I live in a small set of terraced houses and the house next to me recently got bought after a while of it being empty. The new owner now wants to shove an extension on the front which is totally expected and today popped his plans through the door with a letter about the party wall act. Ignoring the fact he’s not included his home address nor bothered to discuss this with us face to face, I have some fairly basic questions:

My reading of the act is that we can get a surveyor at his cost (the changes will not benefit me in the slightest) but he’s saying in his letter it will be at my cost. Is my understanding of this correct?

edit – Is him trying it on normal to discourage me disputing or is he just trying to pull a fast one?

This suggests that a surveyor is appointed to act impartially, and is paid for by him (the proposer of the work). Interestingly it also suggests that if he doesn’t agree with what ‘his’ surveyor says, he’s not allowed to sack him!

Seems very unlikely to me that you’d have to pay for a surveyor who helps draw up the agreement, but I imagine that if you got into a dispute and wanted a second opinion from another surveyor, you’d need to pay for that.

Dave

He is required to serve notice on you. If he does not do this then he is immediately in breach and you can stop any works happening. I would speak to a Party Wall Surveyor or try going through the Pyramus and Thisbe website. He is required by law to pay for your surveyor amongst other things, however I would speak to a Party Wall surveyor.
He must also have planning permission to carry out this work. You should have been notified by the Local Authority. If not then take a trawl through the searchable database on your LA’s website or phone up the Planning Department and ask if an application has been made/ and or granted.

We got planning permission docs through which were, frankly, mental. His plans had a risk of taking down the entire row of 4 houses as he was taking all structural support out and if it went wrong, boom. However, the planning officer said that risk assessment wasn’t part of his job so objections on the fact it was a bit dodgy were irrelevant 😛

Honestly, I don’t really trust the bloke so I think the surveyor approach is going to be the best bet.

having just gone through all this myself i’m now quite familiar with it all. Being the one who had the work done mind. The party wall award is paid for by the person doing the work. (its usually around £500 per party)

Make sure that when the award is complete and you receive all descriptions/photos of any current issues with your side of the wall that you talk to your neighbour before work starts – they may be able to resolve them with little/no cost to you as the work is carried out.

Its worth doing as it covers all issues that may occur when the building starts – if a neighbour claims a crack appears during/after works done – the award will show if this is indeed true or not, if true then this will need to be fixed at cost of the one doing the building work

You can appoint you own surveyor – you dont have to use the same one that he is using – but at the end of the day they work for the crown and not for you or him, so it doesnt really matter.
The award should also cover when the builders can and cannot work (i.e. sociable hours) and what access may be required to your property if any – in which case what notice is required to be given

when the works are being carried out a building inspector should make frequent visits so if its looks dodgy – they can stop the build (usually it wouldnt get that far as the tech drawings that the surveyors produce are sent to the council first and need to be signed off as safe and viable)

Excerpt from the Pyramus & Thisbe website:

My neighbour is building and hasn’t served Notices or told me what he is doing. What can I do?

If the Building Owner is doing work on or to a party structure (wall, floor, or fence wall) or digging within the prescribed depths and distances without serving Notices, he is acting outside the law and can be stopped. If you are certain that he is acting in a way that requires action under the Act but has not followed it, you should seek an injunction from the County Court. You should take legal advice first but the procedure is fairly simple. You will apply for Interlocutory Relief. This is heard in chambers and you tell the Judge what is happening and ask him to grant an injunction. He will require the Adjoining Owner to give the “usual undertakings” or cross-undertakings in damages. This means that if you have got it wrong, your rights have not been infringed and the Building Owner is put to costs because of the injunction, you will bear those costs. Think about it carefully.

If you are a Building Owner and are served with an injunction, STOP! If you do not you could be imprisoned for contempt. Only continue if you are absolutely certain that what you are doing is not covered by the terms of the injunction. Again, you should take legal advice to be sure of your position. The risks really are not worth taking a chance.

He is required by law to pay for your surveyor

Incorrect. There is nothing in the PWectA stating this.

It is usual for the fees to be paid by the Building Owner but it is for the Party Wall Surveyor(s) to ‘Award it so’. There are circumstances where an Adjoining Owner can be held jointly liable for costs. And indeed if the BO refuses to pay (or simply cannot) then the Surveyor(s) can easily persue the AO for the fees regardless of the Award. Plenty of legal precedent in support of this. Indeed when the Act was first enabled there was a scam doing just this.

Assuming you’re in England or Wales and this is just an overview.

You need to be clear that the PWetcA is not a mechanism to prevent works being done. It gives rights to owners to complete reasonable works.

The problem most people have with the Act is getting their head round that the Client is the Party Structure. It doesn’t matter whether an Agreed Surveyor or Two Surveyors are appointed their Duty of Care is to the structure not the Owners.

The second problem is the terminology used under the Act. ‘Dissent’ does not mean you object to the works or can prevent the works. It’s a term used to enable an Award to be compiled.

If your Neighbour has drafted a Notice using the Direct Gov informaton then it is likely to be incorrect and invalid. The RICS or the P&T Club can help you find a local Party Wall Surveyor. Appoint one you can get on with – ie is prepared to talk you through this [simple] process.

Don’t worry about responding to any notice. No response means that you automatically ‘dissent’ after 14-days of service. it used to be the other way round (when it was the London Act). Do Not ‘Consent’ to any notice either as this then stops the process.

I believe mk1fan has better knowledge than I, but I do know who to ask…

Your neighbour will have to ensure the works do not affect the structural integrity of the terrace under the Act and under Building Regs.

There is usually a condition survey of neighbouring properties undertaken pre and post the works to highlight any issues that existed before the works and that may cause an issue during the build and any that have arisen purley as a result of the works( these they would be expected to rectify to the satisfaction of the PW Surveyor(s)

Just dissent and let nature take its course. You may not like his plans but if he is playing by the book you should not be disadvataged in any way. (Other than you property value going down due to some idiot putting up an eyesore next door :wink:)

well the eyesore has been done over the road. That’s a completely different story 🙂

I’m a Chartered Surveyor, and do quite a lot of Party Wall work. Sorry.

You need to be clear whether the work proposed by your neighbour is notifiable under the P W Act (eg he / she is proposing to excavate deeper than your foundations and within 3m of them, or work is proposed to the Party Structure itself. There are other possible scenarios too).

If so, a formal notice has to be served upon you, allowing you to either agree or “dissent” in which case you can appoint a Surveyor (or agree to his). The Surveyor’s fees are normally paid by the person intending to carry out the work.

I suggest you contact a local Chartered Building Surveyor, who should be able to give you some initial guidance over the phone FOC. If you visit http://www.rics.org/uk you can search for one.

Formal notice got in a big envelope today, hence the question. Talked to the neighbour on the other side and he’s also got concerns and we’re talking about engaging the same surveyor. I’ll give a local one a call anyway just to get the opinion but it seems like dissenting is the best way to ensure things are good.

He will need Building control approval for any structural changes and will have to submit plans to get such – so give them a ring if he starts work and you’re still concerned. They can stop him pretty quickly and will forcively take control of a site if the work is endangering your property (happened to a house in a neighbouring street where the idiot decided to extend downwards and nearly had both neighbouring terraces collapse – BC took over the site, poured 20 tonnes of concrete into the hole to stabilise the mess and then billed the owner for their work.

Formal notice got in a big envelope today,

Receiving a pile of paper doesn’t mean that correct notice has been served. Indeed, if the neighbour has done it themselves using the templates from Direct Gov then they will most definatively be invalid as the templates don’t provide/explain your choices properly.

As already said. Find a local (and competant) Surveyor who’ll check the right info has been given / design proposals are sufficient [with regards to Party Wall etc Act].