Currently I remain a council tenant, with the property next door now a privately owned property (right to buy). Through the thirty years of renting from the council my neighbour has refused all council modifications and repairs to the property and as such, the property is in a severe state of disrepair. Recently I have noticed that the shared chimney stack to the property is leaning towards the neighbours side along with brickwork missing pointing as well as a complete lack of flaunching to the top of the chimney. Subsequently a room below the chimney is now suffering from blown plaster as well as the paint coming away from the wall. I have reported this issue to my local council several times in the past, but they have refused to undertake the work due to the right to buy process of my neighbour, citing that they will not conduct repairs to my neighbours side of the stack whilst this process was taking place. Yesterday whilst in the garden I noticed cement had fallen from the chimney and the condition of the stack has worsened. Today I have received a phone call from the council (after again reporting the issue) stating that as my neighbour now owns the property and they are unable to undertake the work to repair the neighbouring side of the chimney. I raised the issue of health and safety with the council, but have been told that as nobody has yet been injured they are not willing to go to the expense of putting up scaffolding to investigate and possibly initiate a repair. The chimney is continuing to worsen. The council also had the cheek of telling me that they find it strange that I have waited until my neighbour has bought the property to raise this as a complaint! I have raised this as an issue numerous times in the past prior to this. The stack is becoming a death trap with loose bricks and leaning pots, and I'm worried that if the council do not take action something tragic could happen. To put this into context, three years ago the council began a re roofing program for all properties in the area that were deemed to have damaged roofs and stacks that were in poor condition. My Neighbour amazingly got away with refusing this work, and as such now has the original roof tiles, mortar and ridge tiles that were installed back in the 1940's. My council property required structural work due to damage caused by mining in the area, however my neighbour again refused any such work, even though the neighbouring property clearly suffers from the same issue. The council have confirmed that during the right to buy process, no survey was conducted of the neighbouring property. I really do fear for my families safety as well as the water that seems to be leaking through the chimney and causing damage to my property. Only essential work was conducted (with a fight) during the councils ownership of my neighboring property (gas safety checks etc). My neighbour also declined any work to the property to bring it up to the councils decent homes standard. Now it is privately owned I can just imagine the state this building is going to end up in. My neighbour has threatened to sue me or the local council if anybody attempts to conduct repairs to the property My question at the moment is what exactly can I do ? The neighbouring property has rotting wooden window frames, a leaning chimney stack, poor and none existent pointing, all of which are continuing to effect my property. The council are refusing to help and do nothing to attempt to assist me in the matter. Does the party wall act come into force here, and how can I battle the local council over this when they seem adamant that there is nothing they can do to the neighbouring side of the stack.
If the council owned the property then have a care of duty, responsibility to maintain exterior of the property in a safe condition,the neighbour can I think refused all council internal modifications, but not repairs to the outside of the property. How the hell can he refuse a new roof when property was still own by council, is beyond me.
It's a dangerous structure,contact the council, they have Building Control Surveyors are available 24/7 to respond to Dangerous structures. They can remove it, put up scaffold, close the road,etc & evacuate the property & issue a enforcment notice, the council are permitted to recover the costs associated with any such measures undertaken in an emergency from the owner of the building.
Badly worded reply earlier, Building Control Surveyors can issue an enforcment notice to make the property safe, but if the property is in a dangerous state, they can take immediate action, ie demolish the structure, close roads,etc,etc, & recover the cost from the person who property it is.
Try an official letter to the head of your council. Check here first http://local.direct.gov.uk/LDGRedirect/index.jsp?LGSL=600&LGIL=0
Blimey - what a stupid neighb! He must be an off-the-wall loon. Andy, I'm pretty certain that if you owned your house too, then you could 'force' your neighb to undergo these joint repairs as they are causing obvious damage to your property, and are also a safety risk (and it does genuinely sound as tho' it is from your description; that stack sounds as bad as any I've heard of). If you owned your house, then the deeds would make it clear who is responsible - most likely it would be a joint liability, although possibly only that of one home-owner - and you would have full responsibility for the other 'joint' stack at the other end of your house - y'know, a bit like fences. However, I suspect it'll be 'joint'. So, if this were your house, you could force him to act. In law you have this power, but it probably would require you to take legal action. Whether you could recover these costs from your neighb, I don't know. Like the others above, I simply do not understand why the council didn't force this issue when they could/should have! They knew about these repairs when they owned the property, and it should have been a mere technicality for them to 'enforce' the repairs. There's sodall their tenant can do about it - if they become aggressive, then they get chucked out. I cannot see the issue. I would say, then, that the council really are liable here. They do need to sort out your side - it is a danger, and water is coming in to a bedroom where it could cause a health hazard (damp and spores, etc). I simply don't understand why they are dragging their feet on this. If I were the guy in charge, I'd relish taking this guy on and forcing him to pay for his half of the repairs; "That'll bludy teach you to buy our council house, and for being so stupid you didn't take advantage of our repairs at the time!". So, if you owned your own house, you could force these repairs. So the same must apply to the council. You need to force the council to now act. How to do this? I dunno. But I bet the system is there on their website - how to report H&S issues/ property damage/ make complaints, etc. You go through this process the correct way until you reach a stone wall. Then you take this correspondence to your local Citizen's Advice Bureau. They will advise the next move. Make sure you include in your written correspondence to the council (letter or email, not phonecall) that you consider the matter to be now a genuine hazard due to crumbling mortar, a leaning stack and water ingress (include photos if you can). Make it clear you will hold them liable for any subsequent injury to health. Don't be bolshie, don't be aggressive - just be factual and assertive. I simply cannot understand why the council are being lax here - they have saved themselves a fortune on the repairs on that house, and could not stuff up this idiot if they wanted to. If I were the council guy, I'd be wetting myself at the ensuing fun... (If you owned your house, you could in theory even sue your neighbour for loss of value to your property due to the state of his building!)
Thank-you for your reply, I seriously have no idea why they won't act on this. The house is a semi detached, so the stack is central to both properties. The neighbouring roof is in a right state, I've attached a shot of the ridge tiles, an accident waiting to happen if we get any strong winds! The councils attitude is that as nobody has been injured, there is no action that they can take, however I'm fairly confident that this is a party wall issue. The excuse of the neighbours right to buy prevented any works to that property in my opinion is a fob off. They have a duty of care for the safety of any property under their ownership. I have arranged for an independent builder to come out and inspect the chimney stack. That way I will be armed with a report to show the council, and should be able to proceed from there. Just to give an idea of this other property, the upstairs windows are still wooden framed and not double glazed, the frames are rotting and in a poor state. Of course, moisture is getting down into the wall.
Phone council & involve Building Control Surveyors, they have powers, no expense to you, they will recover costs from other party.
I spoke to the housing team, as mine is still council owned. They seemed very uncoperative. I presume as each Council department speaks to each other, the same problem would occur. I will give it a go though! Thanks for all your advice so far. The council will repair my side of the stack only, and are saying that the neighbouring side is the neighbours responsibility. However it is this side which is having a detrimental effect to my own property. I have also noticed a bulge in the brickwork on my side of the chimney, in the past this looks like It has been pointed up. What would cause this ?
Mostly likely weight of stack leaning off centre. Housing team is useless, council departments seldom talk to each other, I speak from experience, but I don't know who you council is. Planning department should be able sort you out with Building Control Surveyor. Here is mine. http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/services/planning-and-building-control/building-control/contact-details http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/services/...ontrol/dangerous-structures-and-public-safety
We are talking about a Council who have had a lot of press attention recently. I really do worry about this. My other worry is my neighbour taking action against myself for daring to raise this issue with the council.
You won't have any worries if chimmey came down through the roof into a bedroom, you'll find yourself waiting at the Pearly Gates for admittance... Anybody walking past could have reported it, I have done so with several properties over the years, it's the other people you could injury or kill walking by, if it collasped. Had the chimmey here taken down, due to it being unsafe earlier this year, capping was totally loose, blocks loose, several tonnes of masonry totally unsafe.
For the council to take action against this neighbour will be a pain for someone - they will have to go through the correct legal system for this, and that will cost them a bit (I guess they have to hire solicitors, etc). If the neighb then challenges this decision and also employs his own legal staff (what are the chances here?!), it can sometimes become complex, drawn out and costly. I understand that is what can happen in situations like this. And councils are understandably reluctant to go down that route just in case - it ties up staff dealing with the issue, and can also land them with legal costs. However, this is exactly what you would have to do in this situation if you owned your house and had an unresponsive neighbour. So why should the council get away with it?! So, you need to force their hand. I am pretty certain they can do this legally, so you chust need to overcome their reluctance and get them moving on the issue. Don't worry about your neighbour taking action against you. What kind of 'action' are you concerned about? If he shows any signs of aggression or argument or anything like that, note it down in detail and report him to your local police. It certainly won't help his case should the council then take action, citing him as 'unreasonable'! Does your neighb himself live there, or does he rent it out?
Section 78 of the Building Act 1984 is there to protect you, & to give the council powers to act & involved the court 24/7 if required.
My neighbour lives there and doesn't rent it out. We've had issues in the past where my solicitor had to write to him as well as him receiving a police warning for anti social behaviour towards myself, amazingly the council seem to ignore this and still let the guy buy the house. During the roofing program, cavity wall insulation was placed in, but the neighbour also refused this, so then party wall section of the house is without any form of insulation, quite literally the neighbouring property is a heap, still with the original bathroom, kitchen etc that dates back well over 30 years. From my understanding the neighbour also refused a combi boiler and still has header tank and back boiler to the old style gas fire. As you can imagine,I'm more than worried. I shall try what you say about the chimney, but my last telephone call resulted in being told they will not be doing any work to my neighbours chimney, however that was via the housing department.
Housing department has no say, the Building Control Surveyor takes precedence over them, they have powers & the court to act.
Is there a cost involved to have the building control surveyor come out and take a look ? I presume I just ring my local council and ask to speak to this department.
I wouldn't think so, as your saying the chimmey is a dangerous structure, & poses a danger to you, your family & others passing or coming to your property, they can recover any cost from your neighbour. Need to phone them & have a chat.
If it's a dangerous structure, than yes. So, how dangerous is the chimney? Can you post a picture or 2? I would also start thinking along the lines of threatening your council of asking for a rent review as the bedroom is damp and not satisfactory for living in, or paying for at full market rent rate.
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