Party wall confusion

[nerdblonde]

I have two questions I would much appreciate some help on.

The first: I'm in an end-of-terrace house, and it is slightly staggered back from the rest of the terrace, so there is a part of the shared wall at the front which only encloses my neighbours' house; and at the back which only encloses my house. The land registry plan clearly shows a 'T' on my boundary with them - but the 'T' is on the back garden fence (as are the others in the plan), so I believe it may only refer to that. The boundary through the wall is clearly a continuing straight line from the fence, which implies to me that the entire wall is a party wall (otherwise I'd expect it to have corners where the wall changes from mine to shared to theirs) - is that a reasonable assumption or are there further rules governing this?

The second question: I'm looking to attach a gas pipe to the part of the wall that encloses only my neighbours' house - if that is a party wall, can I do this type of work without serving notice? It would be on top of the wall, not channeled into it.

Thanks in advance!

 

[^woody^]

There are party walls separating properties, and party walls as defined in the Party Wall Act.

If the PW Act does not apply, as in this case, then it's definitions don't apply. So the party wall is only that bit of wall actually separating the house, and the sections of wall front and rear with no house on the one side are not party walls.

In this case, that wall is just a wall on the boundary and it is wholly owned by the homeowner whose house it surrounds. The boundary line will run along the outside, then step in to the centre of the wall where the wall becomes a party wall - which will be shared ownership.

So, you can't apply the PW Act for that work, instead you must get express permission from the neighbour to fix into their wall.

T marks on deeds denote responsibility for maintaining (securing) the boundary ie the fence or wall separating land - not house walls though.

 

[wessex101]

What if the separating wall is built astride the boundary, then the staggered sections to the front and rear would still be party walls. Otherwise the boundary would have to step in and out as it went from front to back.

Having said that fixing a gas pipe would probably be de minimus and unlikely to be a Party Wall issue. In practical terms though it is probably best to have a chat with the neighbour to say you want to fix the gas pipe on the wall to avoid any bad feeling.

 

[tony1851]

As the wall at the front is not a party wall (which clearly it isn't), then fixing anything to it without permission would be trespass; the concept of de minimis wouldn't enter into it.

 

[^woody^]

What if the separating wall is built astride the boundary

It won't be. This would be the main house wall, not a boundary wall, and as such when built, the boundary will be defined by the external face and it won't be astride any boundary. A homeowner can't own the external face of a neighbouring house.