neighbor's builder damaged my fence what should I do?

Jackgeek

An old brick wall about 4 1/2' high divided our two properties. The wall belongs to us. About 9 months ago we decided to have a fence put on top off the wall to give us more privacy. We were advised to put in posts to reinforce the brick wall as with the additional height they were at risk of blowing over. So we had sturdy posts dug and cemented in to reinforce the wall and had an additional fence put on top the wall.

Picture of wall: i dot imgur dot com/ti3UhNq.jpg

Our Neighbour is getting an extension built and at some point a heavy thing must have been leant up against our fence (I suspect it was the scaffolding) because the post has bent and split and as a result the fence has come away from the wall near that post.

Damage: i dot imgur dot com/9pDH4M3.jpg
i dot imgur dot com/NbreQZL.jpg

When I showed the neighbor the damage he offered to have his carpenter look at it, I want to keep it my control so I said I'd have the same people who installed the post quote to replace the post. My neighbor made it clear that he thought it was not his problem and that it is between me and his builder.

Given that I think that the builder is likely to not want to pay for the repairs, is there anything I should do to prepare for taking it to the small claims court?

goz83

Your neighbour is effectively the employer of the builder, so I would think that it IS your neighbours problem.

However, if the carpenter is able to repair the damage and make it as it was, I wouldn't make a fuss about it. I would insist on it being made as it was, but try keep it friendly. You do have to live beside your neighbour after all.

Five Lamps

Assuming that the wind didn't do it, your neighbour is right, it's the builders responsibility and he would/should have the appropriate insurance in place.

Normally when these things happen, builders are open to repairing them by them selves.