Janedept30

We have owned our holiday home in the Gard since 2005.  It is a terraced maison de village.  The chateau in our village is used as a hotel and the owner also owns the property adjoining ours, in which the hotel staff are housed.  For several years now we have suffered with wet walls when the neighbouring property's plumbing leaks.  Each time the owner says it has been repaired.   Two years ago we involved the insurance company.  They sent out an "expert" who inspected the damage and found the leak in the neighbouring property.  The leak was repaired but the expert said that the plumbing was in such a "mauvais etat" the whole lot needed to be replaced.  This hasn't happened.   This year the expert had to come again when there was another leak and once again he said the whole lot really needed to replaced not just patched up.  We spend six months in France (the summer) and six months in England.  Since January 2013 the decorator appointed by the insurance company has been waiting to redecorate our hallway and study but the wall (a very thick stone wall) is too wet.  We are due to return to the UK shortly and are concerned that once again there will be another leak before the wall has dried out from the previous one.   We finally managed to get the owner to meet with us at our house this morning to see the damage and to discuss a solution,  He said that there is no leak and that the damp is because it is an old stone house and we must expect it!  He was completely impossible to deal with, would not accept the experts report and said he owned the wall anyway and wasn't going to do anything?? (surely it must be a shared party wall?).  Where do we go from here?  We do not want to get involved in an expensive legal wrangle but the present situation is intolerable.