Neighbours guttering

[lord trumpton]

Posting this question on behalf of an elderly lady whom I know.

She live in a row of Victorian terraced houses and she is having issues with her neighbours; a young family.

Basically the neighbours property still has the original wooden roof guttering and this is joined to the elderly lady's property. Said wooden guttering is leaking in many places and somehow the leaking water is finding it's way into the lady's property. The walls next to the neighbour; Bathroom upstairs and reception room downstairs, are suffering with damp patches and mould.

I have only become aware of the situation last night, but apparently it has been going on a while. Old lady has mentioned it to the neighbours a few times but they have not done anything to fix their guttering. I assume it's a fairly expensive job and being a young family; not an enticing propsition to spend a lot of money getting it fixed.

What is the correct, formal way to get this resolved? She does not want any confrontation, arguments or bad feeling with them as they are generally OK. It's just the damage is getting so bad that it's causing her to worry and get upset about it.

Any thoughts appreciated

[Hoofy]

The family must have similar problems? If not, it will happen at some point in the future, surely?

It would be cheaper for them to get it fixed now rather than later and have to pay to replaster the inside walls (what happened to a friend's place when they left it too long and the interior plaster fell away from the wall!).

[xstian]

lord trumpton said:

She does not want any confrontation, arguments or bad feeling with them as they are generally OK. It's just the damage is getting so bad that it's causing her to worry and get upset about it.

If this is the case, offer to pay for the work to be done. Even then she might still fall out with them.

I'm not sure you can actually force someone to make repairs to there house.

I live in a terraced house. We have a damp patch on the party wall. Its bad enough to make the plaster crumble and fall off. It caused I think because the neighbors shower leaks. Its been like this for 3 years. The house is rented to a old women who speaks very little English and I have no idea who the landlord is. I don't see I have any option but to keep repairing it and put up with it until someone does something about it.

[dxg]

Environmental health at the council? Could the council step in and make the repairs, forcing the next family to pay for their costs?

Party wall act?

A civil case?

All stabs in the dark.

[Marvtec]

Surely the only way it can be impacting her house is if there is a leak where the guttering is joined between the houses, you say the neighbours has wooden guttering (btw really? I've never seen that!) so I assume this has been replaced on her house.

If so, surely it's best to get someone in to fix any issues at the join, and anywhere near enough that could cause issues within reach.

Also take it with a pinch of salt that its definitely the neighbours guttering at fault for all these damp issues! Unless its been verified by an expert.

[kowalski655]

Insurance claim for the OPs friend,& then they will get their outlay back from the neighbours or their insurers?

Xstian, you should be able to get Landlord details from the land registry

[NorthDave]

I had this - next doors guttering dripped on to my property and damaged it over time. I mentioned it everytime I saw them and eventually they got it sorted.

If it was damaging inside the house I would ask them in and show them the damage. This may shame them in to fixing it. If not I would then get my own guy round to fix and assume they are utter scum bags - you could possibly recover via small claims court but that sours the relationship for ever more.

[Craikeybaby]

NorthDave said:

I had this - next doors guttering dripped on to my property and damaged it over time. I mentioned it everytime I saw them and eventually they got it sorted.

If it was damaging inside the house I would ask them in and show them the damage. This may shame them in to fixing it. If not I would then get my own guy round to fix and assume they are utter scum bags - you could possibly recover via small claims court but that sours the relationship for ever more.

That's what I would do. Although I had a similar issue with my neighbour and ended up just fixing the issue myself (with their permission).

[brrapp]

I don't know how you do it down there in England, but up here in Scotland there's a very good chance that the guttering on a terraced house is actually part of the common elements to the entire building and therefore a joint responsibility between all the owners in the terrace. This is quite often ignored with most people just repairing/replacing the section which pertains to their own house as required, but it can come in handy if one person isn't doing their bit. I'd get your old lady to check her title deeds.

[Andehh]

Do the young family own or rent? If they are renting chances are they will have little interest as it is the landlord's responsibility.

You need to ascertain who you need to be speaking to before you go hammering on the young families door!

[Spare tyre]

Whatever you do don't fall out with them, makes selling / existing there a misery

I'd be tempted to get it sorted myself if they offer to pay it's a result, if not at least you have the issue resolved and have done the right thing


A lot of people are hard up and simply don't want to spend out on this sort of stuff as they can't post it to face book to show off as if it were a new car or sofa on finance

[Peanut Gallery]

Xstian, as above, get the landlords details through land registry, you do get some dodgy landlords but any I have dealt with are more than happy to spend the required to keep the property in ok condition, wetrot not being the cheapest to remove.

[xstian]

Peanut Gallery said:

Xstian, as above, get the landlords details through land registry, you do get some dodgy landlords but any I have dealt with are more than happy to spend the required to keep the property in ok condition, wetrot not being the cheapest to remove.

I did look into this once before. The next door terrace house is a shop (hairdresser) and there is a separate flat above. The damp is coming from the hairdresser's. The lady who rents it also lives in the shop, I can't imagine she is meant to be living there, but its none of my business. Neither of these places have a No. on the door, but I'm No. 50 so I assume they are 52a and 52b, which is which I don't know. They both have title plans for leasehold and freehold. I did apply for a copy of the title once and it belonged to a company rather than a person.

By the look of the place I would say the landlord wouldn't care less. Also with it being a commercial property, would it be the responsibility of the landlord or the occupant?