Intombed party wall!

So we have a brick garage that's structurally unsound and needs to come down, but it's attached to the neighbour's garage. Originally, there was a semi-detached bungalow, over time each owner has knocked down their half and built a detached house behind, and built a garage where their half of the old bungalow was.

Our guy did his first, and the plans show that he extended the back wall of the new garage to the full width of the remaining half of the old bungalow and joined it onto the party wall, forming a cavity wall. When our neighbour knocked down his side and built his garage, it seems he's left the old bungalow's party wall (and the extra bit of our garage wall) in situ, and built his garage up against it. (We can't ask him unfortunately, because he died a couple of years ago and his wife - our neighbour - wasn't around at the time).

To find out how the two buildings are attached, I've taken a brick out of the side to have a look - and it looks like the original party wall is still there, entombed between the two garages but seemingly independent of them, and weirdly (to me) wrapped in plastic.

A couple of questions (well, 3):
1) why do you think the neighbour didn't take down the old party wall if he wasn't going to use it to build onto?
2) why is the old party wall wrapped in plastic?
3) would there be any issue knocking it down when we bring the garage down?

We're on good terms with the neighbour and she's OK with us taking down the garage and party wall - so long as it doesn't affect her garage and of course as long as the boundary line stays in the right place - and replacing with a fence.

Are you sure his first wife is not in there?

The plastic is odd any chance there was asbestos so they just sealed it up?

If you demolish an attached building exposing the party wall you are obliged to provide weatherproofing to the newly exposed internal party wall. I suspect the polythene was the weatherproofing and the builder left it in place as he built up the new garage wall.

As for the other questions...who knows? If the wall is now redundant and serves no structural purpose then demolish it. I'm very cautious so if it was me I would draw up a simple party agreement with the neighbour agreeing to the walls removal and fixing the exact position of the boundary to avoid any misunderstandings later.

Ha ha! I did wonder!!!

I thought about possible asbestos but can't see why there would have been - it just seems to be the original brick party wall from the old house. I don't really understand why it was left there, though, not taken down when he built the new building (could have put a new party wall up and gained a few inches of garage space).

I've been thinking about this as a party wall situation, but if the neighbour's building is hard up against the old party wall, but not attached to it, then maybe their building is entirely on their own plot and we can (with neighbour's agreement) take down the plastic-wrapped entombed party wall and just continue the boundary fence across?

wessex101 said:

If you demolish an attached building exposing the party wall you are obliged to provide weatherproofing to the newly exposed internal party wall. I suspect the polythene was the weatherproofing and the builder left it in place as he built up the new garage wall.

As for the other questions...who knows? If the wall is now redundant and serves no structural purpose then demolish it. I'm very cautious so if it was me I would draw up a simple party agreement with the neighbour agreeing to the walls removal and fixing the exact position of the boundary to avoid any misunderstandings later.

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That's sound advice!

I would just add that it would make sense to check that you are unlikely to use that party wall in the future before you demolish it. If you might consider rebuilding the garage in the future that party wall might come in handy.

I think it's unlikely we'd want to use it... I'd like to keep things separate once we've got them properly separate!

I guess it's a question for the surveyor, but I suspect the neighbour will be left with their garage wall - which I think is single-thickness brick - facing the elements. If it is (as it seems) within their own plot, i.e. not actually connected to the party wall, are we - as the people instigating the work and "exposing" it - still responsible for weatherproofing it? or are they responsible for it since it's their building and inside their boundary, or would we normally share the cost?

If the "inner" wall of the garage is half brick 100mm thick it could get complicated. I assume the other garage walls that are exposed to the elements are also 100mm thick and for a garage that is not unusual.

However, if most of the flank wall is protected by the old party wall and your garage and you remove your garage and the old party wall exposing the flank wall to the elements and the neighbour starts to get damp penetration then it could be argued that you caused the problem. So I would say it is reasonable for you to have to provide some weatherproofing to the garage flank wall at your cost. Whether that is just rendering the wall or applying some kind of cladding I'm not sure.

The remainder of the building is brick and block with cavity, as far as we can tell. It's only the centre section of the back wall (i.e. just the bit that's behind our garage and the old party wall) that's single brick.

The neighbour suffering damp or other issues once it's exposed and laying the blame at our door for taking down our garage etc is exactly what I want to avoid. So it seems fair enough for me to provide some kind of weatherproofing or cladding (so long as it doesn't encroach back on to our plot and result in more party wall issues!) Then we can get that done to a method and standard that they approve and presumably thereafter any issues that may arise with the neighbour's building are none of our concern. But seems a little harsh for us to pay the whole cost, given it wasn't us that took the decision to only put a single brick wall at the back because the old party wall (and our garage) were behind it... and we don't get any benefit from it. Just seems like we're paying for the shortcomings of their building. But perhaps I just have to suck it up!

gregch said:

But seems a little harsh for us to pay the whole cost, given it wasn't us that took the decision to only put a single brick wall at the back because the old party wall (and our garage) were behind it... and we don't get any benefit from it. Just seems like we're paying for the shortcomings of their building. But perhaps I just have to suck it up!

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I think you have that backwards, the whole point of a party wall is that both sides are entitled to reply on it completely for weather proofing and enclosing a room. The only way you can demolish it or do any substantial works to it is with their permission, as the wall belongs to both sides equally.
The party wall act does allow a surveyor to decide what's best to enable party works, and assuming demolishing it completely was even covered, you would be obliged to make good anything affected, including rebuilding any parts relied on by the neighbour. I would say a bit of cladding if the neighbour is happy would be a lucky escape for you.