Hi,

I’m planning to build an extension on my house which will affect the party wall between me and my neighbour.

My architect has recommended getting a party wall agreement in place, which seems sensible but it’s not something I’ve been through before.

If the STW-hive-mind have any relevant experience/advice/gotchas they’d like to share it would be much appreciated 🙂

Thanks,
V

You can either:

a) ignore it
b) do it yourself
c) get yourself a surveyor and crack on.

a) not really recommended, but your neighbour basically has to get an injunction to stop work.
b) if your neighbour is a amenable and you feel like reading some documents and producing the notices yourself. If they want their own surveyor, you’ll end up doing c) anyway.
c) is least stress. Will probably cost you under £3k.

If the neighbour is friendly then DIY it. Template letters available, add the details of your work. Get your neighbour to sign it. Job done. If they aren’t then you may need to do a survey to keep things formal.

if you end up appointing a surveyor, make sure you appoint any surveyor jointly, the surveyor is an independent expert – he should be not be acting only in the interests of one party. I ended up spending a fortune resolving a dispute because the surveyor appointed by my neighbour refused to act as he was required to by the law, I still regret not seeking legal redress.

jimdubleyou – Member
You can either:

a) ignore it
b) do it yourself
c) get yourself a surveyor and crack on.

Do not, under any circumstances, ignore it. Not only can your neighbour get an an injunction (the costs of which they will claim back from you, and are unlikely to be less than £20k…) they can still sit back, let you complete all the work, and THEN object, and get a court order that you undo all the work.

mefty – Member
if you end up appointing a surveyor, make sure you appoint any surveyor jointly, the surveyor is an independent expert – he should be not be acting only in the interests of one party. I ended up spending a fortune resolving a dispute because the surveyor appointed by my neighbour refused to act as he was required to by the law, I still regret not seeking legal redress.

Or, make sure you appoint your own surveyor to act in your interest. Whilst it’s permitted under the Act, I’ve not come across a surveyor jointly appointed – probably because of the risk of conflict of interest arising.

If the neighbour is friendly then DIY it. Template letters available, add the details of your work. Get your neighbour to sign it.

My neighbour has just had an extention build and this is what he did. But we get on well.

Just watch the boundaries – on the plans a gutter was due to extend into our land by 3″. Not much, and I wasn’t that bothered but a future purchase of my house could be.

Thanks for all the comments so far.

The neighbours haven’t been there long (6 months-ish) but we’ve got on well so far; they didn’t seem remotely bothered about us building the extension when I mentioned it.

Any tips for a DIY agreement? Presumably I need to;
– Provide them details of the planned work
– Take photos of the shared walls/ceilings beforehand
– Complete the template forms/letters and get everyone to sign

Anything else?

Thanks again.

I did an extension that affected party walls on both sides of my terrace house in London. It did get quite expensive unfortunately as one side didn’t want me to extend so caused as much trouble as possible. Annoyingly some years later she did the same extension herself and used the wall I’d built so saving money – after I’d moved out though.

Or, make sure you appoint your own surveyor to act in your interest. Whilst it’s permitted under the Act, I’ve not come across a surveyor jointly appointed – probably because of the risk of conflict of interest arising.

If you are doing a basic extension two lots of surveyors’ fees – you have to pay their costs – consumes a fair bit of the budget for little, if any, value added.

I also say DIY it if your neighbour is agreeable. Don’t ignore it, do all the formal form filling. Can’t remember where I got them (sorry) but examples were available online when I needed them for some piling a couple of years ago.

I probably got mine here

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/party-wall-etc-act-1996-guidance

Info, sample letters, etc. All you need I think

verses – Member

Any tips for a DIY agreement? Presumably I need to;
– Provide them details of the planned work
– Take photos of the shared walls/ceilings beforehand
– Complete the template forms/letters and get everyone to sign

Anything else?

Thanks again.

Bear in mind that if your neighbour wants to appoint a surveyor, you will be obliged to pay their costs irrespective of whether or not you agree.

IME the most important thing is to have a comprehensive schedule of condition and full agreement by the neighbour to the proposed works – that means that they fully understand the implications of the work. I’ve seen neighbours say they’re fine with the work until it actually starts and all hell breaks loose.

Note also you are under an obligation to put right any damage caused by your works.

Bear in mind that if your neighbour wants to appoint a surveyor, you will be obliged to pay their costs irrespective of whether or not you agree.

AND you are not allowed to act as your own surveyor. If they want one, you need to get one too.

Any tips for a DIY agreement? Presumably I need to;
– Provide them details of the planned work
– Take photos of the shared walls/ceilings beforehand
– Complete the template forms/letters and get everyone to sign

That’s the gist of it.

Ours went something like

Dear XXX,

The Party Wall etc. Act 1996
Notice of proposed works – Party Structure Notice, Notice of Adjacent Excavation

As the owners of XXX which is adjacent to your premises at XXX, we XXX of XXX notify you that in accordance with our rights under section 2 of The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 we intend to carry out building works.

The proposed works are:

Removal of kitchen lean-to roof at no XX. Cut into existing party wall between new extension of no XX and coal shed of XX to key in new wall. Excavate foundations for new wall in accordance with building regulations adjacent to party wall. Construction of flat roof attached to party wall below top brick line.

We intend to start work on or after XXX or on the earlier date of XXX with your written agreement.

If you are content for the works to go ahead as proposed please complete, sign and return the attached letter within 14 days of receiving this letter. If you do not confirm in writing that you are content for the works to go ahead as proposed we will be ‘in dispute’ under the Act.

In the event of any dispute between us under the Act, would you be willing to agree to the appointment of an ‘Agreed Surveyor’? If the answer is yes we suggest using XXX but would be happy to receive your alternative proposal.

If the answer is no, please let us know whom you would appoint as your surveyor.

Yours Sincerely

Then there was a second page with some tick boxes and sign/date

If they are friendly and happy with the work just pop round and get it signed.

Oh, and if they ignore it, a dispute is deemed to have arisen, so you can’t just go off and start the work, you have to go through the dispute process and get an Award.

https://www.gov.uk/party-walls-building-works

never upset or underestimate how petty your neighbours can be, a fellow builder bought a house, built an extension backward from terraced house, put a new boiler in with condensing vent pipe through wall into next doors garden about 4 inches in, came back one day, no heating neighbour had smashed off vent and filled it with expanding foam.

You can’t put the vent from a boiler into the neighbours property. Wouldn’t meet building regs so that implies the boiler was installed without regs *. Probably a good idea to decommission it 😈

* unless this was pre 2002

Builder bob, not his real name did just that, and reinstalled it through roof, about 4 years ago.Neighbour moved on thankfully.But cost him a lot of greif and cash.

Nickjb’s letter is pretty much what I took round to both our neighbours prior to starting works on our extension, they both agreed, signed & no problems, interestingly both of them have had extensions built since that should have had the same done in return but they both went with option a…

I did object vocally when one of them’s 2 storey extension went up exactly on the boundary & the builder started putting up facia’s, soffits & guttering over the boundary, they revised the wall at the top the following day and everything is just about their side of the boundary.

never upset or underestimate how petty your neighbours can be, a fellow builder bought a house, built an extension backward from terraced house, put a new boiler in with condensing vent pipe through wall into next doors garden about 4 inches in, came back one day, no heating neighbour had smashed off vent and filled it with expanding foam.

That’s not a petty neighbour – that’s an arrogant builder. Stupid thing to do.