C
CELINE
Guest
Hi All,
first time user, long time reader
Long story cut short,
My father has a rental property. He recently engaged a builder to add a small extension to his house. My father knew this builder very well and fully trusts him , given his location from the house he left the builder carry out the work without too many visits so he wasn’t keeping a close eye on the work.
About a month into the build neighbour came in and she claimed the builders were causing damage to her home. Builder asked how damage was caused she said vibrations from builder’s drills were causing her floor & wall tiles to crack. He went in to view damage with her. There were about 4 tiles cracked around the island in her kitchen (which itself is an extension) Builder at the time noticed the island had a granite/marble counter top and he asked what type of floor structure was put in, she said floating floorboards, he asked if her builder had reinforced the floorboard joists per building regulations to accommodate the excessive weight of a stone counter top on the island above it, she wouldn’t answer.
At the time builder noticed floor had sunk significantly below the skirting boards, which led him to assume the house was suffering from subsidence or the foundations were not built properly, these 2 houses are in the countryside and in a pretty boggy area
My father was away for a holiday has since received number of solicitors letters in his absence (3 or 4 can’t remember) demanding he as principal admits liability and pays the repairs of €8,ooo euro
My father thinks this is extortion/opportunism, the builder has notified his insurance company who have sent an engineer to prepare a report (due back next week)
The neighbour refuses to provide an engineer’s report.
The Builder is adamant that the damage was previously caused, he has even put it in writing that if it was the result of his poor workmanship he would pay repairs but he’s not going to cave into extortion.
Question is should my father engage a solicitor to reply to the letters? Or can anyone advise what the correct process is to follow in this instance
first time user, long time reader
Long story cut short,
My father has a rental property. He recently engaged a builder to add a small extension to his house. My father knew this builder very well and fully trusts him , given his location from the house he left the builder carry out the work without too many visits so he wasn’t keeping a close eye on the work.
About a month into the build neighbour came in and she claimed the builders were causing damage to her home. Builder asked how damage was caused she said vibrations from builder’s drills were causing her floor & wall tiles to crack. He went in to view damage with her. There were about 4 tiles cracked around the island in her kitchen (which itself is an extension) Builder at the time noticed the island had a granite/marble counter top and he asked what type of floor structure was put in, she said floating floorboards, he asked if her builder had reinforced the floorboard joists per building regulations to accommodate the excessive weight of a stone counter top on the island above it, she wouldn’t answer.
At the time builder noticed floor had sunk significantly below the skirting boards, which led him to assume the house was suffering from subsidence or the foundations were not built properly, these 2 houses are in the countryside and in a pretty boggy area
My father was away for a holiday has since received number of solicitors letters in his absence (3 or 4 can’t remember) demanding he as principal admits liability and pays the repairs of €8,ooo euro
My father thinks this is extortion/opportunism, the builder has notified his insurance company who have sent an engineer to prepare a report (due back next week)
The neighbour refuses to provide an engineer’s report.
The Builder is adamant that the damage was previously caused, he has even put it in writing that if it was the result of his poor workmanship he would pay repairs but he’s not going to cave into extortion.
Question is should my father engage a solicitor to reply to the letters? Or can anyone advise what the correct process is to follow in this instance