Neighbour soil level against back wall

[emmie5353]

I live in a three storey Victorian villa. There is no back garden - the back wall of the house is in the neighbours behind us garden. There is damp on the ground floor of our house. This is due to the neighbours garden having soil approx 1 metre above ground level piled up against our back wall. Damp proof course has been installed over 20 years ago into the back wall at this higher level. The neighbours are elderly and refute that the soil level is above ground level because of the damp proof course. I’ve paid for a surveyor report that confirms penetrative damp due to soil level against the back wall. Shared report with neighbours and they are now avoiding me like the plague - how do I approach getting this addressed?

 

[a twig]

Depends on your finances and enthusiasm I guess.

In a similar situation with some not entirely helpful neighbours I took the view that it was affecting me rather than my neighbour so approached them and said that while it was technically their issue, I would pay and do all the organising / leg work, all they had to do was give me permission to do it.

As soon as they realised they weren’t on the hook for anything it was all sunshine and roses, we agreed a solution that solved the problem, that they were happy with and minimised the impact on them (in fact they got a new fence out of it), and we got everything sorted in a couple of months.

 

[LadyArowana]

Unfortunately you’re probably facing the choice of adopting Twig’s approach or waiting for them to die.