What is a Building Owner?
A building owner as defined by the Act is a property owner of land, buildings, a floor or room who wishes to carry out works under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996.
Ae you Planning Building Works?
Before beginning your project, you must serve a Party Wall Notice London document on your neighbours. The following notifiable works require notification before commencement:
- building extensions to the back, front, sides or loft space;
- conversion of a basement, garage or loft;
- underpinning;
- any alteration of a shared wall, ceiling or floor;
- roofing or work on chimneys;
- erecting independent walls or shared walls which reach boundary lines;
- digging foundations within distances of 3 or 6 metres from your building.
Building Owner’s Surveyor
Our panel provides professional representation services to Building Owners through affordable Party Wall Agreement London Award. They prepare documents and perform duties for Building Owners whilst proposing the best project options for you.
Can I Serve a Party Wall Notice myself?
Yes; however, errors or omissions within your Notice might make it invalid, in which case you would need to serve a new notice to proceed with your building project.
Service users can obtain Party Wall Notice preparation assistance from one of the inspectors on our panel. Your London Party Wall Surveyor can draft the required Notice(s) to stop projects from slowing down because of otherwise defective Party Wall Notice documents. We would need to speak to you about your project to offer you better guidance.
What happens if a Party Wall Notice is not served?
A non-procedural service of a Notice generates substantial expenses through legal battles as well as construction time delays when Adjoining Owners attempt to hold the Building Owners accountable for their building activities.
The Adjoining Owners may get a Court Injunction from a judge to forbid unapproved works both from Building Owners and their Builder. The Adjoining Owners possess the authority to seek mandatory injunctions that result in taking down orders for completed works.
Louis v Sadiq (1997) became a legal matter when Sadiq conducted notifiable works to his house without serving the required Notice on the adjacent houseowner, Louis. The adjacent property belonging to Louis remained in the process of selling while he aimed to purchase another property and when the building works resulted in damage. Louis obtained judicial order which stopped Sadiq from performing more work until he complied with Act regulations. The authorities ordered Sadiq to perform Act requirements before he could resume work on Louis property and to fund Louis property repairs. Sadiq became responsible for Louis’ consequent losses which included both their inability to sell their property and the wasted expenses for the property acquisition they were pursuing at the time Sadiq’s damage took place.
If the Neighbour Consents to the Planned Works, does the Party Wall Process End?
Yes, unless the neighbour changes their mind.
Proceeding with your works becomes possible once your neighbour confirms their written consent after a valid Party Wall Notice.
The act of performing the works requires the builder and yourself to demonstrate good workmanship by carrying out duties with care as per common law. The decision between Onigbanjo vs Pearson (2008) established that an Adjoining Owner can change their previous consent to proposed works on a Building Owner’s Notice by then dissenting to it and thereby activating the Act provisions.
Why do I need to Consult My Neighbour about my Own Wall?
Many owners with wall, floor or ceiling structures, namely those in flats, ask this question because they assume each property owner possesses half their section of the structure. From the point of view of the Act, owners should regard walls or other structures as shared assets. The party wall simultaneously belongs to both parties for its entire thickness throughout.
Do I have to Serve Notice even if I Build Entirely on My Own Land?
This depends on whether your project stands within 3 metres from adjacent buildings.
To begin with, you must serve a Section 6(1) Notice from the Act when your excavation site is 3 metres adjacent to a neighbouring property and deeper than their current foundations. The visual representation for this scenario exists on page 19 of the Explanatory Booklet under the Diagram 6 icon.
A Section 6(2) Notice under the Act becomes mandatory when your development remains within 6 metres of a neighbouring property and your excavation work would cut through such a 45-degree line drawn from their foundations. An illustration of this scenario exists in Diagram 7 on page 19 of the Explanatory Booklet (PDF) .
How much does Party Wall Cost and Who Pays?
The fees will be determined by various elements, such as how big the project is, but you can usually expect to pay £1,500-3,000 for standard jobs.
The Building Owner who initiates works normally is responsible for inspector(s) fee payment regardless of whether the Adjoining Owner chooses to appoint their own inspector.
Is Party Wall an inconvenience?
Not necessarily. As a facilitative piece of legislation, the Party Wall Act serves both Building Owners and Adjoining Owners.
The benefits of the Party Wall Act include lawful project execution and time-protection against delays, as well as legal safeguarding of property damage claims and court expense avoidance.
One other key benefit of the Act is its power to grant access to neighbouring property for executing necessary tasks, such as erecting scaffolding. This advantage can not be found in any modern legislation.
What if my Neighbour wants to use the Wall I Built?
A neighbour can not use a wall which is entirely on your land, but they can do so if it is built astride the line of junction (i.e. on either side of the legal boundary). Your neighbour holds rights to a Party Wall if your wall falls under this classification.
If you neighbour wishes to connect to the wall, then they owe you one-half of the current construction rate as a fair assessment of its value. So, if the wall would cost £2,000 to build today, they would have to pay you £1,000 (known as an “enclosure fee”). This applies even if the wall was built by previous owners.
Note: even though the Act refers to the right to “raise” a party wall, this also applies to extending it downwards (often for a basement conversion).
