Faulkners Surveyors is an independent firm of building property surveyors that specialise in the
Party Wall etc. Act 1996 acting for Building Owners, Adjacent Owners and as the Agreed Property Surveyor throughout London and the Home Counties.
Party Wall (WikiPedia)
A party wall (occasionally parti-wall or parting wall, also called usual wall surface or as a demising wall) is a dividing dividers between 2 adjacent buildings that is shared by the residents of each home or organization. Usually, the home builder lays the wall along a property line dividing 2 terraced houses, so that one half of the wall surface’s thickness pushes each side. This sort of wall surface is generally structural. Event wall surfaces can likewise be created by two abutting walls developed at different times. The term can be also used to define a division between separate systems within a multi-unit apartment building. Extremely typically the wall surface in this situation is non-structural but created to fulfill established requirements for noise and/or fire defense, i.e. a firewall software.
The Party Wall Act 1996
as it effects the garden
At first sight, it is easy to believe that the 1996 Party Wall Act does not impact garden building, nevertheless it does impact the construction of limit walls even if not part of structures and can likewise applies to deep excavations.
The Party Wall Act 1996 came into force in 1997, so it is now law and gives 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 Preparation Consent for any work undertaken. Also, having Planning Approval does not negate the requirements under the Party Wall Act.
The Party Wall Act comes into impact if somebody is planning to do deal with a pertinent structure, for the purposes of the Act ‘party wall’ does not just mean the wall in between two semi-detached properties, as far as gardeners are concerned it covers:
- A garden wall, where the wall is astride the limit line (or butts up against it) and is used to separate the residential or commercial properties but is not part of any structure.
- Excavation near to a neighbouring residential or commercial property.
For details of how the Party Wall Act affects structure work in basic, have a look at this page.
Similar to all work affecting neighbours, it is always better to reach a friendly contract instead of resort to any law. Even where the work needs a notification to be served, it is much better to informally talk about the designated work, consider the neighbours comments, and modify your plans (if suitable) prior to serving the notification.
What garden work needs a notice and permission.
The general concept of the Party Wall Act is that all work which may have an impact upon the structural strength or support function of the party wall or may cause damage to the neighbouring side of the wall need to be notified. If in doubt, recommendations needs to be sought from a local Building Control Office or expert surveyor/architect.
Work in the garden covered by the Party Wall Act include:
- To rebuild/build a party and/or demolish border wall.
- To increase the height or thickness of a party limit 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 building 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 needs to be released to all affected neighbouring parties if the prepared work on a boundary wall falls under the Party Wall Act. The notice must consist of (see sample letters in Part 5 of the Party Wall brochure):.
- The owners of the residential or commercial property undertaking the work.
- The address of the home.
- A complete description of the proposed work (this will generally be simply a single sentence laying out the work).
- The proposed start date for the work.
- A clear declaration that the notification is being served under The Party Wall etc Act 1996.
- The date the notice is being served.
- If the work involves excavations, a drawing revealing the depth, position and so on
If the prepared work is a new boundary wall approximately or astride the border line the procedure of serving a notification under the Party Wall Act is as follows:.
- The individual meaning to carry out the work should serve a written notice at least one months before the designated start of the work to every neighbouring party providing details of the work to be carried out.
- Each neighbouring party needs to respond in composing giving authorization or registering dissent – if a neighbouring party not does anything within 2 week of getting the notice, the effect is to put the notification into conflict. No official arrangement is required for a wall up to the border line, the neighbour just needs not to object in writing.
- No work may start on a wall astride the boundary line up until all neighbouring celebrations have concurred in writing to the notice (or a modified notification).
See listed below concerning what happens in case of a dispute/objection.
Excavations.
If the planned 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 prior to the planned start day of the work. Neighbouring parties should offer written agreement within 14 days or a disagreement is considered to have happened.
See below concerning what occurs in the event of a dispute/objection.
If a disagreement develops, what takes place.
If agreement can not be reached between neighbouring parties, the process is as follows:.
- A Surveyor or Surveyors is/are selected to figure out a fair and unbiased Award, either:.
- A single ‘Concurred Property surveyor’ (someone appropriate 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. It must be kept in mind that any Surveyor needs to act within their statutory duties and propose a reasonable and unbiased Award.
- A single ‘Concurred Property surveyor’ (someone appropriate to all celebrations).
- The Agreed Surveyor, or the private Surveyors jointly, will produce an Award which must be objective and fair to all parties.
- As soon as an Award has been made, all celebrations have 2 week to interest a County Court versus the Award.
Once you have agreement.
As soon as you have contract, all work needs to adhere to the notification. All the contracts need to be retained to make sure that a record of the granted permission is kept; a subsequent buyer of the home might want to establish that the work was carried out in accordance with the Party Wall Act requirements.
Keep in mind:
- We have actually just provided a brief summary of the Party Wall Act here as it affects garden work but take a look at the Communities and Local Government website for a more detailed explanatory brochure consisting of example letters for notifications and responses.
- Talking about desired deal with neighbours is free and can avoid misunderstanding which may emerge if a notice shows up all of a sudden.
- Your regional Building Control Office might have the ability to give free recommendations regarding the Party Wall Act and how it applies to particular situations.
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