The dreaded Party Wall Act

[megamum]

hi
i have been trying to get a project started at my Dad's house, and disabled facilities grant project for a bathroom extension at the back of the house. The neighbours who had always been fine in the past, have suddenly turned into monsters from hell, objecting as the new bathroom will butt up to their new dining room extension, claiming their home will be devalued and even after planning granted disputing under the Act. Now their extension went up some time ago and I knew nothing about it, and |I jointly own the house with my siblings, can they hold things up the way they are doing, when they didn't adhere to the act with their extension, and should I be seeking legal advice? I am truly fed up as my Dad has been housebound for over a year, and grant also entails a lift at the front of the house, and the contractors wont star work until the dispute is sorted. HELP!!

 

[wms]

This link should give you the information you require.
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1996/ukpga_19960040_en_1

Did they not consider when they built their dining room extension it would de value your home . Truth they didn't give a dam so long as they got what they wanted. Neighbours are a pain in the backside

I would follow the information in the link serve notice and put the ball in their court .

 

[Shytalkz]

What they will come to realise at some point in all of this is that the PWeA is not there to stop work being done, just because they don't like it. If there were sound (or unsound!) structural reasons for not building it, then that would be different.

They had their chance to object at planning stage and, if they did and it still went through, then tough ****, that's life.

Unfortunately, this will cost you, as the party wall surveyor/s will be paid for by you, as the work is for your benefit. The appointment is, however, a statutory one, not partisan, which most muppets like your neighbours don't realise. The appointment is solely to ensure that the requirements of the Act are met, not to defend a party's interests.

Unfortunately, the PWeA does give some peple the chance to make life difficult, but that is not what it was intended for and it will get sorted in your favour, just to the tune of an extra £1500 or so.

 

[^woody^]

It comes down to two options - and you should do a little risk assessment to choose.

Either serve a formal PW notice and go through the procedure. By the looks of things the neighbours will want their own PW surveyor, so you will have to bear most if not all of the costs. You may have to wait the (90 days?) time limit between serving and starting, unless the dispute starts early

Or, carry on with the work and rely on the neighbours not pursuing it further - costs may be an issue fro them if they want to try for an injunction.

If you can convince the builders that there is no comeback on them (which there isn't) then if you went with option 2, then a lot of the work would be done quickly and perhaps before the neighbour had time to react?

If you are still speaking to the neighbour, then mention that the work is going ahead whatever happens as permission has been granted, and the PWA will not alter that fact one bit

There are no penalties on you if you do not follow the Act, there may a slight delay if the neighbours do get an injunction, but I find that most neighbours don't bother unless they are very well off and have a lot to protect

You can't do anything about their extension now. You may point out their hypocrisy to them, buts thats it.

 

[blondini]

I'm just thinking, does the PWA actually apply in this case? See what it says about adjacent excavation and construction. Will the excavation be lower than the neighbours founds?

6 Adjacent excavation and construction (1) This section applies where—
(a) a building owner proposes to excavate, or excavate for and erect a building or structure, within a distance of three metres measured horizontally from any part of a building or structure of an adjoining owner; and
(b) any part of the proposed excavation, building or structure will within those three metres extend to a lower level than the level of the bottom of the foundations of the building or structure of the adjoining owner.
(2) This section also applies where—
(a) a building owner proposes to excavate, or excavate for and erect a building or structure, within a distance of six metres measured horizontally from any part of a building or structure of an adjoining owner; and
(b) any part of the proposed excavation, building or structure will within those six metres meet a plane drawn downwards in the direction of the excavation, building or structure of the building owner at an angle of forty-five degrees to the horizontal from the line formed by the intersection of the plane of the level of the bottom of the foundations of the building or structure of the adjoining owner with the plane of the external face of the external wall of the building or structure of the adjoining owner.

 

[Shytalkz]

It's butting up to next door, so by definition, the foundations will have to go to at least the same level as their foundations, hence Act applies. The only possible way around it would be to use a reinforced concrete raft, but you have to take the excavation to subgrade into account and, this presupposes that a raft would actually be appropriate in this instance; and it doesn't seem like it would be.

Caught by the curlies, unfortunately .

 

[^woody^]

I'm just thinking, does the PWA actually apply in this case?

Good point.

I assumed that the OP had already ascertained that it did.

If the new wall was kept off the boundary then it would not be a party wall. Likewise if the foundations were not deeper than next doors - eg 980mm specified rather than 1001mm, then the PW Act would not apply.

The first step should be to determine if the PWA does apply or not. And if it does, are there ways to alter the extension so that it does not apply?

Then build a horrible block wall with all the snots hanging off for the neighbours viewing pleasure