Party wall disputes? Here are some advices: You must tell your neighbours if you want to carry out any building work near or on your shared property boundary, or ‘party wall’, in England and Wales. Party walls stand on the land of 2 or more owners and either: form part of a building, don’t form part of a building, such as a garden wall (not wooden fences). Walls on one owner’s land used by other owners (2 or more) to separate their buildings are also party walls. Party structures: You can also have a ‘party structure’. This could be a floor or other structure that separates buildings or parts of buildings with different owners, eg flats. Party wall agreements are different from planning permission or building regulations approval.
In order to ascertain whether any damage to your neighbour’s property has been caused by the execution of the works, a ‘Schedule of Condition’ is normally prepared by the party wall surveyor(s) prior to the works, which can then be referred to following completion. The building owner undertaking the works will be liable for any damage caused. For this reason and to avoid false claims, even in the event your neighbour agrees to the works and accepts the notice it is strongly advisable to prepare a Schedule of Condition of their property in the areas which may potentially be affected.
What often happens is that your neighbour neither consents in writing nor dissents but just ignores your notice. This is fairly common in situations where the adjoining property is tenanted or converted into flats. The Act states that if your neighbour does not consent within 14 days they are deemed to have dissented and must appoint a surveyor. This is problematic as a neighbour who has ignored your notice is unlikely to then spring in to action and appoint a surveyor and the Act recognises this and provides a solution; you must follow-up your original notice with a reminder letter giving your neighbour a further 10 days to make an appointment following which you can appoint a surveyor on their behalf.
At Home Heroes we provide a professional service, we are very competitively priced and you can be sure you award will be handled by qualified and experienced Party Wall Surveyors. We are a small company with a dedicated and qualified team of building surveyors on Party Wall Matters. We can deal with all types of project no matter how complicated and are able to offer a service that is both efficient and meticulous. See more details on Party Wall Surveyor Whitstable.