Dignity

[Dignity]

My neighbour is building on the party wall. He erected a fence on my land purportedly for health and safety really to stop me seeing what is happening. I asked him to take the fence down after 6 weeks as I couldn't access that part of my garden he refused I took it down he is now alledging I have damaged the new party wall blockwork and charging me.

[des8]

Sorry, but we are going to need more info.

1. Did you neighbour have your permission to erect a fence on your land?
2. How tall was the fence?
3.How much of your garden did it prevent you accessing
4 What is the blockwork? a building or fence or what have you?.
5 Is the blockwork on your land, wholly or partially or does it abut your land
6. Does the blockwork build on an existing structure?

A rough sketch might be useful

[Dignity]

Thank you for your interest yes he had permission but only for a limited period. The fence was 2 metres tall. It prevented access to 30 sq metres including water butt our man hole and drains. Part building part fence. The building replaced a party fence wall. No new foundations cavity wall replaced sin

[Dignity]

Does anyone know what is a reasonable time for heris fencing for next door to be on my land restricting my access to my garden,water butt drains and man hole. Builders refuse to remove fencing and will not give me a work schedule as to when they will finish the work. Builders are coming and going over the wall trampling my shrubs when I complain they say this is a building site and they ate entitled to be there.

[des8]

So this is a party wall fence that is built partly on both properties and is used to separate your adjoining lands.
The original wall was single brick (? )but has been demolished (?) and rebuilt by your neighbour as a cavity block wall (?) which is now part of a new building on his land (?).

I'm still not clear about what's what but it does seem that you should have been notified in writing what was planned between 2 months and a year before he started building works.under the Party Wall Act

If he hasn't complied with the law tell him what he can do with his claim for damages, especially if he demolished YOUR party wall without permission!


Does the new building require planning permission?
Does the new building comply with building regulations? (cavity wall on what was single brick foundations?)


Regarding builders accessing your land,did you give permission for the duration of the works ie was it open ended? are they paying for the right?

[Dignity]

Thank you for your response I confirm that the original wall was single block and has been demolished. No party wall notice was served but the owner paid for a deed to enable the work to continue. The builder erected screens to protect our property during demolishing and we gave him permission to do this on the understanding that the fence would be removed 14 days after the council had approved the new foundations. This would have meant the fence would come down by the end of July. We wrote to the builder to ask him to remove the fence by the end of august by which time the new cavity wall was about a metre above the floor level. His response was to enter our garden without our knowledge and chain the heris fencing panels together, obstructing access to our drains and garden. We cut the chain moved the panel to within 2 foot of the party wall line. The builder called the police who say we are guilty of criminal damage cutting his chain . It seems that the Englishmans home is not his castle. The builder has completely destroyed this section of my gatden

[des8]

"the owner paid for a deed to enable the work to continue."
Could you explain that please?

If you put a time limit on the permission, and that time has now expired, the builders are trespassing.
you could apply for an injunction to stop the trespass, and also claim damages for the damage to your plants and for loss of enjoyment of your property.
Whether it is worth doing is another matter

Yes, if you cut the chain you are guilty of criminal damage (but I doubt it would ever reach court).
If a trespasser leaves property on your land you have to be careful not to damage it.
The better course of action is to obtain a court order for its removal, which if breached may then turn the trespass into a criminal matter.

[Dignity]

The neighbour waited for us to go on holiday and then knocked the wall down, we had to threaten an injunction until the party wall notice was served, party wall notices cannot be retrospective and so a deed was drawn up, our concerns were that our drains passed through his property under where the new extension was to be sighted. He was off hand about our concerns and do we had to get the council building inspector out, but as always they don't want to get into disputes.
We agreed the fence could be put on our land to protect our house during demolition but didn't realise it would be sighted 6 foot away from the wall restricting access to that part of the garden, drains and water butt. They put tarpaulin over the fences so we could not see what was happening. The fences went up on the 10th July. We wrote formally to ask them to Remove the fences by the end of august as demolition was done,floor joists were in, and the party wall was up about a metre.
The builder the owners son in law said the fence must stay until work was finished for health and safety. I went into next door on the 26th August and asked again that we want access to our drains and garden as water wasn't flushing away. This was met with hostility. In the meantime the builders workers are jumping over the wall not giving any notice and telling me that my garden is a building site.
When the fence was put up on the 10th July it was bolted together. We went out on the 29th august when we returned the builder had been in our garden and chain linked the fence together. We fully intended just to unboltl the fence and take it off our land. Now our only option was to cut the chains which we did. I feel he knew we what we would do and goaded us into doing this. We asked him his time scale for work and he refused to answer. The work originally started in January and we honestly were at the end of our tether.
the police were called as they wanted us charged with criminal damage or the chain.
They have sent us a bill in excess of 2k for damage to their equipment we hold our hands up for cutting the chain and the cable ties. But nothing else.
His bill is itemized and amongst the charges are 15pounds for cable ties and 85 for chain. Damage to the party wall and other fabricated accusations. I have a video of the men jumping off the new wall and it is likely that they caused this, as I haven't set foot near the wall.
I have looked at the price of the chain on the internet and cable ties. Chain is 35 pounds ties 2.50.
I am desperate to know which way forward.

[MIKE770]

any chance of paragraphing your posting as it is clumped to-gether

[Dignity]

I am sorry it is so jumbled up. It is quite a stressful time.I have added to my other draught hopefully it will be easier to interpret

[des8]

Can you post up the EXACT wording of that deed?

Depending on that is whether or not they have any rights to access your property (but I doubt it) and whether or not you apply for an injunction to stop the trespass

Wouldn't be too worried about demands for money from them as if it goes to court you 1) dispute it & 2) file a counterclaim for the cost of having your garden reinstated professionally, which will include cost of mature bushes etc