Roof damage caused by neighbours contractor

S

Steph Daniels

New Member
Thank you for accepting me on here. I'm not sure it's the right place to ask my question but here goes - My neighbours had work done to their roof ((my property is semi-detached and attached to neighbours). No party wall notice was served. I discovered after coming home from work one day that around 2 feet of my own roof ridge had been removed (without my permission, or any consulting). Following the work done by the neighbours roofers, my own roof now has three tiles which are not aligned at the ridge, a broken ridge tile, and tiles at the eave which are also not aligned or concreted in as they were previously. My neighbour has offered to have their roofers fix these issues after I contacted them, but I have no faith or confidence in their work or standards for obvious reasons. I have therefore had a quote from another company to fix the problem, who I trust, but my neighbour is insisting that the remedial work be carried out by their own roofers. Advice needed please, and thanks.
 
I suppose you could tell your neighbour that you will give them one chance to fix it properly. To your satisfaction.

If they dont, you will take it further.

Take pics and keep as a record of how it looks now.

Maybe get your neighbour to sign an agreement?
 
Send the quote to the neighbour and ask for payment within 28 days. If they refuse to pay then issue a claim via court

actually I stand corrected. Call the police. They have entered your property and damaged it. That is criminal damage and a police matter
 
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I can understand that you have no or little convenience in the neighbours roofers but if you value your relationship with your neighbours I would give their roofer 1 chance then agree with your neighbours if it's not done to the standard you are looking for you will instructed your roofers and be seeking the cost from them.
 
Thanks koolpic. My neighbour has told me via correspondence that his own roofers 'have a right' to fix the issue under the Goods and Services Act 1982 before another contractor is involved. So I'm thinking - does this mean I have to (legally) agree to a company who 1) did not issue a party wall notice (as they should have done), 2) did not ask my permission to alter my roof, and 3) left it in a damaged condition (which they clearly would have been aware of) to fix the issues? I'd really rather employ a company who will give me a guarantee of the works and who has carried out a full survey of the problems.
 
Dean Worsell said:
I can understand that you have no or little convenience in the neighbours roofers but if you value your relationship with your neighbours I would give their roofer 1 chance then agree with your neighbours if it's not done to the standard you are looking for you will instructed your roofers and be seeking the cost from them.
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Dean Worsell said:
I would give their roofer 1 chance then agree with your neighbours if it's not done to the standard you are looking for you will instructed your roofers and be seeking the cost from them.
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I think I'd do similar, but blame the third party rather than the neighbour, who you might want o get on with. "Look what they've done, please get them to fix it, or something legal will have to be done" sort of thing.
 
Thanks Dean. I appreciate what you are saying, but I have no relationship with my neighbours. They have a ten foot leylandii hedge running at the front of their house which extends down the side between our properties at the front.
 
Steph Daniels said:
Thanks koolpic. My neighbour has told me via correspondence that his own roofers 'have a right' to fix the issue under the Goods and Services Act 1982 before another contractor is involved. So I'm thinking - does this mean I have to (legally) agree to a company who 1) did not issue a party wall notice (as they should have done), 2) did not ask my permission to alter my roof, and 3) left it in a damaged condition (which they clearly would have been aware of) to fix the issues? I'd really rather employ a company who will give me a guarantee of the works and who has carried out a full survey of the problems.
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your neighbour is an idiot. Tell him the matter falls under the criminal damage act 1971 and you are reporting it to the police. Consumer rights governs the workman and consumer. You are not the consumer so it’s not relevant.
 
MRY said:
I think I'd do similar, but blame the third party rather than the neighbour, who you might want o get on with. "Look what they've done, please get them to fix it, or something legal will have to be done" sort of thing.
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Thanks MRY. Yes, agree. I've suggested to my neighbour that they would likely be able to claim on their roofer's insurance. I do not blame the neighbour at all. But he is not happy that I'm complaining, and that I have said I do not want his own roofers, who were clearly negligent, to try and fix the issue they caused in the first place.
 
jonathanc said:
your neighbour is an idiot. Tell him the matter falls under the criminal damage act 1971 and you are reporting it to the police. Consumer rights governs the workman and consumer. You are not the consumer so it’s not relevant.
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Agree! the neighbour has no idea what he is talking about, though he appears to think he does and is being "clever". You have no contract with his builder so no such right exists.
 
jonathanc said:
your neighbour is an idiot. Tell him the matter falls under the criminal damage act 1971 and you are reporting it to the police. Consumer rights governs the workman and consumer. You are not the consumer so it’s not relevant.
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Thank you jonothanc. What you say has also been told to me by a friend who researched the situation. I feel my neighbour is trying to put me under pressure and it's very difficult to get the right advice. CAB sent me on a wild chase and seemed to have little idea of who I should talk to about it. My local building control came out and did a survey at my request and said the route to take was - contact neighbour and tell them party wall notice should have been served, get a survey done, employ a solicitor if neighbours won't agree to me finding a company to fix the problem, and then small claims court if neighbour will not consent. I wrote to neighbour saying I really did not want to go down that route and sent him the independent quote to fix his roofers damage, but he insists his roofers 'have a right' to fix it. Feeling bullied tbh.
 
jonathanc said:
Send the quote to the neighbour and ask for payment within 28 days. If they refuse to pay then issue a claim via court

actually I stand corrected. Call the police. They have entered your property and damaged it. That is criminal damage and a police matter
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Yes, I might have to do that. I feel after everything I've researched on the situation that my neighbour doesn't have much of a leg to stand on.
 
The party wall agreement is your neighbours responsibility not there contractors.

The roofers contract is with your neighbours not you,if you have no relationships with them, then have the repairs carried out by your choice of contractor and issues a invoice with 28 days payment terms to cover the damage
 
Dean Worsell said:
The party wall agreement is your neighbours responsibility not there contractors.

The roofers contract is with your neighbours not you,if you have no relationships with them, then have the repairs carried out by your choice of contractor and issues a invoice with 28 days payment terms to cover the damage
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I agree with Dean. Your neighbour's roofer has caused the damage on behalf of your neighbour. Strictly speaking your neighbour is responsible for the damage and it's up to them to try and seek compensation from their contractor. On your side, you are within your rights to fix at your own cost and then seek recompense from your neighbour via small claims court.

However you have to consider what is reasonable and what is the most likely course of action that will get the results you want. My personal view is that you should offer one chance for their roofer to fix to your satisfaction, and if that fails then you organise a fix and try and get your neighbour to pay.
 
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