Party Wall Agreement/Damp

[^woody^]

That garage has been damp since it was built. The new neighbour has inherited the condition.

The way I see it is that there's two, maybe three things at play here.

1. First is the right to be free from dampness caused by others. Land piled up a house wall causing damage internally would normally be something that the person with the land causing the damp would be responsible for rectifying.
2. The second is right to support. A landowner at a higher level has the right for the land to be supported by the landowner at the lower level
3. Thirdly, a landowner at the lower level must accept (and deal with) the natural rainwater run-off from land at a higher level

The issue here though is that its not living accommodation, the wall is not designed to keep the internal space dry, its an historic situation (ie been accepted). But primarily, (1) wont apply as the land is not piled up against the wall as would be if the land was level, but its a case of a higher and lower land, so (2) takes precedence. Consider whether someone with a basement can blame their neighbours without a basement is the basement gets damp.

In this case, the garage owner must provide support to the higher land (can not insist that the land is dug away) and must therefore (if he deems it necessary) protect his wall from dampness at his expense. Whether that done internally or if the higher land neighbour wants to be helpful and allow him access to the higher land to do the necessary work externally is up for agreement. But either way, its not the higher landowners responsibility to protect the lower landowners wall.

(3) ties in with (2)

The best suggestion would be for the neighbour to find another builder, and preferably one with a clue

 

[CandiceM]

Thank you all very much for all your help, you’ve been most reassuring.

We’ll be as accommodating as we can to the neighbours, we want to get along and be neighbourly, but ultimately we don’t want to take for responsibility for something that isn’t ours to take.

Off to pour a large glass of wine and calm down - thank you again!