Party wall help please

Next doors (adjoining house in a terrace) has a plasterboard partition in the loft. The houses are listed so planning permission is required etc for any changes to the house.

They are converting the loft to a work room without telling peak park or building regs etc. They also want to change the plasterboard wall to brick, but want us to go halves (they can bollox on that) – do we need a party wall agreement?

any advice greatly welcome, i am not happy about this what so ever

Rob, The Planninng Portal is a good place to start….
They have good advice, and are pretty approachable mate.

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Tell tehn you want it to be done properly / legally or you grass ’em up? But you won’t object if they get planning permission

could cause issues if you wnt to sell. the “wall” you mention in the loft will be a fire wall.

No way would I be paying for work done illegally

Are you sure it’s plasterboard, not lath and plaster? If it is plasterboard it is not going to be original so Town Planning may not be too interested.

Aside from the legality, your neighbour should be serving you with a Party Structure Notice under the Party Wall etc Act 1996: you can then “dissent” and appoint a surveyor to act for you. His fees are normally paid by your neighbour, the “Building Owner” under the Act. However, if you will both benefit from the wall, it may be held that all of the relevant costs should be shared: you could argue that you don’t want it or need it, but if you make use of it in the future you will have to make a contribution towards the original cost (updated in line with inflation). Under the Act either owner has the right to raise a Party Wall, so you can’t really stop him.

Assuming the property is in England or Wales.

No you don’t ‘need’ a Party Wall agreemment or Award but you do need notice.

Planning Consent may not be required but Listed Building Consent will. As will Building Regulation Approval (Building Control or Approved Inspector).

Technically, yes you can be charged for half the wall, however, it would be unusual for a competant Party Wall Surveyor to persue this as part of the works.

You may be liable to pay an enclosure benefit to the neighbour should you choose to convert your loft to habitable space.

and appoint a surveyor to act for you

This should really be qualified. The owners are entitled to appoint who ever they like (so long as that person is competent to act) as ‘their’ Party Wall Surveyor. However, a Party Wall Surveyor’s Duty of Care is to the Party Structure and not to any of the owners.

Hence a Party Wall Surveyor has an Apointing Owner and not a Client.