Restoration & Refurbishment

Building pergola next to neighbors extension, am I obliged to maintain access??

Anonymous user 03/03/2024 - 3.40 PM

Neighbor has an extension on their garden. This effectively creates a wall between our gardens, however it's built slightly on their side of the junction line, so it's their property. The wall is in need of repointing. I've told our neighbor we intend to build a Pergola in our garden, leaving a 30cm gap between our pergol and theirs, this will have decking and a polycarbonate roof, so access to maintain the wall will be difficult after it's built. I mentioned a few months ago we'll be building it in October and they offered to repoint the wall first. I said it's fine, just let us know when you need to get in, and she asked us to find her a builder. I refused and said it's difficult to find tradesmen who will take on small jobs at the moment, and it's her responsibility to maintain it. It hasn't been done and we'll be building in a couple of weeks. Simple question, am I obliged to maintain access to the wall for maintenance or to make the wall good before we build? Access will remain, but it's limited and I wouldn't want messy building work taking place on the new decking etc, so if they asked to point it next year we would likely refuse. Thanks in advance!