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Party Wall (WikiPedia)
The Party Wall Act 1996
as it impacts the garden
At first sight, it is simple to believe that the 1996 Party Wall Act does not impact garden building, nevertheless it does impact the construction of boundary walls even if not part of structures and can also applies to deep excavations.
The Party Wall Act 1996 entered force in 1997, so it is now law and offers you rights and duties whichever the side of the ‘wall’ you are on i.e. whether you are planning/doing deal with a relevant structure or if your neighbour is.
The Party Wall Act does not apply to limit fences.
The Party Wall Act does not impact any requirement for Planning Permission for any work carried out. Also, having Preparation Permission does not negate the requirements under the Party Wall Act.
The Party Wall Act comes into impact if someone is preparing to do work on a relevant structure, for the functions of the Act ‘party wall’ does not just imply the wall between two semi-detached residential or commercial properties, as far as gardeners are worried it covers:
- A garden wall, where the wall is astride the limit line (or butts up against it) and is utilized to separate the properties however is not part of any building.
- Excavation near to a neighbouring home.
For information of how the Party Wall Act affects building operate in general, have a look at this page.
Similar to all work affecting neighbours, it is always much better to reach a friendly contract instead of resort to any law. Even where the work requires a notification to be served, it is much better to informally go over the desired work, think about the neighbours remarks, and modify your plans (if suitable) prior to serving the notice.
What garden work needs a notice and permission.
The general principle of the Party Wall Act is that all work which may have an effect upon the structural strength or support function of the party wall or might cause damage to the neighbouring side of the wall need to be alerted. If in doubt, suggestions must be sought from a local Structure Control Workplace or expert surveyor/architect.
Work in the garden covered by the Party Wall Act consist of:
- To demolish and/or rebuild/build a party limit wall.
- To increase the height or density of a party border wall.
- Excavations within 3 metres of a neighbouring building where the excavation will go below the bottom of the structures of the neighbouring building.
- Excavations within 6 metres of a neighbouring building where the excavation will go below a line drawn 45 ° downwards from the bottom of the structures of the neighbouring building.
Boundary walls
If the planned deal with a limit wall falls under the Party Wall Act, a notice should be released to all affected neighbouring celebrations. The notification should include (see sample letters in Part 5 of the Party Wall leaflet):.
- The owners of the residential or commercial property carrying out the work.
- The address of the residential or commercial property.
- A full description of the proposed work (this will generally be just a single sentence laying out the work).
- The proposed start date for the work.
- A clear declaration that the notice is being served under The Party Wall etc Act 1996.
- The date the notice is being served.
- If the work involves excavations, a drawing showing the depth, position and so on
If the planned work is a brand-new border wall up to or astride the boundary line the process of serving a notification under the Party Wall Act is as follows:.
- The person planning to carry out the work needs to serve a composed notification a minimum of one months prior to the desired start of the work to every neighbouring party providing information of the work to be performed.
- Each neighbouring party should respond in composing giving approval or registering dissent – if a neighbouring party not does anything within 2 week of getting the notice, the result is to put the notice into disagreement. No official contract is needed for a wall up to the boundary line, the neighbour just requires not to object in writing.
- No work might begin on a wall astride the limit line until all neighbouring parties have agreed in writing to the notice (or a revised notification).
See below regarding what happens 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 at least one month prior to the planned start day of the work. Neighbouring parties must provide written arrangement within 2 week or a disagreement is deemed to have actually taken place.
See listed below concerning what takes place in case of a dispute/objection.
What occurs if a disagreement develops.
If arrangement can not be reached between neighbouring parties, the process is as follows:.
- A Property surveyor or Surveyors is/are designated to determine a impartial and fair Award, either:.
- A single ‘Agreed Property surveyor’ (somebody acceptable to all parties).
or. - Each party selects their own Property surveyor to represent the specific celebrations.
The person who is performing the work will usually need to pay all the expenses of the Surveyors, the only exception being if the neighbour calls out a Property surveyor unnecessarily – in the viewpoint of the Property surveyor. However it should be noted that any Surveyor should act within their statutory obligations and propose a impartial and fair Award.
- A single ‘Agreed Property surveyor’ (somebody acceptable to all parties).
- The Agreed Property surveyor, or the specific Surveyors jointly, will produce an Award which must be impartial and reasonable to all celebrations.
- As soon as an Award has been made, all celebrations have 14 days to attract a County Court versus the Award.
As soon as you have arrangement.
As soon as you have contract, all work needs to adhere to the notice. All the agreements need to be maintained to ensure that a record of the granted permission is kept; a subsequent purchaser of the property may wish to establish that the work was performed in accordance with the Party Wall Act requirements.
Keep in mind:
- We have actually just given a short outline of the Party Wall Act here as it impacts garden work but take a look at the Communities and City government site for a more thorough explanatory pamphlet including example letters for notices and responses.
- If a notification arrives suddenly, talking about desired work with neighbours is totally free and can avoid misunderstanding which may occur.
- Your regional Building Control Workplace may have the ability to offer totally free recommendations relating to the Party Wall Act and how it applies to specific situations.
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