Reminds me of the first house I bought back in the 70s. The building society wouldn't approve the mortgage until, among other things, I'd repointed the entire length of the COVERED ginnel between our house and the one next door. As the ginnel was under our prospective property, I was responsible for what was a completely unnecessary job which took several days as I was also working full time.
I was not impressed with the pettiness of the demand.