Please can someone provide any advice here urgently.
The flat owner below my flat are now threatening to damage my property by cutting off the boiler pipe works under my floorboard and above their ceiling. They claim the pipe works should be not above their ceiling and that they should be moved entirely to my flat. All the flats have pipe works arranged under floorboards in the entire building. They refused to speak to the freeholders and building management of the block to seek resolution.
Will the police be able to come in to arrest them once their behaviours be reported? I read that according to the criminal damage act 1971 their threatening to damage and damage properties is a criminal offence and will be charged. I have tenants living in the property and this will threaten the safety of the tenants as well. The property management of my flat are not taking any action, and I have reported this to the building management and not confident they will do anything either.
Will the UK police arrest them after they are being reported of threatening to cause damage /doing damage? I am worried without police attending and making arrest they will continue to damage the property and and well-being of the tenants in the property leaving them in distress and trauma without hot water and heat to keep the flat warm in the property.
Call the Met police, and they told this is a building management issue, not an issue for the police, they said they would not be involved. What sort of society is UK that you are not even able to report crime when someone have already told you they are going to vandalise your property and the police is not taking action?
If they do cut your pipes just let the water flow into their flat . They are below you? Idiots are everywhere . Hosepipes are still on sale in good hardware stores
You don’t explain what motivates them to make these threats. There are 3 sides to every story. You probably did something to them first. Nobody goes round threatening to cut pipes without a specific reason.
@Graham , you are being very judgemental. I do not understand why they would do this as they are reckless people, the fact they would not bother to seek resolution with the freeholders and building management to get any chartered building engineer to investigate and advise should tell you what sort of people they are. They demanded the pipes to be moved because they do not think those pipes should be above their ceiling, they do not seem to have any knowledge in the building legal matter nor do they care, the building conversion has passed all building completion certificates.
Why are they threatening to do so? Seems a bit odd, not to mention excessive, that these neighbours are willing to tear down their own ceilings extensively just to damage your pipes. How would they even do it? Won’t they risk water damage or even flooding to their own property if they did so? Do they know where your boiler pipes are located or are they planning to hack all the plaster out of their ceiling to find these pipes that they find so offensive? Particularly given their lack of any building knowledge. Difficult as it may, I would not give any credibility to their threats.
I would report all threats to police online (or ask your tenants to) and take note of the crime reference numbers, just to keep a record of events in case anything happens. Try to obtain evidence of their threats, but ultimately I don’t think the police or anyone will do anything over the threat of damage to property. Most likely they will only take action if criminal damage to your property has actually happened. And it’s a big “if” because, frankly, I wouldn’t be able to break my neighbours’ pipes above me if I tried!
They have just got the planning permission through recently and have builders in tearing down all things in their flat to rebuild.
Yes, they could not bother to understand any building/regulations, nor do they care. They demanded a week ago I moved all pipe works , I did not respond, and on Friday they called up my property management agency and told them their intention.
I have tried to call the police a few times, and logged an online crime report, they refused to send anyone in to investigate as they consider this as civil matter. It is a very hopeless situation knowing that your property is going to be vandalised by someone and the police is not going to do anything.
so they have building regs / planning to do work in the flat below? You must have had notice of this ? > Maybe they are going to insulate the ceiling ? This is not a police matter at all . You are wasting your time calling them
Planning permission give them permission to renovate what is in inside their flat, it does not give them permission to trash other property, cutting pipe works belonging to other property . Nor do they have permission to change building pipe works .
It must be done under a building inspectors control Building Control is different to Planning permission A different department. More likely to be B.C. in charge of job .They are the people to contact at your Local Council. Find local inspector and tell him the problem Freeholder and L C are your best hope. Maybe consult a solicitor?
I think I understand now. It seems the pipes are actually inside the property of the flat below, not merely under the floorboards of the flat above. They occupy space owned by the flat below. Hence the pipes are being evicted. You need to get freeholder to resolve this, not police. The position of the third party wall between the two properties needs to be made clear. It’s possible someone took liberties and put the pipe work into the flat below, who have now realised this. Or maybe not.
I think she means it is in the space between the floorboards and the plasterboard ceiling. ,if you read the first post. Usually cen, htng. guys will notch out the floor joists to slot the pipework in… For a builder to get involved with a neighbour dispute is like trying to seperate 2 fighting dogs. Maybe he is related to the people below ,or else he is a complete idiot, I suspect the latter
Good point. If they have building control involved they will take an interest in gas pipe alterations. I suggest phoning the local authority building control and discussing with them. Say as part of their works they are planning on cutting off gas pipes to other properties?
It is possible they are not consulting building control, or that they are using a third party building control company, but worth a try