Guttering dispute with next door neighbour

station1212 · 28 Jan 2016

Hi Big all

Ive thought of that but (strangely) the company the insurance company used is over an hours drive away and i dont know how to see if they would do a one week hire so i can disprove there claim to the insurers that their minimum hire for scaffolding is 4 weeks (£3200) !!!!

big-all · 28 Jan 2016

can you not phone them ??

Mikefromlondon · 28 Jan 2016

Don't forget companies love when it is underwritten claim, and the job or work carried out will be paid by the insurance company, that way they can put in all kind of charges and insurances companies pay that unlike you or I would question is this really necessary or can you not do it with an alternative material that is a lot cheaper, etc etc,
I once took my car to get a quote for a respray, the guys said sorry we don't do non-insurance work. They know it is hard to rip off ordinary owners but they can put in a big charge for things that aren't even necessary. For a car respray they could put in as much as £2K for a medium priced car that has been keyed, and whereas I would not want to pay more than say £600 for a respray on a 15 year old car.

station1212 · 28 Jan 2016

Your right mike

But as you say I can't do anything about that ...if I challenge their costs I'm going to get nowhere I think ??

station1212 · 28 Jan 2016

They e mailed me last week to say that their solicitors are dealing with it now...more cost no doubt

chappers · 28 Jan 2016

station1212 said:
My pictures of next doors guttering quite clearly show that it is so badly supported ( missing brackets) that it runs out by approx 2 to 3 inchs in parts yet the (surveyor / who never mentioned this ) was happy to conclude that some 5 months after my stepson had done the work he claimed we had moved Next doors guttering 1/2 an inch where the two properties join !!!!!

See this is their big problem, the "surveyor" should have reported back and said what needs doing is the guttering needs raising back to level(despite it having historically been like that) and the insurance company should then have said "well in that case we're not paying out for a complete replacement, this is a neighbourly dispute"
What did the "surveyors" report say.

Ironically you may now have more luck dealing with their solicitors, write to them refuting the claim, enclosing all your evidence including google earth references etc. As was previously said by someone don't bother going down the route of questioning the costs. Just stick to the facts and show that you haven't actually caused the damage they claim, if you have photographic/google earth evidence that the end of the gutter has been dropped like that for years that should be the end of the matter and maybe they will go chase the contractors who made up the spurious claims as to the damage you caused. although in reality that really is the insurers lookout they should have investigated further before authorising the works.

station1212 · 28 Jan 2016

Thanks chappers ...wish I could find out for sure whether the insurers acted responsibly / legally in replacing all his guttering without first contacting me

Gerrydelasel · 28 Jan 2016

Solicitors will send you endless letters insisting that it is 'essential' that you employ your own solicitor to deal with the matter on your behalf. You can ignore this. It's designed so they can drag the whole thing out between themselves, for as long as possible, until the money dries up. You don't need a solicitor. This will also really annoy them!

station1212 · 28 Jan 2016

I'm happy to deal with this myself unless it goes to court then I'd have to speak to a solicitor I think ☺

chappers · 29 Jan 2016

wise move, as said just refute the claim , fire them you proof of previous condition, particularly any evidence of the sagging gutter, as this is the damage they claim you have caused./ and leave the ball in their court. Solicitors are cautious beasts and contrary to popular belief, don't like taking on fights and leaving judgements down to judges. I'm sure if you can show that their claim is unfounded and the guttering was dropped historically they will advise their client to back down. If their gutter had dropped there would have been evidence in the down pipes.
Out of interest what works have their contractors carried out

station1212 · 29 Jan 2016

Hi Chappers
Thanks again for your thoughts
The down pipe at the front of the property is ever so slightly on his side as thats where the drain is for the rainfall. And it was plastic not cast..Only one bracket on that length of cast !!!! and taht was at the opposite end from the down spout..so his entire length of cat was being held up by the plastic downspout and the fact it was bolted to the next length of cast on his property side..As thats dropped on the left hand side as you look at the propert it has , because its bolted to the next length of cast , it has started to lift the second length of cast out of the first bracket on the second length of cast, that in turn is clearly seen to be lifting the third length of cast downwards ...Its awful state of repair and i cant beleive the "surveyor" Didnt comment or appartently see this !!!!!

That is sagging downwards ( sorry was sagging downwards until the builders sent by the insurance company ripped it all down without warning)
The insurers sent a guy from the builders to look at the job and he reported we had pulled next doors gutter downwards to fit into our new guttering ...I have google earth images from 2009 which clearly show his gutter in the same downward position as the day they ripped it all down.
When i challenged his comments he replied to the insurers saying
It may well have been in that downward position already but upon him looking at the gutter he noticed we had placed a half inch ply wood packer at the gutters end where it used to join our property. He claimed we had fitted that to pull his gutter out to line up with our new gutter.
In reality our gutter man knocked on next doors to telll him we were about to take our cast iron gutter down and as it was attached to his at the back of the property our man was worried that the only thing that would be holding his gutter up would be a rusty 6 inch nail (picture taken by us )that the old guy next door had banged into his rafters end. Im sure you will agree a six inch rotting nail is not sufficient to hold up a heavy cast gutter.So Our man took one of the old brackets off our property and fitted it onto his side to support his dangerous gutter . He informed next door that he was doing that but as next doors gutter was so out of line ( pics available ) that he had to use a packer to bridge the gap.
He also informed him that his guttering was in a dangerous condition and should be looked at.
The insurers/ builders "surveyor" aslo stated that the insured man next door had told him that his guttering was fine before we did our work and that after our gutter was finished he noticed that water was running down his walls front and back of his property !!!!! I would love to know how a gutter that had been moved (allegedly) half an inch would lead to water missing a gutter that is approx 6 inches wide and as can be seen from my pics is still in a position to catch the rainfall from the roof.
Sorry but im so angry that once i get typing i cant stop !!!!
To answer your question about what work the contractors carried out ....They removed all his old 80 year old cast guttering and replaced it with new upvc including all downspouts (and new fascias which he didnt have before )

You know chappers the best way i can describe the state of his gutters is by saying if you can imagine a a freight train and its carraiges linked together in a way that meant they couldnt be broked apart..that train has a crash and you can imagine how the carraiges would look if they were veiwed from the air ...The first carraige would hit the floor and pull the second carraige which would pull the third and so on
Well thats what his guttering looks like on the pictures ..It runs out in some parts by approx 3 inchs !!!!!!!!!!!