial work done and you will be asking him to pay for this and if he does not pay, you will seek to recover your costs in court.

[marsaday]

Re: water in cellar (neighbour problem)

my letter, is this ok?



I write with reference to our phone conversation this week where I expressed concerns about the work you have had carried out on the cellar flooding problem you have. Because you hung up and refused to listen to what I was saying I am now putting everything in writing for you to look over.

The sump and pump is situated in the corner of the room and is right against the party wall. On the other side of this wall in the parallel position I have a water problem. This water is coming from your sump. I want you to remove the sump and put it in the centre of the room.

The pump relies on electricity to work and when I visited this week, no electric was on again (a situation which has been happening all this year it seems). I expect this pump to carry on working whether you have tenants in the property or not.

If you fail to take note of what I have written I will hold you responsible for future water damage on my property and take you to court for these damage costs.
------------------------------- merged -------------------------------
i will add "without prejudice" at the end.

[Mochamoo]

Re: water in cellar (neighbour problem)

my letter, is this ok?



I write with reference to our phone conversation this week where I expressed concerns about the work you have had carried out on the cellar flooding problem you have. Because you hung up and refused to listen to what I was saying I am now putting everything in writing for you to look over.

The sump and pump is situated in the corner of the room and is right against the party wall. On the other side of this wall in the parallel position I have a water problem. This water is coming from your sump. I want you to remove the sump and put it in the centre of the room.

The pump relies on electricity to work and when I visited this week, no electric was on again (a situation which has been happening all this year it seems). I expect this pump to carry on working whether you have tenants in the property or not.

If you fail to take note of what I have written I will hold you responsible for future water damage on my property and take you to court for these damage costs.

Dear Mr So and So

Further to our telephone conversation on XXXXXXX as we appear to have been so abruptly disconnected I thought it best if we continue our dialogue by letter.

As you are fully aware you have and issue with water in your cellar, at ADDRESS which you have installed a pump to remove. When you do not have tenants in the house however the electricity is turned off and the cellar floods. This has caused water seepage into my property and has caused extensive damage. The sump and pump is situated in the corner of the room and is right against the party wall. This water is coming from your sump. I want you to remove the sump and put it in the centre of the room.

The damage to my property so far is as follows (this is by no means and exhaustive list as the damage is still continuing whilst the problem remains unrectified)

LIST DAMMAGE
Plasterboard
Flooring
Paint
Kitchen cabinets
etc


This has so far cost me an estimated ŁXXXX

I do not feel that it is unreasonable for you to meet the costs of this damage, you have been aware of the problem in your cellar for some time and have not done enough to rectify the problem.


I am giving you 28 days to rectify the problem and 7 days to respond positivity to this letter. I feel that we can resolve this between ourselves but I will not hesitate to file at my local county court should we be unable to sort this out.


Yours Sincerly,

Marsaday




needs tweaking and adding to and someone needs to check the spelling and grammer but that is more the kind of letter I was thinking of

[Paule]

Re: water in cellar (neighbour problem)

i will add "without prejudice" at the end.

Why?

These letters will form part of your evidence if it goes to court, showing that you have followed protocols and tried to sort the matter out beforehand

[marsaday]

Re: water in cellar (neighbour problem)

ok thanks

however i didnt think i could claim for the damages that have already taken place. i have only now told him about these damages and so thought this voids any claim because he didnt know about them before?

now he knows about the damage, if it happens again and his solutions dont work then i can claim. is this right?

remember, here we have a problem of ground water which is not coming from his property. it is coming into his property and then into mine. this issue makes it a difficult one to deal with. we are not dealing with a broken drain here.

i have spoken to environmental health and they cannot enforce any action because it is ground water and not drain water. all they can do is advise.

[TUTTSI]

Re: water in cellar (neighbour problem)

i will add "without prejudice" at the end.

IMHO -If you add this to your letter 'without prejudice' It would preclude you from later using this as evidence in court that you have written to him.

Tuttsi

[marsaday]

Re: water in cellar (neighbour problem)

but some legal person has stated i should put this in. who is correct here? this was over on landlordszone

Keep it to the facts, as if you had to prove each in a Court. Do not include insults. Do refer to each previous item of correpondence, e-mail, telephone contact, or conversation face-to-face (in chronological order). Mark it 'Without Prejudice'.

[Mochamoo]

Re: water in cellar (neighbour problem)

whoops some how managed to overwrite my original post and put my new post in its place..... bloody technology sorry refer back to my last post for my new answer

[TUTTSI]

Re: water in cellar (neighbour problem)

Do you have a solicitor? or who is the legal person you are referring to?

[Amethyst]

Re: water in cellar (neighbour problem)

The Civil Procedure Rules defines the phrase ‘without prejudice’ as:

‘Negotiations with a view to a settlement are usually conducted “without prejudice” which means that the circumstances in which the content of those negotiations may be revealed to the court are very restricted’.




ie its really only for use in settlement negotiations so for instance if you offer to settle for less and they decline then you take them to court, they cant say, ahhh but last week you were willing to settle for half that, etc

[marsaday]

Re: water in cellar (neighbour problem)

ok i wont use it.

the legal person is (as mentioned) from the forum landlordzone. he is a solicitor it seems.

can anyone reply to my question about asking for damages. i posted it a few posts back.

[Guest]

Re: water in cellar (neighbour problem)

You should not be out of pocket due to the negligence of another property owner. Therefore, you should claim any and all costs from him, not just what it has cost you since you brought this to his attention. Now this does not mean that you can claim back the cost of tanking your cellar, because as you have explained this is groundwater and not a broken pipe from his house. However since you have had the work done (which you would have needed to do anyway, due to the issue of groundwater) you are still experiencing problems and this is due to water from his cellar leaking into yours.

Any costs for damage that have been caused by water from his cellar seeping into yours can be claimed from him, no matter when you told him about it. This is because he needs to fix the water problem in is cellar and because he has not and has allowed water to accumulate, it is now damaging your property and causing you expense.

[marsaday]

Re: water in cellar (neighbour problem)

update:

i have sent a letter to his address in manchester and am waiting.

he had a skip outside the property yesterday and it was loaded with files.

i have one now and it is a legal aid folder with his police notes on crimes he has represented. yes this guy is a solicitor !!

in his skip were loads of files with stuff like this.

i have had a look at a few of the forms and it details the crime, persons involved and addresses, plus his short hand notes. Isnt this info important? and would he get into trouble if it was available to the public?