Yard gates blew in last night - party wall cracked too

[oydidibegin]

Am beginning to wonder why I did't buy a nice little new build bungalow!!

Horrendous winds last night and found that yard gates (two wooden garage type doors) have broken and blown in. The weak point was where the yale lock was and the vertical piece of wood snapped there. This upright is almost 100% off too 'cos the bolt into the ground stayed put!!

To complicate matters, the party wall (10'+ high) is cracked near the gates. No doubt due to the buddlea that was growing out of the top of it. Now cut off, but the roots have travelled along the mortar approx 3 courses from the top.

This was someway down my 'to do' list as they were 'very poor' and I wanted wider gates any way, but the job has risen to the top now

Can someone tell me how I should go about dealing with the party wall? I understood that I have to have an 'agreement' before I do anything? If this is the case, next complication is that neighbour is a LL who is selling and appears to have accepted an offer.

Oh well, back to dreaming about a little bungalow!!

 

[daverik]

The party wall act stipulates you must notify the person next door that works are going to be carried out and when and how long this will take.(ish) This person has to agree, even if it isnt theirs.

 

[oydidibegin]

The party wall act stipulates you must notify the person next door that works are going to be carried out and when and how long this will take.(ish) This person has to agree, even if it isnt theirs.

Sorry, I didn't make it clear that next door is unoccupied at the moment.

Are you saying that the neighbours would have to be advised or the LL?

 

[joe-90]

Just repair it. You don't need to advise anyone.

 

[^woody^]

This would be emergency work and you would not have to get involved with party wall notices.

 

[daverik]

- (1) Before exercising any right conferred on him by section 2 a building owner shall serve on any adjoining owner a notice (in this Act referred to as a "party structure notice") stating-

(a) the name and address of the building owner;
(b) the nature and particulars of the proposed work including, in cases where the building owner proposes to construct special foundations, plans, sections and details of construction of the special foundations together with reasonable particulars of the loads to be carried thereby; and
(c) the date on which the proposed work will begin.
(2) A party structure notice shall-

(a) be served at least two months before the date on which the proposed work will begin;
(b) cease to have effect if the work to which it relates-
(i) has not begun within the period of twelve months beginning with the day on which the notice is served; and
(ii) is not prosecuted with due diligence.

 

[daverik]

Would you need access from the neighbours land. If so you would also need to notify the owner for right of way.

 

[^woody^]

So in waiting for the PW process to progress, the serving of notices, and the possible dispute and appointing of 2nd and 3rd surveyors over the forthcoming months, the wall falls down.

Are you saying that the OP should wait [al least] two months to do the work?

This work is excluded from the PWA.

The Access to Neighbouring Land Act confers rights of access. If, following a request for access it was refused, it would require an applicaion via the courts - which would be granted, but would incur legal cost.

 

[joe-90]

The party wall act was brought in to protect shared ownership of walls so that hammering on one side didn't cause damage on the other side. This was usually inside a property.

The outside walls of a property are almost always owned by one side or the other. If it is his own wall that is damaged he doesn't need any permission to fix it or even remove it - it's his property.

If it's the neighbours property then he is duty bound to repair it - but he doesn't need a party wall act as it isn't shared.

 

[ColJack]

just to clarify, the neighbour is duty bound to repair it if it's the one they have to look after?

crap.. that means i gotta go buy some fence pannels then.. bloody wind, i was gonna leave it a few months..

 

[joe-90]

The deeds should show who owns what - but often don't.

 

[oydidibegin]

Thanks everyone for all of this info......... I bought this victorian terrace last Dec and do remember asking the solicitor who owned the yard walls and he said that the rear walls tended to be jointly owned. Do you think that this was an off the cuff remark?

I'll see what I can find out this week.

 

[daverik]

Woody, I am not telling him or suggesting anything. I was only giving what I understood to be law.

 

[^woody^]

No probs.

The other intresting/annoying thing about the PWA, is that although it is law, there is no penalty if someone chooses to disregard it and just build anyway.

The only way it can be enforced, is by the adjoining owner (he who is affected by the work) applying to the civil court for an injunction - at his own cost.

It's different inside London though, where it is obligatory