Disintagrating wall, advise needed??

[Rick2517]

I have found myself in a sticky situation and am really not sure what to do.

Last week we carried out work on the removal of a large conifer tree, the tree was on the rear boundary of a domestic property overhanging a rear neighbouring garden and a dividing wall, before carrying out works I asked the customer to advice the rear neighbour that we will need access to her garden which he did and access was grated by a lady that turns out to be the tenant.

 

We began to carry out the dismantle and all was going well until the climber for whatever reason placed a foot on top of the 10feet hight neighbours party wall, at this time he was tied in to an anchor point at the top of the tree so only a fraction of his body weight was on the wall however the wall collapsed beneath him into the neighbours garden!!! "oooopps"

 

I was not on site when this happened but I was called instantly and made my way strait to the property to asses the damage, the 10 feet hight wall had absolutely disintegrated and the mortar between the bricks was crumbling away also the remaining wall is on a lean. I immediately informed all neighbours and my insurance company of the events.

 

Anyway to get to the point the lady that gave us permission turns out to be a tenant and the owner is accusing us of trespassing and also trying to get me to pay to re build the wall which can not be done as the remaining structure is un safe and I strongly feel that the wall should have been taken down a long time ago as it was obviously unsafe.

What would you do???

[bob]

let the insurance sort it out

thats what it is there for

tell them the facts and send some pics and move on

not pleasant but part of life:001_huh:

[Rick2517]

Totally agree but my access is £500 and premiums will go up 15% next year. I was hopping to settle the case outside of insurance but the guy is being unreasonable. I was thinking of seeking legal advice but not sure if I would be in a strong position to fight my case!

[Stephen Blair]

You never got the right approval and your guy broke the wall, look at it from the owners point of view.

As Bob says, hand it over to the insurane company and learn from it, we all have horror stories like this unfortunately , the joys of running your own business. Bad luck mate

[Taupotreeman]

Sorry mate, probably hard to hear but your man caused the wall to fail so it's up to you to put it right. Regardless of whther the wall was manky in the first place it WAS standing. As part of the hazard ID it should have been pointed out that the wall was at tipping point. You'll just have to suck it up and wear the cost.

[likeitorlumpit]

Have you got pre pictures of the wall

If so do they indicate dangerous/unstable

If so- what measures did you put in place to protect the wall

The owner may be trying it on but if the wall had fallen in a storm then he could probably have claimed on his property insurance

So now he claims on you- life don't always work out cool

Take note and move on- you're lucky the wall didn't fall on your groundie- then you'd have risk assessment stuff/ H&S possibly

Think yourself lucky

Isn't it great when you turn a negative into a positive

My job today- sorting out an neighbours private shed supply electric cable we cut that was hanging in a tree we worked on. I wonder what the legal side of that is!

[Rick2517]

Im happy to repair the damage that we have made but the problem is the owner is expecting us to completely re build his wall as new! I except we should not have pushed it over and for that i am liable for some compensation but this guy has seen this situation as a way to screw me over and get a new wall out of it. Surely i am only liable to repair the damage i have made therefore to put him back in the position he was before we where there, but to do this would mean to re build a un safe wall!

Im trying to get hold of a builder today to quote me a price for just re building the damaged part of the wall and that is what my offer to the owner will be and not a penny more.

 

I have also found out that a this guy has been aware of the bad state of the wall for over a year and did not make the tenant aware of its unsafe state, it could have been a kid kicking a football against it! If that was the case would it then be fair to seek compensation from the kids mum?

As far as im concerned if we have the curtsy to ask permission to gain access to a property from the occupant and they grant it without telling us that they are not the owner then how am i ment to know any better?

[skyhuck]

The claim of trespass is rubbish, in the eyes of the law the tenant has more rights of access than the landlord, so they had the right to grant you access.

 

Unfortunately the wall was up when you started and down when you finished, this situation needs reversing by you.

 

The state of the wall should have been spotted before you began and a decision on whether to risk it or not taken.

[niftysteve]

sounds like the wall was either full of frost damage or its really old and built with lime mortar have you any pics

[Rick2517]

Yea il post pics later and also let you know what the outcome of the builders quotation is.

The wall was 10feet hight and 15feet wide, built with red brick at 1 brick thickness, had no structural supports, and the mortar was totally blown.

Again il stress my point that I hold my hands up to damage caused by me but why should i build him a sound wall when it was not sound to begin with.

In regards to risk assessment the wall was only seen by the neighbours garden and at face value seemed structurally sound and not leaning. It wasn't until after at closer inspection we realised that the remaining part of wall was leaning.

 

Im no structural engineer but i know that any wall should at least be safe enough to take part of a mans body weight and i think its safe to say that we all have stood on walls, fences and so on without first structurally surveying them!

 

I dont mean to sound argumentative toward you guys that are giving me good advice but im so frustrated with this guy who is being so unreasonable towards me, all I want to do is come to a fair agreement but he isnt interested and wants to take advantage of the situation at my expense.