Get a chair, this could be a long one

I own a pub. We are next door to a beauty salon and the owner lives above.

We have been having problems with our drains for some time now to the point yesterday, we had a CCTV scan and they thought the drains were collapsed £300

So today, we have had someone out to find the collapse. They have dug 4 holes in the pub (The pub closed for the day due to H&S and the smell). They started at about noon and I have just been told, that the drains hadnt collapsed but they were blocked ram solid with baby wipes. And I mean approx 2ft of them

The engineer has put his camera up towards my neighbours pipes and said yeh, they are coming from there. Theres loads sat up there too.

The problem is, relations are stained, as she has complained about 15 times about the noise from the pub. Yeh, the pub thats been there sine 1877 but she moved in. Our license allows music until 12:30 but we, as a gesture, stop at 12. But she still complains

The engineer says she needs to get hers done but not just to clear hers, but to completely clear our side as well as she will be literally, rolling the Sh!t downhill

1. Do I have a claim against her for all the work. We are looking at about £2-2.5k for all of this

2. Can I force her, legally to clear the drains past our property

3. If not, can I have it registered via a solicitor letter, that we are aware of this issue and any further incident we will be coming to her.

Thanks

Yes, you have a claim.

Also who.ever did the camera inspection bears some responsibility because a collapsed drain doesn't look like a blocked drain by any stretch of the imagination.

They were either incompetent or trying to creat a big job for themselves.

Has the blockage been cleared? Before anything is thrown away I would take pictures of it, take samples and if possible put the whole lot in a bag securely so that the smell doesn't escape.

You need to get somebody to certify what you found. I would also weigh it. Give your neighbour an opportunity to inspect it. Make sure you put this to her in writing and if she refuses to inspect it then confirmed to her in writing that she has refused to inspect it.

Yes you do have a legal action. At the very least there is a tort action in nuisance and I would say that that will be the way to go.

I think you need very carefully to get an assessment of the value of the damage which has been caused – including all the work which has been carried out in order to discover the problem and to remedy it.

Normally speaking you would want to get two quotes for the work but because this is all a bit of emergency I think you are justified in saying that you had to do it and you couldn't wait for anybody to come along and doublecheck the costs which you had agreed to pay.

I would suggest that you take photographs of absolutely everything. Let your neighbour know immediately what has been found and what you're doing about it and that you will be expecting her to foot the bill and she might like to contact her insurer.

Come back here if you want to take some serious action and we will advise you. It's pretty straightforward and of course you will win.