Advice needed - neighbour asked to leave 5cm gap between wall

[AdamP]

Hi, I have bought property recently and my neighbour has rear garden extension before I bought property. I don't have party wall agreement from my previous owner(although I have requested for it). My neighbour has built the wall over the boundary line for their extension. Now, I want to do my rear garden extension and I requested to use party wall but they said that I have to leave 5cm gap from their wall for my rear garden extension. If I leave gap then I will loose 35cm(5cm + 30cm for new wall).

So, my questions are

1. Can I use existing wall(neighbour constructed wall on the boundary line)?

2. How do I find party wall agreement if I don't get it from previous owner?

3. What are my rights in this case?

 

 

[markc]

Unlikely there would be a PWA from previous owner as it is you wanting to use the wall.

if the neighbours wall is build over the boundary then you have a good argument and justification to use their wall.

A PWA doesn’t have to be anything flash or long winded, a statement of what you intend to do, how you will minimise any nuisance caused and what you would do if anything went wrong and you damaged their property.

[Ferdinand]

A gap that small is a *very* bad idea.

 

It will fill up with gunge with no sensible way of getting it out.

 

How would you deal with a wasps' nest, for example, or an ant hill? Or 2 inches may trap a small animal, such as a teensy cat that falls in. What if it slipped higher up the roof, for example.

 

IMO what you need is to key in to their wall with an agreed roof drainage strategy.

 

I don't envy your conversations with your neighbour.

 

Perhaps try chatting to your local Building Control at the Council - they may talk to you about your issue and have some ideas informally if you are thinking around it.

F

[Ferdinand]

Example of an adult cat stuck in a tiny gap between 2 houses:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-61810606

 

[Jilly]

Unbeknown to her, my neighbour had such a gap and thought she was going mad hearing a dripping sound. Mould grew in the cupboards and it was eventually discovered that the thoughtful builders had put the toilet overflow in this little hidden gap...

[Annker]

On 22/07/2022 at 10:45, AdamP said:

Hi, I have bought property recently and my neighbour has rear garden extension before I bought property. I don't have party wall agreement from my previous owner(although I have requested for it). My neighbour has built the wall over the boundary line for their extension. Now, I want to do my rear garden extension and I requested to use party wall but they said that I have to leave 5cm gap from their wall for my rear garden extension. If I leave gap then I will loose 35cm(5cm + 30cm for new wall).

So, my questions are

1. Can I use existing wall(neighbour constructed wall on the boundary line)?

2. How do I find party wall agreement if I don't get it from previous owner?

3. What are my rights in this case?

 

 

Interested to know how you got on with this issue?