I live in a row of terrace houses in Inner Sydney.
My neighbour got her DA approved by Council for a 2 storey extension, got a structural engineer's certificate and got her Construction Certificate based on her structural engineer's report. I found out later the structural engineer's inspection was not done properly and he had NOT done an underfloor inspection of our common wall foundations and 25 year old remedial underpinnings which as of today, I found out had a severe crack.
Council requires all applicants to get a pre-construction dilapidation report. The dilapidation engineer turned up today and as part of the inspection did an underfloor check and found that the 25 year old remedial concrete underpinning wall supporting the internal party wall between my neighbour was sinking and has developed a 14mm wide crack running the full height of the 30cm high underpinning wall. The engineer suggested this was due to the neighbour not replacing a rusted out downpipe (which is one metre from the sinking underpinning wall) a few years ago and with the recent heavy rains, hundreds on litres of rainwater would have poured off the gutters super-saturating the soil underfloor leading to subsidence.
The neighbour is scheduled to start the demolition and renovations next week and the dilapidation engineer recommended the work not go ahead until the crack and underpinning is repaired. Council tells there is nothing they can do as they issued the Construction Certificate in good faith and knowledge of the structural engineer. Council said that if I have a complaint I should report the structural engineer to the Australian Institute of Engineers!
The neighbour is stating that the crack has been there for years I should contact my insurance company to get it repaired.
Given that the additional weight of a second storey will further the damage of the underpinnings I was wondering if anybody can suggest how I can get some resolution to this.