Neighbour knocked party wall

berrecka

My neighbour knocked the wall between his and our property and has left ours exposed.

The party wall had once been part of a commercial premises - two of the building's four walls were party walls. One wall made up half of our side boundary wall; another makes up the rear boundary wall to 4 or 5 of our neighbours. That wall is still in tact, but ours has been knocked, leaving our garden (and property) exposed.

The business which this building housed long went out of action, and the building was left to fall apart. I don't know at what stage the land was sold, but a developer sought planning permission a few years ago to build some houses. This developer is who knocked the wall in our garden. The land (with which we share this boundary) is a derelict site with planning permission for houses, which I believe is now lapsed.

I was just hoping to find out what we should do. Someone mentioned that because the wall was part of his building he was entitled to knock it. But it was also our boundary wall. I imagine it will cost us a fortune to rebuild.

Any advice folks?

The_Morrigan

The only advice we can give you is to speak to a solicitor about it.

berrecka

Thanks Morrigan. Yes I suppose we will have to. It just seems to me that if we have no rights to this wall, we might be as well to have the wall built without engaging a solicitor, who could cost as much as the wall!

berrecka

I had just wondered if anyone had been in a similar situation who could advise if there was any point in engaging a solicitor or if we should just suck it up and rebuild the wall.

Gumbo

berrecka wrote: »

I had just wondered if anyone had been in a similar situation who could advise if there was any point in engaging a solicitor or if we should just suck it up and rebuild the wall.

Was the wall shared or on their property?

berrecka

It was shared. The (old) building came up right onto our boundary as it is marked on the house's folio.

Mrs OBumble

If you re-build, what's to stop him knocking it again?

Seems to me your first step is to talk to him, find out what his plans are and ideally mutually agree a way forward that meets all your needs.

Only go to lawyers if you cannot solve it between you first.

berrecka

Yes I agree, Mrs O Bumble.
But as he is a developer, and not a neighbour (sorry, misleading thread title), he is difficult to track down. I have sent him an emails (x2), trying to arrange that we could come to agreement, but these have been ignored.

I don't understand why he knocked the wall at all.

I have heard on the grapevine that he cannot afford to build the houses he has permission for (he had originally applied for many more houses and apartments, but was granted planning for 2), and that the council has been on to him to get works started as the duration for the permission has lapsed. I feel like he had to do something, to be seen to do something, so just came in and knocked this wall.

My husband has built up a wall of garden twigs and cut-down trees for privacy and security reasons. But it really has left the garden looking extremely dishevelled as well as everything else.

Pkiernan

Go to your local County Council (with photos) before you waste money on a solicitor.

berrecka

The Planning Department of the County Council, do you think?
We have no before photos. We did take photos as soon as it was knocked though.

I don't know if it makes a difference, but we had been renting it and in negotiations to buy when the wall was knocked last summer. The landlord was unwilling to do anything about it, as we were going to be buying it. It took until last month to complete on the sale. So the wall was not there when we purchased.

3DataModem

berrecka wrote: »

The Planning Department of the County Council, do you think?
We have no before photos. We did take photos as soon as it was knocked though.

I don't know if it makes a difference, but we had been renting it and in negotiations to buy when the wall was knocked last summer. The landlord was unwilling to do anything about it, as we were going to be buying it. It took until last month to complete on the sale. So the wall was not there when we purchased.

Yikes. That does make a difference. He didn't knock your wall, he knocked someone else's wall. You should have asked the seller to clarify (or remediate) before closing.

Contact your solicitor; probably the one who did the conveyance.

TrishSimon

berrecka wrote: »

My neighbour knocked the wall between his and our property and has left ours exposed.

The party wall had once been part of a commercial premises - two of the building's four walls were party walls. One wall made up half of our side boundary wall; another makes up the rear boundary wall to 4 or 5 of our neighbours. That wall is still in tact, but ours has been knocked, leaving our garden (and property) exposed.

The business which this building housed long went out of action, and the building was left to fall apart. I don't know at what stage the land was sold, but a developer sought planning permission a few years ago to build some houses. This developer is who knocked the wall in our garden. The land (with which we share this boundary) is a derelict site with planning permission for houses, which I believe is now lapsed.

I was just hoping to find out what we should do. Someone mentioned that because the wall was part of his building he was entitled to knock it. But it was also our boundary wall. I imagine it will cost us a fortune to rebuild.

Any advice folks?

As far as I am aware if he knocked he then he is responsible for rebuilding it the same thing happened to neighbours on my mams road one person was building a huge extension and wanted to get machinery in the back garden and couldn't unless her wall was knocked down so low and behold she came home wall was knocked down and her garden exposed so she went into him and told him to rebuild or else she was suing him and also she sought legal advice as the owner of the property is dodgy and has been for years so the builder rebuilt her wall some weeks back and she got an apology.
Get legal advice and take it from there dont rebuild yourself

berrecka

Yea I was afraid of that. I was hoping it was that it is the property's boundary wall that mattered, and not who's name was on the deeds at the time.

There was no way at the time of getting the landlord/seller to fix it at the time. She did come along when we advised her of it, and marked out the boundary. Which the developer did not like and contacted her (through their solicitors). They got 2 surveyors out to agree the boundary, but nothing has happened since.

iguana

Tbh, first off I'd sort it out myself, at least temporarily. If you don't have a lot of money, go buy some fence panels and posts. Even at the full 2m height that you are allowed they aren't that expensive but look on adverts and donedeal too as someone local might be selling them secondhand. Then erect them an inch or two inside your property. That at least secures your property and will look much nicer than an opening out onto a derelict site. You could paint a sign on the other side of your fence pointing out that it is a 100% privately owned fence inside the boundary, so not to be touched, if you were worried that the developer will ever come back and knock it but I doubt that will happen.

The_Morrigan

Sorry Berrecka, but this is skirting along the legal advice line and we can't permit that here.

Please speak to your solicitor about this and any recourse available to you.