Party Wall needed?

[Farah Jones]

I would be grateful for any views and advice on the below

 

We have just started work on a small extension for urgently needed ground floor disabled facilities.

 

It is a semi detached house and this small extension will result in both houses extensions being the same length  (ie we are not going beyond the neighbours existing extension)

 

There is a gap between the two extensions (ie there is NO shared wall).

 

We were told that we did not need a Party Wall Agreement  by our SE and builders.

 

Our neighbour (who has been awful over the years) has turned up on day 1 of the dig to say it requires a party wall agreement and indicating he expects us to pay for him to have his own surveyor.

 

Whilst the dig is within 3 metres of the neighbours building, we are NOT intending to go lower than his foundations and he has been told this. 

 

The work is being done carefully (and manually) by our builders  and not by machinery.

 

Given his behaviour in the past, we are concerned he will rack up our costs  and seek to cause delay.

 

My questions are.....

- Is a TWA a necessity? Are we wrong?

- What happens when one side says a TWA is needed and the other says it isn't?

- If a TWA  is needed can we impose one joint surveyor (instead of two separate surveyors).

- If a TWA if not needed should I still get my own surveyor?

- Apart from bore holes by the builders to ensure they do not go beyond the depth of the neighbours foundations (and taking lots of photographs of the work as it progresses) what else should we be doing to protect ourselves?

- Should we just crack on?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[joe90]

Excavation near neighbouring buildings (section 6 of the Act)

28. What does the Act say if I want to excavate near neighbouring buildings?

If you plan to:

• excavate, or excavate for and construct foundations for a new building or structure, within 3 metres of any part of a neighbouring owner’s building or structure, where any part of that work will go deeper than the neighbour’s foundations (see diagram 6); or
• excavate, or excavate for and construct foundations for a new building or structure, within 6 metres of any part of a neighbouring owner’s building or structure, where any part of that work will meet a line drawn downwards at 45° in the direction of the excavation from the bottom of the neighbour’s foundations 

from.   https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preventing-and-resolving-disputes-in-relation-to-party-walls/the-party-wall-etc-act-1996-explanatory-booklet

 

 

so my interpretation of that is if you don’t intend to go lower than your neighbours foundation. NO you don’t need a PWA.

[Caversham Passivhaus]

You are correct if the excavations do not go deeper than your neighbours foundations.

 

However the work has already started, so the party wall act would not apply now.

 

Just crack on. But note as the work isn’t covered by the act you can’t benefit from it’s protections from claims of trespass or nuisance.

 

If your neighbour does something like appoint a surveyor at your cost, that will be an expensive mistake for them.

[Farah Jones]

So the risk is if he goes to court claiming trespass / damage?

 

Can you please explain what you meant in the last sentence. He says we will have to pay for his surveyor as I’m confused by what is online. is it because you say the TWA dosent now apply ( presumably because we’ve now started the works?) 

 

thank you so much 

Edited September 12 by Farah Jones

[Gus Potter]

1 hour ago, Farah Jones said:

I would be grateful for any views and advice on the below

 

We have just started work on a small extension for urgently needed ground floor disabled facilities.

 

It is a semi detached house and this small extension will result in both houses extensions being the same length  (ie we are not going beyond the neighbours existing extension)

 

There is a gap between the two extensions (ie there is NO shared wall).

 

We were told that we did not need a Party Wall Agreement  by our SE and builders.

 

Our neighbour (who has been awful over the years) has turned up on day 1 of the dig to say it requires a party wall agreement and indicating he expects us to pay for him to have his own surveyor.

 

Whilst the dig is within 3 metres of the neighbours building, we are NOT intending to go lower than his foundations and he has been told this. 

 

The work is being done carefully (and manually) by our builders  and not by machinery.

 

Given his behaviour in the past, we are concerned he will rack up our costs  and seek to cause delay.

 

My questions are.....

- Is a TWA a necessity? Are we wrong?

- What happens when one side says a TWA is needed and the other says it isn't?

- If a TWA  is needed can we impose one joint surveyor (instead of two separate surveyors).

- If a TWA if not needed should I still get my own surveyor?

- Apart from bore holes by the builders to ensure they do not go beyond the depth of the neighbours foundations (and taking lots of photographs of the work as it progresses) what else should we be doing to protect ourselves?

- Should we just crack on?

 

This all is happening in real time.

 

My thoughts are to see if you can rack up expense for your neighbour as they have got all aggresive. Turn the tables.

 

I would want to have a look at their foundations to see it they are relying on your land for support. Now we can make hay here as often builder never follows the foundation design when close to a boundary. You dig a hole and make them prove they are not relying on your land for support.. and that costs a lot SE wise and no SE is going to sign that off without a full investigation.

 

I would check to make sure that they have the required fire boundary protection in place. I would also check any drainage runs and so on. Have they built over a drain that is serving more than one house and do they have build over permision for that? 80% of the time folk don't! They will shite their pants!

 

This is a big lever. If they have done this with no build over permission then they are (expletive deleted)ed.

 

Do their gutters over hang you property for example? Do they have an extractor fan vent to close to your property?

 

In summary often we can find things that are non compliant on their side.. If you can find a street wise deisgner then they can maybe make this problem  all go away.

 

For me I would see where the land lies and if it look promising under your instruction chap their door and spell it out to them as an independant advisor, advise them (impartially of course) that they should seek professional advice as they could loose their shirt if they persist.

 

 

Edited September 12 by Gus Potter

[joe90]

47 minutes ago, Farah Jones said:

Can you please explain what you meant in the last sentence.

 

1 hour ago, Caversham Passivhaus said:

If your neighbour does something like appoint a surveyor at your cost, that will be an expensive mistake for them.

My understanding of this is if your neighbour tries to appoint a surveyor at your cost but a PWA is not required it will backfire on him and he will have to pay for it and have no bearing.

Edited September 13 by joe90