Next house is cause of nuisance- noise, rubbish, etc.

[jayjaykay100]

Sorry if this may not be the correct forum but I'm having trouble with a landlord. I own and live in my own house but live next to a house that is let out to tenants.

The previous tenants have just been evicted due to a dispute with the landlord about the condition of the property and they have put Environmental Health onto him and he has to carry out building work before he can let it out again.

I'm all for him doing the place up but he is trying to rush the work so has ended up gutting the place and piling the rubbish up dangerously high outside my front door. The house is in a terrace and we share the same front gate. He is also trying to do the work through the night. I had to get pretty nasty at 11pm last night to stop the builders and decorators from working. I had tried to be nice on Friday asking them to stop knocking out a chimney breast at 10pm on the Friday night.

I will be contacting the Environmental Health today to see if I can constrain the builders to only working normal hours during the day but has anyone ever had this problem on the forum and do they have any advice?

Thanks

Jay

[MrShed]

Environmental health and noise pollution people. Cant see any other way really to be honest!

[susan 2]

Dear Jayjay - I agree with Mr. Shed. Just a point and I may be wrong on this (and if I am, I'm sure someone will tell me!) but as you are in a terrace and he is knocking down chimneybreasts, does he not need a party wall agreement from you. I would mention this when you contact envoiromental health or try building regs. It may be a way you could put some pressure on him re the noise. People gutting places may do terrible things and you do not want your house damaged. Best of luck Susan

[SteveP]

Might be worth trying the Health and Safety Executive, if the debris is causing any risk to health and safety.


does he not need a party wall agreement from you.

He may be doing work that is notifiable under the Party Wall Etc,.Act 1996. Is so he should have served notice on you before the works commenced, did he do that?

If he did then contact a surveyor who deals with party wall matters.

If he did not then you have a more difficult problem. If you are sure he is doing work that is notifiable then you could go to a judge and apply for an injunction halting the works, but this is expensive and you may never recover the costs. You cetainly won't recover the costs if you are wrong and no notifiable work is being done, indeed you will run the risk of paying his costs of getting the injunction lifted and possibly damages for the delay caused.

If you are not prepared to get an injunction then there is nothing you can do in respect of party wall matters, unless some damage is done to you property, in which case you can claim damages.

There is a booklet explaining the Act here http://www.odpm.gov.uk/stellent/groups/odpm_buildreg/documents/page/odpm_breg_600574.hcsp but bear in mind that it is just a guide, it is not a definitive statement as to the law. In fact there are some things in it that most surveyors who are experts in party wall matters, me included, think are plain wrong. But the process described is correct.

[jayjaykay100]

Thanks for your advice,

Seems that me having a word has made it clear I'm not going to be tolerating building work going on through the night. Had a quiet night last night. I called Environmental Health and they were very eager to start proceedings to stop the work happening outside the hours of 8am - 6pm Monday to Friday.

Regards
Jay