Neighbour not responding to PWA notices

[Muhammad]

Hi, Sorry I am new to the forum and would like to ask if anyone has the experience of a non-responding neighbour to a PWA notices.

 

I have and empty plot of land and want to build a terraced house. My surveyor appointed a surveyor on behalf of one of the neighbour. However one of the neighbour is not responding to any of the notices over the last six months. At this point the appointed surveyor on his behalf is willing to serve the award on the basis of external property conditions as he cannot gain the entry to the neighbour's property. However I am concerned about the potential legal consequences if the neighbour decide to sue me at a later stage.

 

Does someone ever experience this kind of situation?   

[LSB]

I don't have any experience, but ask the neighbours surveyor that question as I'm assuming that he is insured and if he is prepared to do this then he must feel comfortable as it will come back on him.

But, and it's a big one, won't you need access to his land to build your property and have you had a structural survey to confirm that his wall is good enough to hold up your new house.

 

[kandgmitchell]

So to clarify, you intend to build a new house attached to an existing neighbour's house to create/extend a terrace ?

[ProDave]

7 minutes ago, kandgmitchell said:

So to clarify, you intend to build a new house attached to an existing neighbour's house to create/extend a terrace ?

This puzzles me.  The neighbour has an end of terrace house.  You want to join on to his wall and insert another house making his a mid terrace house and in so doing devalue his house?

 

And you just expect him to say yes with no compensation for the fact he will have more neighbour noise and a lower value house?  Or if you can't seek agreement bully it through somehow?

 

I don't know what the law actually says, but I do know I would not want to own a house where a house wall is on the boundary and so could be subject so such devaluation.

[JohnMo]

4 hours ago, Muhammad said:

neighbour is not responding to any of the notices over the last six months.

He is possibly burying his head, not really knowing what to do.

 

I would be seeking legal guidance, to block you. You would not be allowed to enter or touch my property. Which include touching my wall you want to build on.

[Jilly]

Why not just build a small detached property on your plot? 
I can’t see many people would want to be in this situation unless they owned both properties, so as others have alluded, expect them to want compensation. 
 

Edited August 14 by Jilly

[Muhammad]

Thanks all.

To clarify the situation, on both side of my empty plot of land are string of terraced houses. The neighbour on one side does not have any problem and let the architect inspect the inside of property and an award is made. While the neighbour on the other side is ignoring all the notices. My previous planning permission was expired waiting for his response and I have to apply for a new permission. After getting the permission my architect is trying to contact him for about 3 months. Tired of this wait my architect appointed an architect on neighbour's behalf. Agin the appointed architect has been trying to contact the neighbour for over 3 months but of no use. At this stage the architect we appointed on his behalf is willing to award after external inspection of the neighbours property.

 

Any ideas that what legal step I can take to protect myself from a potential litigation in this matter?

 

@LSB thanks. I'll check with the architect if he/his company is insured. To your send point, we have to trim his irregular wall to make it even but we will build our own wall next to his.

 

@kandgmitchell and @ProDave explained above, thanks.

[ProDave]

I don't know the law, but I would have expected the unresponsive owner would have sought legal advice.  To remain silent may not be his best plan.

[bassanclan]

You can't be "trimming his wall" without his permission.

PWA doesn't give you permission to do that, you would need express permission and a legal agreement.

[Temp]

My understanding is..

 

a) One of the objectives of the PWA is to provide some protection for neighbours. That's why you're paying for their surveyor. If they won't co-operate with "their" surveyor that can't be held against you. Keep copies of letters and a note of your attempts to involve them. Dates you called or knocked on their door etc.

 

b) Even if you follow the letter of the PWA and follow all of the surveyors advice during construction it is still possible for you to damage a neighbours property inadvertently. In such cases if you failed to rectify the damage you could be sued for the cost of repairs BUT because you took precautions by involving surveyors it's unlikely you could also be sued for negligence. Any money awarded might also be reduced if the neighbours failure to co-operate contributed to the damage in some way.

 

c) This is what site insurance is for. Your site insurance should cover damage to neighbours property. If you are relying on a builders policy make sure to check what it covers and keep a copy of the certificate. When we built site insurance wasnt outrageously expensive for what it covered but that was 2007.

 

 

Edited August 14 by Temp

[kandgmitchell]

Sorry if it appears pedantic but are the walls either side of your plot actually "party walls" i.e they sit astride the boundary of your land (perhaps a situation where the house on your plot was part of a whole terrace and has since been taken down) or do they sit wholly inside the land owned by each neighbour (so there are two separate terraces you are now going to link).

[TommoUK]

19 hours ago, Muhammad said:

Thanks all.

To clarify the situation, on both side of my empty plot of land are string of terraced houses. The neighbour on one side does not have any problem and let the architect inspect the inside of property and an award is made. While the neighbour on the other side is ignoring all the notices. My previous planning permission was expired waiting for his response and I have to apply for a new permission. After getting the permission my architect is trying to contact him for about 3 months. Tired of this wait my architect appointed an architect on neighbour's behalf. Agin the appointed architect has been trying to contact the neighbour for over 3 months but of no use. At this stage the architect we appointed on his behalf is willing to award after external inspection of the neighbours property.

 

Any ideas that what legal step I can take to protect myself from a potential litigation in this matter?

 

@LSB thanks. I'll check with the architect if he/his company is insured. To your send point, we have to trim his irregular wall to make it even but we will build our own wall next to his.

 

@kandgmitchell and @ProDave explained above, thanks.

..there's plenty of examples where this sort of development has been done.  look into the history of the site and find out if there was a terraced house on the site previously. its not uncommon in victorian terraces for example to have a 'bomb gap' (WW2). a bomb destroyed part of the original terrace and turned a mid terrace house into an end of terrace. there may have been a detached house built in the gap or it may be an empty plot but the wall of the neighbours house is still a 'party wall' and you can therefore enclose on it.  with regard to the party wall and what to do in your situation: if you damage the wall then you have to pay for it.  normally you would have a schedule of condition to document the neighbours side to evidence the condition of the wall before you start work.  without this the neighbour could claim that existing cracks in the wall were a result of your work.  at the end of the day you need to crack on so you need to take a commercial view. speak to your PW surveyor and work out the risks.

Edited August 15 by TommoUK

[Muhammad]

Thanks all for your feedback.

 

@bassanclan Not the main wall but sloping walls which are almost 3 feet thicker and 6 feet high and are entirely in my property. They need to be trimmed.

 

@Temp Good point, I will check with the builder for the site insurance. @kandgmitchell Yes, the new walls would entirely be in my property so there would be two separate terraces. @TommoUK Good point, I will check with the council if it was bomb gap. That's exactly the PW surveyor is doing at the moment.