The Faulkners Surveyors is a professional Chartered Building Surveying Practice that operates throughout UK. The Faulkners Surveyors carries out all elements of the Party Wall and so on. Act 1996 and supplies the following services:
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Neutral recommendations on all Party Wall Matters
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Pre-commencement appraisals
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Preparation and service of legitimate Party Wall Notices
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Acting as Party Wall Surveyor for either Adjacent Owners or Structure Owners
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Acting as the Agreed Party Wall Surveyor
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Undertaking Schedules of Condition surveys
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Preparation and negotiation of Party Wall Awards (Arrangements).
Party Wall (WikiPedia)
The Party Wall Act 1996
as it effects the garden
At first sight, it is simple to believe that the 1996 Party Wall Act does not impact garden construction, however it does affect the building and construction of boundary walls even if not part of structures and can likewise applies to deep excavations.
The Party Wall Act 1996 entered force in 1997, so it is now law and provides you rights and obligations whichever the side of the ‘wall’ you are on i.e. whether you are planning/doing work on a pertinent structure or if your neighbour is.
The Party Wall Act does not apply to boundary fences.
The Party Wall Act does not affect any requirement for Planning Approval for any work undertaken. Also, having Planning Authorization does not negate the requirements under the Party Wall Act.
The Party Wall Act comes into effect if someone is planning to do deal with a relevant structure, for the purposes of the Act ‘party wall’ does not simply imply the wall in between two semi-detached homes, as far as gardeners are concerned it covers:
- A garden wall, where the wall is astride the boundary line (or butts up against it) and is utilized to separate the homes however is not part of any structure.
- Excavation close to a neighbouring residential or commercial property.
For information of how the Party Wall Act impacts building work in basic, have a look at this page.
Similar to all work impacting neighbours, it is constantly much better to reach a friendly contract rather than resort to any law. Even where the work requires a notification to be served, it is much better to informally go over the designated work, consider the neighbours remarks, and modify your plans (if appropriate) prior to serving the notification.
What garden work needs a notice and consent.
The general principle of the Party Wall Act is that all work which might have a result upon the structural strength or assistance function of the party wall or might trigger damage to the neighbouring side of the wall must be informed. Recommendations needs to be sought from a local Building Control Workplace or expert surveyor/architect if in doubt.
Operate in the garden covered by the Party Wall Act consist of:
- To rebuild/build a party and/or demolish limit wall.
- To increase the height or thickness of a party boundary wall.
- Excavations within 3 metres of a neighbouring building where the excavation will go listed below the bottom of the structures of the neighbouring building.
- Excavations within 6 metres of a neighbouring structure where the excavation will go listed below a line drawn 45 ° downwards from the bottom of the foundations of the neighbouring structure.
Boundary walls
A notification must be released to all affected neighbouring celebrations if the prepared work on a boundary wall falls under the Party Wall Act. The notification must consist of (see sample letters in Part 5 of the Party Wall brochure):.
- The owners of the property carrying out the work.
- The address of the residential or commercial property.
- A complete description of the proposed work (this will normally be just a single sentence laying out the work).
- The proposed start date for the work.
- A clear statement that the notification is being served under The Party Wall etc Act 1996.
- The date the notification is being served.
- If the work involves excavations, a drawing showing the depth, position etc
If the prepared work is a new border wall as much as or astride the limit line the procedure of serving a notice under the Party Wall Act is as follows:.
- The person meaning to perform the work must serve a written notice at least one months prior to the desired start of the work to every neighbouring party offering details of the work to be carried out.
- Each neighbouring party must respond in composing offering approval or registering dissent – if a neighbouring party not does anything within 2 week of receiving the notice, the result is to put the notice into dispute. However no formal contract is needed for a wall up to the limit line, the neighbour just requires not to object in composing.
- No work might begin on a wall astride the boundary line until all neighbouring celebrations have actually agreed in writing to the notice (or a modified notice).
See below regarding what occurs in case of a dispute/objection.
Excavations.
If the prepared work is an excavation within the distance/depth covered by the Party Wall Act, the notice needs to be served a minimum of one month before the planned start day of the work. Neighbouring parties must give written contract within 14 days or a disagreement is considered to have happened.
See listed below concerning what happens in case of a dispute/objection.
If a disagreement develops, what takes place.
If contract can not be reached between neighbouring celebrations, the process is as follows:.
- A Surveyor or Surveyors is/are designated to determine a fair and impartial Award, either:.
- A single ‘Agreed Property surveyor’ (someone acceptable to all celebrations).
or. - Each party designates their own Surveyor to represent the private celebrations.
The person who is performing the work will usually need to pay all the costs of the Surveyors, the only exception being if the neighbour calls out a Surveyor unnecessarily – in the viewpoint of the Surveyor. However it must be noted that any Surveyor must act within their statutory obligations and propose a neutral and fair Award.
- A single ‘Agreed Property surveyor’ (someone acceptable to all celebrations).
- The Agreed Surveyor, or the specific Surveyors jointly, will produce an Award which needs to be impartial and fair to all celebrations.
- When an Award has been made, all parties have 14 days to interest a County Court against the Award.
Once you have arrangement.
All work must comply with the notification as soon as you have contract. All the arrangements should be maintained to guarantee that a record of the granted permission is kept; a subsequent buyer of the property might want to develop that the work was performed in accordance with the Party Wall Act requirements.
Keep in mind:
- We’ve only offered a short overview of the Party Wall Act here as it impacts garden work however take a look at the Communities and City government website for a more comprehensive explanatory brochure including example letters for responses and notices.
- Discussing designated work with neighbours is complimentary and can avoid misunderstanding which may develop if a notification gets here unexpectedly.
- Your regional Building Control Workplace might have the ability to give totally free guidance relating to the Party Wall Act and how it applies to specific situations.
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