Party Wall Act Confusion

[limerockconstruction]

Hi All, sorry if this is in the wrong place......

Just trying to get my head around the finer points of the PWA for a friend. He proposes to build a double extension up against the boundary line of his neighbours property - usual stuff, footing to boundary, building set back by 6 inches etc.

His neighbours house then sits 4m the other side of his own adjacent driveway (pair of semi's).

Do I need to get him involved in serving the PWA act etc - or does the 4m fall outside of the 3m requirement - or does the 3m become irrelevant as its right up to the boundary? (Sorry for the lack of punctuation there!!)

Advice appreciated...

 

[^woody^]

You need to decide what section of the PWA applies. There is potentially notice related to building on the boundary, or just for the excavating below the neighbouring foundations.

The 3 or 6 metre rule could apply for the excavation depending on what you are doing

 

[limerockconstruction]

Thanks woody - thats kind of my point really, I sometimes struggle to fathom out exactly which bit is relevant - my sceptical side says that it was written for PW Surveyors for PW Surveyors, leaving us all nicely on the outside of the circle of trusT!!

Anyhow, I got them to sign the 3/6 metre letter, I believe its about s close as I can get.....

 

[tony1851]

Why should the Act apply if the neighbouring buiding is 4m from your excavation?

 

[limerockconstruction]

Again, thats kind of my point, I didn't really know if it did or didn't - upon going into more detail today it seems that they are well within their rights etc. I just wanted to know if digging up to the boundary bought the act into play - I guess with the amount of extensions we do I should probably know more, but tend to have these things sorted before I get on to a job.

 

[tony1851]

Section 6 (1) of the Act is quite clear (assuming your neighbour's foundation is not unusually deep).
For the Act to apply, your excavation would have to be within 3m of any adjoining structure (in this case, your neighbour's house) AND, your excavation would need to be below the level of the neighbour's foundation.
Even if you were within 3m of their house, how would you know how deep the neighbour's foundation is? If you don't have this information, how can the Act apply?