Party Wall Building Owners

Yes you can. However, any errors or omissions contained in the Notice can render it invalid which would require you to serve a further Notice with the potential of delaying your building project. Hurst Chartered Surveyors provides a Party Wall Notice drafting service. 

The failure or avoidance of serving a Notice can lead to expensive delays and legal costs if the Adjoining Owners seek to stop the Building Owners work. 

The Adjoining Owners can apply for a Court Injunction against the Building Owners or their Builder to stop unauthorised works.  The Adjoining Owners can even apply for a Mandatory (pulling down) Injunction against works wholly or partly completed. 

The case of Louis vs Sadiq (1997) ended up in court after Sadiq undertook notifiable works to his terraced house without serving a Notice on Louis, the Adjoining Owner.  The works caused damage to the adjacent property owned by Louis who was in the process of selling the property and buying another property when the damage occurred. 

Louis obtained an Injunction restraining Sadiq from continuing with the works until Sadiq complied with the Act.  Sadiq subsequently complied with the Act and was ordered to repair the damage caused to Louis property.  Sadiq was also found liable for the consequential losses suffered by Louis in not being able to sell the property, plus the abortive purchasing costs for the property they were in the process of buying when the damage caused by Sadiq occurred.

If after serving a valid Party Wall Notice your neighbour consents in writing then yes, you can proceed with your works.  However, you and any contracted builder will still have a duty of care to carry out the works diligently and you will still be liable for any damage under common law. 

Please note, a recent court judgement between Onigbanjo vs Pearson (2008) clarified that an Adjoining Owner who had previously consented to the proposed works detailed on the Building Owner’s Notice could later change their mind and dissent to the Notice, triggering the provisions of the Act.

This question needs to be answered in two parts depending upon the distance your project is from the neighbouring existing building. Firstly, if your project is within 3 metres of the neighbouring property and your excavations are going to be deeper than the neighbouring existing foundations, you will need to serve a Notice under Section 6(1) of the Act.

Secondly, if your project is within 6m of the neighbouring property and your foundations are going to be deeper than an imaginary line drawn at 45degrees from the bottom of the neighbouring existing foundations, you will need to serve Notice under Section 6(2) of the Act.

We often get asked this question as most people who have a wall or floor/ceiling structure (as defined within the Act) dividing their property from a neighbouring property believes that each neighbour owns their half of the wall or structure.  However, from the perspective of the Act, owners should consider the wall or structure in joint ownership.  The wall is owned by both parties for the full thickness of the wall or structure.

This will depend on many factors. However, Hurst Chartered Surveyors can provide you with a fixed cost once all of the details are known about the works. In most normal circumstances, it is the Building Owners (the party instigating and benefiting from the works) who will be responsible for paying the appointed Party Wall surveyor(s) fees, even if the Adjoining Owners appoint their own surveyor.

We would disagree.  Building Owners should remember that the Party Wall Act is a facilitating Act.  Some of the benefits include:  enabling Building Owners to carry out works legally, providing defined timescales to prevent others from delaying your project, offering protection from future claims of damage, and, preventing the expense of going to court.  

Furthermore, the Act can provide access onto neighbouring land to execute any necessary works in pursuance with the Act, including the placing of scaffolding upon their land to facilitate the works.  No other piece of current legislation can provide this benefit.

If the wall is a Party Wall your neighbour can use the wall. However, your neighbour would have to pay you their share of the cost to construct the wall at the current industry rate for such works. For example, if we assume that to construct this same wall today would cost £2,000, your neighbour would have to pay you £1,000 to use the wall originally built by you or by any previous owner of your property, regardless of what it actually cost when the Party Wall was built.

It is compulsory to serve notices if the works are covered under the Act, and it is advised that you give appropriate written notice to the owners and occupiers. If the notices are not consented to, then an award (agreement) will need to be entered into.

Hurst Chartered Surveyors offers advice on the procedure, obligations and responsibilities that come out of the Act. The first point of action is to review the proposed plans and confirm if the works meet the criteria under the Act. If so, then the relevant Party Wall Notices should be prepared and served to all affected neighbours. If the notices are dissented to, then the Surveyor(s) will then conduct a site visit and prepare a schedule of condition for the neighbouring property. Following this, the Surveyor(s) finalise the terms of the Party Wall Award and serve this forthwith to all owners, after which the building works can commence.

Hurst Chartered Surveyors offers advice on the procedure, obligations and responsibilities that come out of the Act. The first point of action is to review the proposed plans and confirm if the works meet the criteria under the Act. If so, then the relevant Party Wall Notices should be prepared and served to all affected neighbours. If the notices are dissented to, then the Surveyor(s) will then conduct a site visit and prepare a schedule of condition for the neighbouring property. Following this, the Surveyor(s) finalise the terms of the Party Wall Award and serve this forthwith to all owners, after which the building works can commence.

Yes, however, this should be brought to the attention of the Surveyor(s) in the first instance. You also have the right to appeal the Award at the County Court within 14 days of service of the Award, but this shouldn’t be taken lightly as costs could be incurred if the appeal is unsuccessful. 

Generally no, the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 was introduced to stop expensive litigation between two property owners and instead introduce the role of expert Party Wall Surveyors in the specific field.

The notice is valid for one year, it is best not to serve it too long before you are looking to start your work. As a minimum notice should be served two months prior to your intended start date, of course, this does not guarantee a start date, but it allows sufficient time for the work of Surveyors to be completed if there is a dispute.

No, because the Party Wall Act does not have any provisions that can be used to resolve boundary disputes. These disputes are usually resolved by use of specialist Boundary Dispute Surveyors, the Courts, or by mutual agreement.

The Party wall Act doesn’t include a provision for notices to be served or awards to be made retrospectively. Previously, the courts have ruled that work can be authorised retrospectively, but only if the surveyors feel that it is capable of being authorised. If damaged has already been caused, then this won’t be possible.

If your neighbour has started work that is notifiable under the Act, without serving appropriate valid notices, then the Adjoining Owner can obtain a temporary injunction can be obtained from the County Court, which will prevents work from continuing until a Surveyor(s) has been appointed to draft and finalise a Party Wall Award.