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This details only applies in England and Wales.
If you’re a property owner who has actually concurred minor repair works with a neighbour of a shared border, you’ll require a party wall agreement for repair work. For more substantial works, you’ll need to serve a party wall notice.
What is the legal background to party walls?
The Party Wall Act applies to a lot of work performed to party walls. If it applies, it indicates that you will need to serve notice of the proposed works on your neighbour( s) and, if they do not grant the work, you’ll have to designate a surveyor to prepare a Party Wall Award.
However, if works to the party wall are so small, that service of notification under the Act is not essential (eg simple repair work, such as replastering, or cutting into the party wall to add or change recessed electrical wiring and sockets) you can utilize a basic Party Wall Agreement to tape the work to be undertaken.
What is a party wall?
The term “party wall” includes the following:
- a wall that stands on the land of 2 (or more) owners and types part of a structure – this wall can be part of one building only or different buildings belonging to different owners
- a wall that bases on the land of 2 owners but does not form part of a structure, such as garden wall (but not including wood fences).
- a wall that is on one person’s land but is used by two (or more) owners of different residential or commercial properties.
What works are covered by the Party Wall Act?
- Developing a new wall or building on or at the border of two homes.
- Cutting into or performing work to a party wall or structure.
- Making a party wall taller, much shorter or deeper.
- Removing chimney breasts from a party wall.
- Knocking down and rebuilding a party wall.
- Digging listed below the structure level of a neighbour’s property.
Kinds of notice.
- Party structure notice, for alterations that directly impact the party wall and include typical jobs, such as cutting holes to insert beams and padstones, cutting in flashings and getting rid of chimney breasts.
- Notification of nearby excavation, for when you are excavating within 3 or 6 metres of your neighbour’s building.
- Line of junction notification, for the building of a brand-new wall adjacent to a border, or the building and construction of a brand-new wall astride a boundary.
When do you need to serve notice?
If your works are governed by the Party Wall Act, you’ll require to serve a party wall notice on every neighbouring home affected a minimum of two months prior to the works start. As soon as notice has been served, you can use up to a year to begin work.
Your neighbours may look for to stop your work through a court injunction or look for other legal redress if you start work without having first offered notice in the correct method.
What takes place after you serve notice?
When notice about intended work is served, your neighbour may either:.
- Offer their consent in writing, or.
- Disagree with the works proposed in composing, or.
- Do nothing.
If, after a period of 2 week from the service of your notice, the individual getting the notification has done nothing, a dispute is regarded as having developed. Any disagreements will be handled by a surveyor.
When do you require a party wall agreement or award?
You’ll require a party wall agreement if you’re going to carry out building and construction or modifications which include:
- Work performed on a wall,.
- Flooring or ceiling shown another property,.
- Building on the border with another residential or commercial property,.
- Excavating within six meters of an adjoining structure,.
- Fixing a party wall or spouts, fall pipelines, sewers, drains, wire conduits, flues, chimney stacks, eaves or troughs used in common with neighbours.
For more details, see the Department for Communities and Local Government (Guidance for carrying out structure work under the Party Wall Act 1996).
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A party wall (occasionally parti-wall or parting wall, also known as common wall or as a demising wall) is a dividing partition between two adjoining buildings that is shared by the occupants of each residence or business. Typically, the builder lays the wall along a property line dividing two terraced houses, so that one half of the wall’s thickness lies on each side. This type of wall is usually structural. Party walls can also be formed by two abutting walls built at different times. The term can be also used to describe a division between separate units within a multi-unit apartment complex. Very often the wall in this case is non-structural but designed to meet established criteria for sound and/or fire protection, i.e. a firewall.
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