We live in a Victorian mid-terrace house that has been converted in to two flats. We are in the ground floor flat.
Our neighbours on one side have recently informed us that large damp patches and crumbing plaster in their upstairs room have been found to be caused by multiple issues with the shared chimney stack. They have had various roofers over who have all agreed this and are quoting around £8000 to fix.
As the chimney stack is shared on the party wall they are asking us and our upstairs neighbour to share the cost to fix the chimney (we own a share of the freehold with the upstairs flat).
We have had no damp coming through in to our flat and the upstairs flat have said they have none either.
The next door neighbours had work done a few months ago to their chimney so they can use a log burner. Since damp issues only arose after this we asked them if they could have been caused by their builders. They said they had the builders back over but they said it's nothing to do with the work they did.
We got another roofer to look at the chimney to confirm, they have also agreed with the work that needs doing. So we have agreed to pay one quarter of the costs. Costs shared between properties would be covered by half from our next door neighbours and a quarter each from us and the upstairs flat.
Our issue is with the upstairs flat owner. They are not happy as they are having no issues on their side of the wall. They have reluctantly said they will agree to the work being done so the neighbours can sort their damp crumbling walls. But they are not currently working and say they cannot afford to pay anything towards the repair work.
Our next door neighbours have asked us to go half's with them in covering her part of the cost as they want this fixed asap. But we cannot afford to do that. We can barely afford our share! How do I go about telling them this? Was this fair of them to ask?
I don't see why we should cover this cost, especially when we are downstairs and having no damp issues whatsoever. We are happy to pay our share for the work but not somone else's. We will likely never get the money back.
Obviously our neighbour doesn't feel that they should have to pay it either. But they are the ones that need to fix the issue imminently as it is affecting their property.
What should be done in these circumstances? Can we get the upstairs flat to sign a repayment plan for what she will owe if the neighbours pay for the work?
We do not want to get into any disputes with anyone as we are hoping to move in the next year or two.