Ref: JH/14/7’07          Jean Howe – Partner Kirkby & Diamond

As a result of a dispute between two neighbouring house owners over works that had been undertaken at one house, the matter had been placed before a Court who had requested a report be prepared by a jointly appointed Expert Witness.

 

Jean Howe, Partner at Kirkby & Diamond was appointed to prepare a report specifically upon a number of factors including dampness to the interior of the affected property, the condition of retaining walls, the standard of works undertaken by the neighbour and several other matters.

 

A very detailed inspection with numerous measurements, both of the external works, the affected parts of the structure and the interior of the affected dwellings had to be taken and a detailed report prepared for the Court.

 

After this report was provided to the Court, the Judge issued directions that Jean Howe should supervise the placing of the contract for the remedial works that had been identified as part of the report and should then supervise the works through to their satisfactory completion.

 

This involved not only dealing with both of the parties involved in the dispute and mediating between the two as to; the extent of works involved, the quality of the workmanship required, the dates and times of working on site.This also involved close liaison with the contractors in order to ensure that the work was completed to a satisfactory standard.

 

Over a contract period of 8 weeks regular inspections were made to ensure that the works were completed satisfactorily and subsequently a final report was prepared for the Court.

 

Whilst neighbour disputes are difficult at the best of times, to encounter such an escalation to actually get to Court is somewhat unusual. The delicacy of the negotiations that were undertaken between the two parties and the subsequent agreement of not only the content of the works but also the quality of the works was achieved over a long and protracted negotiation and supervision during the contract.

 

The result was that the parties were both satisfied with the works that had been completed and the outcome.