Help ! Neighbours demanding money!

I'm really hopping someone here will give us some advice before this becomes a neighbour clash!

OK we live in a large with house that has been broken down into 4 maisonettes. Our house is the first house on the road. Next to us are a two semi detached houses and we are not connected well we do share the fence that borders our gardens. Anyways the two semi detached house are owned by a two older couples. I've wrote before that months ago when Phil dropped some mail the house furthest from us had asked for £18 because his drains were blocked. Well today the other neighbour from the semi detached houses has come around stating that he's had to get his drains unpluged and wants us (all 4 maisonettes ) to pay his £200+ bill because the drains are connected. When Phil asked what was the reason for the blockage he said he didn't know and he thought the dynamo guy said it was limescale. The neighbour stated that it's only fair because they had to call dynamo and since the drains flow on an incline they are getting all the blockage problems from the houses ahead...or that's his theory to why he's getting a blockage. When I asked if that's what the dynamo guy said he responded that he didn't know eh how can you not remember why you've got a £200 bill

OK I'm confused is this right?? can a neigbour one house down start requiring for us to pay his bill because we are the house at the beginning of the road. Who's to say the house at the bottom of the road start asking for money for his blocked  drains??  Seems to me a bit cheeky?

What are we supposed to do ? do we go to the council to make it official or to ask for advice??

David said he asked for it to be done...he took it upon himself without asking your input on the idea. Therefore he should be responsible for the bill.

Is the drains not part of what the council should be responsible for?? and why didn't he speak to them before getting the work done..I would tell him to sod off!

Yep I agree, he should have spoken up before getting it done and asked ahead of time if you'd be prepared to chip in.  Don't pay unless he can get something in writing from the plumber showing that you are partially responsible, and explaining why that is.   Even then I'd dispute it as he didn't ask you in advance. I mean, you may know a plumber who would have done it at a better rate.

I don't know if the council can help you .. might be worth giving them a call.

Absolutly what everyone else says. He should've consulted everyone else first. He called for the services therefore its his bill.

Next he'll be asking that everyone else pay to have his garden weeded because the weeds are blowing over from your gardens! 

ohhhh I should walk around my street picking up garbage then go around door to door asking for money lol

OK I'm confused is this right?? can a neigbour one house down start requiring for us to pay his bill because we are the house at the beginning of the road. Who's to say the house at the bottom of the road start asking for money for his blocked  drains??  Seems to me a bit cheeky?

Yeah, I remember you guys had trouble with this before, didn't you? Unless there's something written into your lease or mortgage that the bills for plumbing are to be split between all parties, I don't see how you're required to pay.

I think, in your position, I might do the following: ask the guy to get a detailed bill for the work done. If you feel the plumbing has considerably improved due to the work done, you might offer to pay some of the bill if the work done vs the bill doesn't seem too outrageous to you. If it does, offer to get involved with all parties the next time work needs to be done so that everyone knows what is going on and everyone can make a decison as to whom to use for the work and how much everyone is willing to put into the kitty. It's just a way to keep a bit of peace, really.

There's no reason anyone but the person who called out the plumber should pay the bill, just thinking that if paying a piece of the bill keeps the atmosphere around your home peaceful,it might be worth it.

Nothing to add really, just agreeing that he has the responsibility to arrange with you first before calling any tradesman, that is if in fact you are responsible for a portion of the payment but in this case it does sound fishy. I would check what your deeds say.

Next he'll be asking that everyone else pay to have his garden weeded because the weeds are blowing over from your gardens! 

 

As many have said I thought that as well. I find it a bit unfair really and cheeky for someone that has lived by us for over 6 years not said a word not even a hello to come round  first time ever and ask for his bill to be paid. I feel like we would need to consult someone official and send a letter stating that this is their responsibility as owners of their house. Now if the problem is due to anything we've done (IE: chucked more crap than necessary down the drain) then I feel we are happy to pay. He's told us he's consulted the other owners and he said that the others have agreed we are the only flat that have said no.

Phil is thinking that he should just pay and not cause any bother while I'm the one saying who's to say that they come every month and asking that the bill has gone higher and higher. Phil is also offering to assist in fixing the problem to prevent it from happening again. I don't think that we should because that could land us in problems just in case something does happen to the drains then they can easily say well that was your fault as Phil is not a professional plumber. That is their responsibility as home owners and they should consult with planning or whatever not just plonk the bill onto someone else. Considering that these two neighbours have the habit of parking at our front door on a regular basis! Maybe I should start a tab

Phil is thinking that he should just pay and not cause any bother

I think I might do the same -- pay up. Sometimes it's worth it to keep on relatively good terms with your neighbours. But I would tell them that in the future it would be considerate if they'd check with you before doing any repairs that they expect you to contribute to. It might even be a good idea for all four maisonettes to come up with a written agreement about what constitutes communal repairs and what sort of work all four of you agree to chip in for.

He's told us he's consulted the other owners and he said that the others have agreed we are the only flat that have said no.

Alicia, it might even be good to ask the other people just in case. Has he really contacted them? Are they really in agreement or just paying up because they don't know better? Two are older people so maybe they pay up because they have been told they must.

Phil is thinking that he should just pay and not cause any bother while I'm the one saying who's to say that they come every month and asking that the bill has gone higher and higher.

How often are they asking for this? Every month? I am not a plumber but that must be an awful lot of limescale.

It might even be worthwhile speaking to a plumber. I know our plumber is very reasonably priced.

I would never pay up just to keep the peace.

last december it was £18 and now it's a separate £40 for calling dynamo again...I keep sensing they are going to just continually ask for money without consulting any of us.

they were told in December  when Phil went around to drop their mail that we needed to talk to FIL about it but really they needed to consult us before getting dynamo over yet they have done it again without consulting any of us.  

If the fault is due to us then I'm happy to pay. We need to talk to the other 3 maisonettes to see if they did agree or was it just something he said to get us to say yes we'll pay.

I would not pay..I think by paying you agree to his saying that your house has contributed to his problem...which this may or may not be true....but you don't want to be seen agreeing or taking responsibility to the drainage problem.

He should have gotten permission from someone before calling someone to come and clear the drains...he took it on he should pay for the bill..

You don't want him coming back in years time and saying you had caused this again now pay up on a bill twice as high!

I would not pay..I think by paying you agree to his saying that your house has contributed to his problem...which this may or may not be true....but you don't want to be seen agreeing or taking responsibility to the drainage problem.

He should have gotten permission from someone before calling someone to come and clear the drains...he took it on he should pay for the bill..

You don't want him coming back in years time and saying you had caused this again now pay up on a bill twice as high!

I agree....too much! Of course you don't want bad blood between you but then again....he hasn't said even a casual hello for six years and has the cheek to come over and ask for money...wow...talk about gull! If he was soo concerned about the drains I would have thought he would have come to everyone and asked if they had problems and if not would have had the expert come and look and provide an assessment on paper to show his fellow neighbors. Do contact the others and see what they have heard and what they are doing...i.e. - contributing to his bill?

Phil has talked to his dad ...he's an engineer and he's said no don't pay. The drains aren't connected in the sense that the problem can only be due to the next door neighbour it can be a problem due to the homes 3-5 rows up.  He's told phil that if the deeds state that they are responsible for maintenance then it should have been legally stated before the sale of the maisonette. It's two sets of houses next door would that mean that we would need to pay for both of their clogged drains?? So Phil is going tommorrow and very cordially tell them that although he's very sorry for hearing that their drains were clogged he's not obliged to make any payments.


To me that seems to be that's the perts and disadvantages of choosing to live in that house. I was livid today when this guy sets foot only to ask for money and the other guy only uses this guy as a go between