A neighbour's builder has damaged my wall

[frazerd]

A party wall along the front boundary to my and my neighbour's property has been damaged. They decided to knock down their half of the wall and replace it. Fine, except that there is no butress securing either side of the wall in the middle, where the builder simply cut the wall in half with a circular saw. In doing so he has rendered my half of the wall unsafe and liabe to collapse if a member of the public leans on it (it is about 1 metere high). He also broke lose 2 bricks when cutting it. Added to this, as there is a manhole right behing the middle of the wall in spanning our gardens a buttress would be difficult to install.

I waited to see if a repair would take place for 2 months, nothing. So I issued a polite letter requesting a schedule of works and time scale, to be replied to within 14 days, failing which I would have to take legal advice. No response (we don't communicate anyway - so no suprise).

I have asked a favour of a surveyor and he is to take a quick visit to see what can be done to secure the wall, and take some pictures. He said I would then need to get an estimate from a couple of builders to carry out the recommended works. I'm unable to pay a builder and would not ask them to do the job without payment.

I have been advised to first take the case to a small claims court , but I'm not sure what the cost would be or my chances of success. Has anybody else had something like this happen which was resolved by a small claims court? I'd really appreciate some advice before we start spending money we can't afford.

[donna1901]

the builder should have public liability insurance, this covers him for damaging something that isn't his, i.e your wall...
i'd ask him about it.