Faulkners Surveyors Professional Qualified Resident Party Wall in Folkestone Surveyors covering Folkestone and the Home Counties. Unlike lots of others, we are full time Resident Party Wall Surveyors undertaking numerous Party Wall projects each month without fault.
Party wall Folkestone matters
This details only applies in England and Wales.
If you’re a homeowner who has actually concurred minor repair works with a neighbour of a shared border, you’ll need a party wall agreement for repair work. For more comprehensive works, you’ll need to serve a party wall notice.
What is the legal background to party walls?
The Party Wall Act applies to most work performed to party walls. If it applies, it means that you will need to serve notice of the proposed works on your neighbour( s) and, if they do not consent to the work, you’ll have to appoint a surveyor to prepare a Party Wall Award.
Nevertheless, if works to the party wall are so small, that service of notification under the Act is not necessary (eg simple repairs, such as replastering, or cutting into the party wall to change or include recessed electric electrical wiring and sockets) you can utilize a simple Party Wall Agreement to record the work to be carried out.
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 forms part of a structure – this wall can be part of one structure just or separate buildings belonging to different owners
- a wall that bases on the land of two owners however does not form part of a building, such as garden wall (but not including wood fences).
- a wall that is on someone’s land however is used by 2 (or more) owners of separate properties.
What works are covered by the Party Wall Act?
- Developing a new wall or structure on or at the border of two residential or commercial properties.
- Cutting into or carrying out work to a party wall or structure.
- Making a party wall taller, much shorter or much deeper.
- Getting rid of chimney breasts from a party wall.
- Tearing down and reconstructing a party wall.
- Digging below the foundation level of a neighbour’s residential or commercial property.
Kinds of notice.
- Party structure notice, for changes that directly impact the party wall and consist of common jobs, such as cutting holes to insert beams and padstones, cutting in flashings and eliminating chimney breasts.
- Notification of adjacent excavation, for when you are excavating within 3 or 6 metres of your neighbour’s building.
- Line of junction notice, for the building of a new wall adjacent to a border, or the building and construction of a new wall astride a limit.
When do you require 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 property affected a minimum of 2 months prior to the works begin. When notification has been served, you can take up to a year to begin work.
If you begin work without having actually initially given notice in the proper method, your neighbours might look for to stop your resolve a court injunction or seek other legal redress.
What happens after you serve notice?
Once notice about intended work is served, your neighbour might either:.
- Offer their permission in writing, or.
- Disagree with the works proposed in composing, or.
- Do nothing.
If, after a duration of 2 week from the service of your notification, the person getting the notification has done nothing, a conflict is considered having actually developed. Any conflicts 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 or modifications which include:
- Work carried out on a wall,.
- Floor or ceiling shown another residential or commercial property,.
- Structure on the limit with another property,.
- Excavating within 6 meters of an adjacent building,.
- Repairing a party wall or spouts, fall pipelines, drains, drains pipes, wire conduits, flues, chimney stacks, eaves or troughs used in common with neighbours.
For more information, see the Department for Communities and City Government (Assistance for performing building work under the Party Wall Act 1996).
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Learn More about Party Wall
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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