Forum Archive

We have an accepted offer on a house that has water damage in the rear corner of he building that runs the length of the four floors. The brick on the rear wall of our house needs to be repointed and the funnel cap thingy on top of the drainspout is missing which is also contributing to the problem. But the neighbor’s rear wall is even worse, badly in need of repointing, mortar completely missing. THe listing agent has heard from various structural engineers that the difference in temperature between the two walls is creating the condensation and that unless the neighbor’s wall is repointed too, the problem will persist. For this reason we are in negotiation with the sellers to fix the problem before closing.

So here are my questions:
Has anyone dealt with forcing a repair on a party wall/neighbor’s property. If the owner (who is an absentee landlord in this case) is unwilling to make the fix, is there any recourse?

2. How will this visible water damage effect our ability to get financing. My understanding from our loan officer is that the bank will probably see if as a health and safety issue and balk. Has anyone run into this problem before?