Dear real estate doctors,
Our neighbor passed away almost two years ago and her house is about to collapse. It seems inevitable that someday major remodeling or total remodeling will be needed when it eventually sells.
One house wall is actually on our border and our garden goes to it. We are concerned about the potential damage that major work on the house will do to our yard. What protection do we have?
AW, by email
The legal situation is that you can’t sue because your neighbor’s house looks ugly.
But under certain circumstances, you may have rights to adjacent properties, such as rights to support. If a retaining wall on your land is likely to collapse because your neighbor failed to maintain his side of the border, then you may have a claim.
However, as I understand it, your concern is simply the risk of damage to your yard from work that may need to be done on your neighbor’s house. This is of course a risk when someone is carrying out work on his property.
If your neighbor’s contractor causes damage to your property during the work, you may very well have a claim against the contractor if you can show that they were negligent. While contractors must be insured against such claims, there are obvious difficulties in knowing who to sue. You should really hold your neighbor liable for the damage.
The answer may lie in a statute called Party Walls, Etc., Act 1996† That says that if your neighbor is working on a party wall (a wall separating your property, half of which is owned by each of you), he must give notice under the law. Unless you expressly agree to the works, you are deemed to be “deviant”.
Then each party would appoint a surveyor who would negotiate a price for a party wall. This states that your neighbor must compensate you for any damage caused by the works.
Even if a party wall is not being worked on, the same law sometimes requires a different notification to be made if work is being done within three or six meters of the border. This depends on whether work is being carried out on the foundation of your neighbour’s property.
As a practical measure, it would be wise if you could track down the new owners of the house and see what their intentions are. It is worth checking with the Land Registry to see if the title to the property has been updated since your neighbor passed away. If not, it can be searched whether someone has received an inheritance right to the estate and you can thus find out who the executors are.
David Fleming is the head of property litigation at William Heath & Co solicitors (williamheath.co.uk)
Each week, The Telegraph’s Property Doctors bring expertise in renovations and DIY, planning, buying and selling, letting, legal and tax matters. Send your questions to [email protected]