Party Wall and Damp Course

[carolinedurrant]

Hi,

Hoping someone can help me. I live in a Victorian terraced property and the neighbour needs to damp course the party wall. The wall I believe is only a single brick wall and they will be drilling half way and injecting. They have rising damp. I have several questions -

1) The damp company says they do not need a party wall agreement for this work. Is this correct?

2) How would I be covered without any agreement if they were to do something like drill through the whole wall or if their work caused the plaster to fall off the wall?

3) If they only damp course their side of the wall will I then be at risk of the damp coming up my wall instead? If so can I protect myself in respect of this? At the moment I am damp free and would like to stay that way!

Thanks a lot for your help in advance!

Caroline

 

[Nakajo]

Your neighbour does not need a Party Wall agreement, but it's in their interest to get one.

If they cause damage to your wall (admittedly unlikely), you would sue them. Where a Party Wall Award has not been agreed in advance, Courts have previously placed the burden of proof upon the defendant!

There is no reason why you cannot agree to the Award and have their surveyor come and record conditions on your side of the wall. If you're on good terms with your neighbour then you can agree to record conditions yourselves, without the expense of a surveyor.

As Woody says, inserting a new DPC into a party wall does come under the Act, and your neighbour should be wary of using a company that appears not to know this.

 

[^woody^]

Yes inserting a new DPC into a party wall does come under the Act, and requires an agreement.

With or without an agree agreement in place you have the same recourse for any damage via your insurance or the county court, you don't get any extra protection in that respect. What an agreement does give you, is more protection before the work starts in terms of detailing what can and can't be done and things like working hours.

It is very unlikely that any company will drill through your side of the wall. Don't worry about that.

nr 3 is the conundrum. In a solid wall, damp would not tend to rise in just one half. Not impossible, but rare. So if they have damp on their half, then I would expect it to be on your half too. It may be already, but just not to the extent that its visible or a problem.

So if they do have a damp problem, if they inject just half the wall (maybe three-quarters by the time the chemical soaks in) then the risk of any damp being pushed over and up the untreated part of the wall increases. Possibly then causing you a problem you didn't have before.

If the damp issue next door has been misdiagnosed, which does happen, then the risk to your part of the wall is reduced and you don't have to worry about it.

So should your half of the wall be injected too? If it was, that involves plastering and redecoration to go with it. You would have to pay your share of this, or your insurance might.

If you can't agree something, then it may be best to dispute the notice, and then an independent Party Wall Surveyor will get involved to determine what should and should not be done and decide costs. If you can't agree on a joint surveyor, then you can appoint one each. The neighbour should pay the costs of the surveyors.

But if you are obstructive, then the neighbour may well just go ahead and do it, and then you'll have to wait and see what happens

 

[^woody^]

Your neighbour does not need a Party Wall agreement, but it's in their interest to get one.

If they cause damage to your wall (admittedly unlikely), you would sue them. Where a Party Wall Award has not been agreed in advance, Courts have previously placed the burden of proof upon the defendant!

There is no reason why you cannot agree to the Award and have their surveyor come and record conditions on your side of the wall. If you're on good terms with your neighbour then you can agree to record conditions yourselves, without the expense of a surveyor.

Sorry, that is all incorrect.

This is covered by the Act (s.2 2 f). Burden of proof is always, always with the claimant in civil claims. The party wall surveyor is not "their" surveyor, he is a joint surveyor that works for the Act

 

[Nakajo]

See Roadrunner Properties v Dean 2003

I mean 'their' surveyor in the sense that they foot the bill. The Party Wall Surveyor is supposed to act in the interests of the wall, but in more complex scenarios they *are* partisan.

To digress, consider a case where a neighbour intends to build an infill extension adjacent to your own, taking 'enjoyment' of your structure (as in the structure that you paid for) in the process. Although it might occur to you anyway, I think it unlikely that the Party Wall Surveyor would volunteer the fact that you might be entitled to a payment in respect of this 'enjoyment'.