Faulkners Surveyors is a expert and trusted company of party wall surveyors in Lisburn, specialising in all party wall matters in Lisburn and the Home Counties. The business was founded in 2010 with the coming together of 3 independent experienced Surveyors who specialise in this niché area of surveying.
What is the Party Wall Lisburn Act?
By Claire Lloyd June 23, 2020
You’ll need to be clued up on the Party Wall Act if you’re planning building work that will impact a shared wall between you and your neighbours
It is likely you will have a shared wall with a neighbouring home if you’re looking to carry out building work on a semi-detached or terraced home or flat.
The Party Wall Act avoids building work undertaken by one neighbour undermining the structural integrity of shared walls or neighbouring residential or commercial properties. It is likewise created to prevent and solve potential disputes with neighbours.
Will it Impact my Strategies to Renovate?
If you reside in a semi, balcony, flat, or your separated house is sited within close proximity to neighbouring homes, it might.
The key things to remember are which walls constitute as ‘party walls’ and the kind of work subject to the Act.
Type of work
More comprehensive work is covered by the Party Wall Act. This consists of:
- converting a loft which includes cutting into border walls to support brand-new beams
- underpinning
- inserting a damp-proof course
- increasing the density
- rebuilding a celebration and destroying wall
- extending above a floor which pushes the border
- developing a new wall for an extension, for instance, approximately or on the boundary
- excavation work for new structures, based on condition (see listed below). You’ll need to ensure your neighbour of the safeguards in place to secure their foundations.
Shallow tasks are not included, such as:
- fitting shelves
- replastering
- wallpapering
- electrical rewiring
If you prepare to undertake any work covered by the Act, you’ll likewise have to give ‘Notice’ of the beginning of work to your neighbour.
You must give Notice under the Party Wall Act if you’re excavating for new structures much deeper than the structures of your neighbours’ home, within 3 metres of the limit, or within six metres if a 45 ° will be formed between the bottom of your new foundations and those coming from your neighbour.
You do not need preparing authorization for your strategies to serve notice.
How Do I Give ‘Notice’?
If your project is covered by the Act, you notify with a letter setting out your intentions, sent out to all the owners of every neighbouring property affected.
A sample letter is consisted of within The Party Wall Act booklet (download or purchase your copy at communities.gov.uk).
Keep in mind to include all the key info, including:
- the date the Notice is served
- the date work will start
- all parties’ addresses and names
- a description of the proposed work
If you don’t do this, your Notification will be void.
When Do I Required to Give Party Wall Notice?
As soon as total, present this, together with a copy of the Act and explanatory pamphlet, to your neighbour two months prior to beginning. (If you are excavating near a neighbouring structure then you need to give at least one month’s notice.).
Your neighbour will have 2 week to provide written approval or rejection. Let them understand a design template is available for both options in the explanatory booklet.
- Your Notice will be valid for a year to finish work if they provide approval.
- You’re deemed to be in conflict if they turn down or do not react within 14 days.
What Happens if the Neighbours Item?
Speak to your neighbours and discuss your strategies in detail to reach an agreement.
If approval is difficult, then you will have to appoint an ‘agreed surveyor’ or 2 surveyors to prepare a Party Wall Award. This ‘Award’ covers:.
- the work that can be carried out.
- how the works will proceed.
- timings.
- procedures for preventing damage.
- the payment of surveyors’ charges.
- the current condition of both properties.
- most importantly, costs payable to the adjoining owner if damage takes place.
What Does a Party Wall Surveyor Do?
Simply put, party wall surveyors help reduce danger to all celebrations, and ensure that jobs can progress without delay.
Any conflicts over that damage will be dealt with by surveyors rather than at common law if you properly serve notification on your neighbours and damage happens.
Is a Party Wall Notice Mandatory?
If things turn sour with your neighbour and they suspect that the work being carried out will negatively impact their home, they can seek a court injunction to stop you from continuing.
If you have not followed the Act and you trigger major damage to your neighbour’s property, the judge can award settlement for any loss or damage arising from the works, consisting of legal costs.
An approved Notification is the only method to prevent this.
Cost of a Party Wall Notice.
For a simple task outside London with an adjacent owner dissenting to the works, fees are likely to be in the region of ₤ 1,000-2,000 plus BARREL.
Costs will depend upon the nature and complexity of the work being undertaken as well as the variety of adjoining owners. And it is not constantly the case that the person instigating the work will pay all celebrations’ costs.
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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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