party wall agreement Archives - White & Lloyd

Can a neighbour refuse party wall agreement?

Henny — Wed, 28 Aug 2019 11:23:05 +0000

Party Wall Agreements are designed to help you undertake work to your property while protecting the interests of your neighbours. They commonly cover works to shared or boundary walls between semi-detached or terraced houses or floors between flats, as well as work that may affect structures within 3-6 metres of the neighbouring property.

A notice, including full details of the works, timescales and building owners details, is served in writing to neighbouring properties at least two months before work starts. Work can begin once an agreement has been confirmed.

Can a neighbour refuse a party wall agreement?

Neighbours affected usually have 14 days to respond to the notice. They can either give their consent or they can refuse to agree and are then deemed to be in dispute. Your neighbours may issue a counter-notice in which they stipulate certain alterations to the works. In the first instance, try and negotiate any areas of difference and come to an agreement. Any amended terms should be in writing and an exchange of letters is advised to confirm agreement.

If an agreement cannot be reached between neighbours, a Party Wall Surveyor will need to be instructed to settle the dispute by producing a Party Wall Award. The surveyor becomes essentially an impartial mediator between the parties and will set out the details of the work. Whilst it is always hoped that the neighbour will agree to use the same surveyor (thereby saving on fees), they have the right to appoint their own surveyor at your expense. Should both sides still fail to agree, then a third surveyor is appointed as an adjudicator.

If work starts before the Party Wall Award is in place, your neighbour can serve an injunction to stop any works that may affect their property until such time as an Award is served.

However, ultimately if you comply with the terms of the Party Wall Act, then the neighbours cannot prevent work from commencing or deny reasonable access for you or your contractors to undertake the notifiable works. When works begin, avoid causing any unnecessary inconvenience to your neighbours and protect their property from any damage that may be caused by the works. Should any damage occur that can be attributed to the works, then you will be required to fix and pay for that damage.

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What is a Party Wall Agreement?

Henny — Fri, 12 Jul 2019 10:30:05 +0000

A Party Wall Agreement relates to a party wall, which is a wall or structure that divides or is shared between two (or more) properties. The ownership of each property usually extends to the centre of the dividing wall.

Party Wall Agreements are covered by the Party Wall Act 1996, which seeks to enable property owners to undertake works to their property while protecting the interests of neighbours. Notices are served on neighbouring properties that may be affected before any works begin.

These Agreements are most commonly used when building house extensions or basement/loft conversions next to an adjoining property. They cover structures such as boundary walls and shared walls between semi-detached or terraced houses, and floors between flats. However, these agreements can also be applied to any work that is being carried out within 3-6 metres of a neighbouring structure, if operations such as foundation excavation are deemed to have an impact on a neighbouring property.

The Party Wall Agreement will include:

How the works should progress, including working hours;
Drawings and construction details of the proposed works;
Schedule of condition of the neighbouring property;
Contractor’s public liability insurance details;
Any indemnities;
Surveyors details and access arrangements.

Work commonly covered by the Party Wall Agreement include:

Excavation of foundations that may encroach close to and beneath adjoining structures and within 3-6 metres of a neighbouring property;
Cutting into a wall to take a structural beam (such as for a loft conversion);
Inserting damp proof membranes or flashings that may ‘encroach’ onto a neighbouring roof or building;
Alterations to a party wall, such as increases in height or thickness;
Demolition and rebuilding of a party wall;
Underpinning of a party wall.

Minor works such as drilling to hang pictures or shelves or chasing out for new wiring or sockets in a shared wall between properties does not usually require any Party Wall Agreement.

So basically, if you are doing any building or structural work on or near a wall/boundary you share with a neighbour, you are likely to need a Party Wall Agreement.

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How To Get A Party Wall Agreement?

Henny — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 11:28:37 +0000

Before carrying out any work notifiable under The Party Wall Act, the building owner must obtain either:

a) The consent of the adjoining owners, or:

b) An award (agreement) that sets out the terms under which work can commence.

How To Get A Party Wall Agreement?

On receipt of notices, the adjoining owners have three responses available to them:

Provide consent to the works (no further action necessary)
Dissent to the works (a dispute arises and surveyors are appointed on both sides)
Provide no response at all (in which case a deemed dissent arises, and a surveyor is appointed on behalf of the adjoining owner).

In option 1, if a written consent is received. Then this is considered an agreement and no further action is necessary.

In options 2 & 3, a dispute has arisen. Surveyors are appointed to resolve the dispute and serve an award. This award is often referred to as a party wall agreement as it sets the rights and responsibilities of both

The following article sets out how to get a party wall agreement.

The Process

If you are a building owner wishing to carry out work, you will need to:

Serve a party wall notice on the adjoining owners affected by the works.
If the adjoining owners consent, then there is no dispute and works can commence once the notice period has run (or sooner if the adjoining owners agree)
If the adjoining owners dissent then there is a dispute which needs to be resolved by surveyors.
Both sides should appoint a surveyor (you can concur on the appointment of a single surveyor if both sides agree).
The two surveyors (or single agreed surveyor) will then consider the works and prepare an award. The award is the agreement that sets out the rights and responsibilities of both parties. It also sets out the terms under which work can proceed.
Once the award is in place then works can commence once the notice period has run.

How to get consent?

The easiest, quickest and cheapest way to reach a party wall agreement is to receive the consent of the adjoining owners.

If a notice has been served, and the adjoining owners provide a written consent, then this is the end of the process.

We strongly recommend that building owners discuss their works with the adjoining owners, outlining the specific aspects that may affect them.

Adjoining owners are far more likely to consent if they understand the works and the reason for serving notice.

It is worth bearing in mind that the two parties (building owner and adjoining owner) are free to reach any agreement they want. It is perfectly valid for an adjoining owner to consent on the basis that the building owners provides something in return. This could be:

A survey of the adjoining property
A promise to repair the fence
A bottle of wine
A future consent to future work by the adjoining owner
Anything that both parties decide

What happens if the neighbour dissents?

If the adjoining owners dissent to the notice then a “dispute” has arisen in the eyes of the Party Wall Act.

Both parties must appoint a surveyor. The surveyors will check the building plans and discuss any important points with you.

Under The Act, surveyors are required to be impartial, they are working in the best interests of the wall.

The adjoining owners property will be inspected by the surveyor(s) and its existing condition recorded. Should any damage occur during or after the work, the Schedule of Existing Condition is used to prove it is as a result of the works.

The surveyor(s) will then agree the terms under which work can begin. They will also set out any precautions that might need to be taken to protect the adjoining properties.

These terms form the Party Wall Award, a legally binding document which is signed the surveyor(s) and issued to the property owner and the adjoining owner.

The properties are then inspected on completion to check for any damage. If there is damage, then the surveyors will agree how it gets resolved.

We are party wall specialists

We are party wall specialists with over 15 years experience in the industry. We are based in Thames Ditton, Surrey and operate throughout Surrey and South West London.

We hope this has been useful. If you have any questions please contact us at: partywall@whiteandlloyd.co.uk

Send us a Message

Head Office

Devon House
11 High Street
Thames Ditton, Surrey
KT7 0SD
0208 191 7747

office@whiteandlloyd.com

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81-83 Fulham High Street
Fulham Green, Fulham
SW6 3JA
0203 637 2213

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