Do I need neighbour's permission?

[Cheesy Moments]

Hi all

I am building an extension in my Victorian semi.

As part of the works, I am having the roof retiled all along, up to where my neighbours slates start.

Next door have done a similar thing 10 years ago, but I wasn't here then. Their slates have been layed with an obvious line at the property boundaries.

My question is, do I have to have to have her permission to erect scaffold etc and reroof my part? I am asking because she is not the most reasonable woman at all and I have a feeling if I ask her, she will refuse.

Obviously out of courteousy, I am going to give her notice before the work begins and I will make sure that her part of the roof is not touched. I just wanted to put the feelers out about it.

I don't know if there is any legal comeback from her side if I go ahead.

I would appreciate your input as part of the DIY fraternity, rather than paying a solicitor 50 quid an hour to tell me.

Thanks

Chris

[Christian McArdle]

She can't even legally refuse to allow you access to her property to perform the work, let alone if you remain on your own. If she does, she can be sued and the court will give an injuction allowing you to erect the scaffolding, perform the work and access her land to do so.

Unfortunately, the dispute would have to be declared when selling the property, though, which could affect resale value.

Christian.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I believe you are within your legal rights to even have 'reasonable access for purposes of maintenenance' to a neighbours property itself.

But a chat over a cup of atea adn the offer to 'fix up anything that needs dfoing wehile we ahve the scaffold up' may not be a bad idea.

Its always wise to try and let someone else benefit from expenses you have to incur anyway.

Who knows. A bit of extra scafolding helping her to get the windows painted? Only a small price to pay for smooth relations.

As someone wo has psent a long time in cistomer realtins, the things that piss peope of the most is not being told the truth, and not being told at all.

I got an irate call once 'my ****imng e-mail is down, and your blokes can't tell me when it will be fixed'

It transpired the bloke was in teh middle of a complex international transaction. I investigated and said 'I cannot guarantee it will be fixed today at all, as there are unknown factors' "Fine, and thank you. I will phone them and tell them to use the fax"

Which he was totally happy with, it was NOT KNOWING whether to tell them to use e-mail that made the differemce to him.

Liek our farmer neighbour knocks on the door an TELLS us when he will be spraying, and we vanish for the afternoon or stay indoors fr te hlaf hour or so.

QUITE different from sunbathing and finding oneself misted over with Agent Orange or wahtever.

[Peter Crosland]

Obviously it would be best to do it by agreement. If you don't succeed then the following may help.

[Peter Parry]

As it is a "structure shared with another property" you will probably have to comply with the Party Wall Act and give her the requisite notice.

She can't refuse, but she can ask for a surveyors report (at your expense) and can delay the work a month or so.

If you don't give the required Party Wall Act notice she can apply for an injunction to stop the work. This could leave you unable to complete your own roof for some time and you would usually be liable for her costs if she was successfully in gaining the injunction (which would be fairly certain if the correct notice had not been served).

[Andy Wade]

... iss gittong emales form plepol wheo cnat splel ro tipe?

(Or in your case, people who still haven't fixed the intermittent fault on their keyboard, because I know you can do both.)

[Al Reynolds]

The roof is not shared if you don't touch her tiles AFAICS.

However, the extension will require foundations, and this will require attention under the Party Wall Act. Al

[Peter Crosland]

A good place to find out is here.

[Peter Parry]

I would have tended to agree with you had not someone near here recently used the act to successfully prevent a neighbour re-roofing their side of a semi detached house. The neighbour wanting to do the re-roofing (in the same material as before) in this case was the awkward one who simply started work one day with a "tough - what's it got to do with you" attitude.

They found out about 6 hours later when a solicitor turned up with a court injunction and forced the builder to stop work (just as he had about half the tiles off). The house stayed with a tarpaulin over it for about 2 months while the neighbour went through the Party Wall Act hoops and came out the other end 8 weeks late and several thousand pounds poorer.

[Michael Mcneil]

I remember the contretemps a painter had with the wife of the local mayor where I once lived. They had bought their council house and were damned if a council sub-contractor was coming onto her property to paint next door's windows.

So he told her to Eff Off!

There then followed a protracted exchange of views.

[Al Reynolds]

That's a bit of a worry! Al