Hi,

I have a problem with my neighbour, I am having some cavity wall insulation done shortly and have asked to gain access to his property to put some scaffolding, he will have 4 poles in his garden, the company wont do work without scaffolding.

I got a defient no from the neighbour, Do I have any rights on this, as i need access to my house to do maintenance.

can someone advise

thanks

You might be a bit stuck here. I can only think of two possibilities - both long shots.

1. Party Wall Act 1996 - depending where the boundary of the property is and whether your end wall butts up to it, you may be allowed access for 'maintenance' (s2) , but cavity wall insulation is pushing it a bit.

2. An easement allowing you access for maintenance - a total guess and probably extremely unlikely.

How about offering the neighbour a bottle (or case) of their favourite tipple for the inconvenience - much easier (and more likely to get a result) than going to law.

It's worth asking the neighbour why he has declined permission.

It may be he is concerned that the poles will damage his garden; and it may be that the scaffolding company has a way of avoiding that or limiting it to a level your neighbour will tolerate.

Tim.

3 issues:

1) If the wall you are working on is a party wall then you need to serve a notice on your neighbour under the Party Wall etc. Act - lots of links explaining this if you google the act

2) If it is not a party wall check out the Access to Neighbouring Land Act - again googling this will get you lots of results.

3) offer your neighbour the case of wine as suggested above

the scaffolding will be down on concrete, between his water butts, and he wouldnt take a case of wine I am sure of that.

It all started 1 year ago, when I was laying parking bay concrete down, he had a bit of dust from the working go on his car and he flew of the handle and started swearing at me, because he had to clean his car again, since then not spoke to him, and he is just being akward, the scaffolding will be up for 2 1/2 days at the max.

Ah. So he's teaching you a lesson.

I expect your taking legal action will only make things worse.

Have you tried other insulating companies and told them the problem to see if they can come up with a solution?

Tim

I have no knowledge of CWI techniques, so laugh if you think it's a stupid idea, but could the contractors do that wall from the inside?

Elsinore

i was under the impression they had to drill ap;prox 2" hole to get the insulation in, dont relish 2" holes on inside of house

If it is 2" then I agree with you. That would take a lot of making good.

Ours was done with a 22mm drill. I would have found this tolerable, especially if I could have persuaded the contractor to drill at discreet points to minimise/conceal cosmetic repair.

Elsinore

I agree with the non court route of trying to tempt your neighbor with a few bottles of his favourite wine etc.

If you have to get a County Court order to get access then you'll also be required to "compansate" your neighbor for the inconvience.

So a few cases, might just be the cheaper option .

Regards,

Tom3131.