Advice please…

I own a flat in an old religious building containing 10 similar flats. Recently, the developer has started work on developing an 11th flat in the basement, although he’s had planning permission for ages. To do this he has had to cut the foundations and rest 70 tonnes of building on 2 RSJ’s.

As a consequence of this work I now have cracks in my lounge walls, skirting boards and door frames. Pretty substantial 2mm wide. His structural engineer has been round and said “oh that’s fine, I expected it to be a lot worse, cracks accross the ceiling etc.”

I have consulted with a few people – our insurance company (not interested as his restoration work), a friend who’s a surveyor (has recommended a structural engineer) and my solicitor (thinks I should be looking for compensation).

I have spoken with the developer and he assured me he will make good the damage.

My question is… is it worth getting an independent structural engineer to do a report? Am I likely to get much compensation for this? Am I within my rights to insist the developer pays for structural engineer?

I could do without pi55ing the developer off as he owns the building and you never know when you might need a favour, but at the same time I’m annoyed that no one told me to expect this to happen / inconvenience of having builders and decorators in etc.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

he should rectify this..

first call should be to the Building Inspector at the Council who is looking after the restoration job…

Sure he would be interested in the cracks, particulate if they are structural rather than superficial.

also take pictures as a record.

You could take Civil action, but that will probably cost.

Worth sorting out as it could hinder any future sale of you flat.

TBH, 2mm cracks are more of an inconvenience than any structural problems, however, 2mm today may end up being a lot more once all of the works have been completed.
It will be worthwhile purchasing a tell-tale (crack monitoring gauge) yourself and record any further movement on a weekly basis. There are quite cheap and readily available;

http://www.google.co.uk/products?q=crack+monitoring+gauge+&hl=en&aq=f

If there is no further development, then allow the developer to pay for a re-decoration of your property.
If the cracks do widen, than employ a structural engineer to make an assessment. You can provide him with the back-dated information from the tell-tales.

This is a cheaper solution than paying an engineer to do this for you, specifically if the building has already stopped settling.

Keep us posted on how you get on.

Kev.

Surely there should have been a party wall agreement in place before further development began?

I assume the developer is also the freeholder?

Thanks for the advice guys. Have taken lots of pictures – sent them to my surveyor friend who said it’s definitely a cause of structural movement. I will get a gauge to measure.

Yep, the developer is the freeholder.

No party wall agreement in place

My solicitors view was that 1 of 2 things has happenned: 1. the cracks were expected and he should have informed you – rights to appose the development or 2. something has gone wrong…

I’d be expecting the developer to engage a structural engineer to advise and monitor the situation at the very least(as above, the cracks may be small now but what’s to say some more diferential settlement won’t occur in the near future). He does owe a duty of care to ensure that damage does not occur to third party properties and in my view should be compensating you for making good the damage casued so far (whihc he has said he will to be fair)

You talk about good will – he’s got more reasons to be expecting good will off the 10 owners already in the builing – judging by his attitude so far he’s going teh right way about things. I’d not pursue it any further unless he doesn’t make good on his promises.

Double post

I wonder if because the developer is the freeholder (so he owns the building) then he doesn’t need to serve notice under the party wall act?
If this is the case then I would imagine that he would be fully liable to making any repairs to the rest of the building.

If you’re getting movement and thus cracks forming I would be concerned the the work has not been undertaken in a manner that has not preserved the bearing capacity of the original foundation and has lead to differential movement between the intact foundations and the removed / re-engineered foundations.

However im a geotechnical engineer not a structural engineer and therefore usually designing foundations without buildings already on them, or looking at existing subsidence due to foundation / ground condition issues as opposed to developing issues.

1st step is photos, records and get the Council building control in.

If the guy is willing to put it right then get a witness or contract to it (witness is more discrete).

As for his surveyor/engineer – no. You want your own independent report from a structural engineer. And tbh he should be footing the bill for it.

Might also be worth going down to the CAB as well as the council building control. You may also want to check he has suitable insurance for such work and you will want some kind of guarantee on the repair work which you can pass on to any new owners or fall back on if there is any problems in future.

I would be livid!

The building inspector should be around every few days. Try and be there one time and just say – “do you mind just taking a look at this while you’re here…”

Thanks very much everyone. I shall get on to the council in the morning.

Really, really appreciate the advice.

George

A quick update.

Spoke with council and they can’t do anything at all but they were very helpful. It’s a civil matter which is advantageous in someways / disadvantageous in others.

No Party Wall Letter issued when they definitely should have as they are underpinning a party wall. Didn’t even make us aware that they were working on a party wall.

Their structural engineer came to have a look and told an independent witness he was expecting much bigger cracks accross the ceiling and where the ceiling joins the walls. Then in an email yesterday he declared that none of this could have been foreseen.

Have just sent a humdinger of a letter stating this and saying I now don’t know what to believe and don’t know if they know what they’re doing.

If this could have been foreseen (and I reckon it could) they have failed to follow any sort of procedure. If it couldn’t have been foreseen then something has gone wrong…

Just waiting for them to agree for paying for an independent structural engineer to come out and make his assessment.

Will update as and when.

Thanks again for your help.

Speak to a Party Wall Surveyor, the developer is legally obliged to pay for one for you, and they may well be able to serve notice to stop the development by about – well how does 9am tomorrow sound?

what aP says sounds like a good way to get the developers attention – nothing like having paying workers unable to work to focus the mind on finding a solution…