The Party Wall Act - Implications for All Parties
The UK Party Wall Act of 1996 was enacted to avoid and solve disputes between neighbors who share a standard boundary. Check out here defines the rights of owner's of buildings as regards any building, alteration, renovation or repair work to boundaries and walls between adjacent properties.
MOSTLY Used Rights
The most popular rights by building owner's are the following:
Adjacent excavation and construction
Construction of new party and boundary walls
Cutting into walls to take beam bearings or to insert damp proofing
Demolish and rebuild a common boundary
Increase the height of a wall
Raise the thickness of a wall
Underpin the party wall
Your Duties Under the Act
If you plan to perform any work to common boundaries, you must give notice to all adjoining property owners. You cannot cut into your side of the party wall without informing your neighbors of one's intentions. The act will not provide for any specific enforcement procedures but in the event that you neglect to serve notice, you risk being served with a court injunction or your neighbor(s) may seek various other legal redress.
Your neighbors cannot stop you from exercising your rights beneath the Party Wall Act however they have a say in when and how the work is undertaken. The act also expressly states that you might not cause unnecessary inconvenience to your neighbors. Inconvenience in cases like this specifically refers to any additional nuisance in addition to that which would predictably occur once the work is completed in the proper manner.
Owners of adjoining properties should take note that the main purpose of the Party Wall Act is to facilitate development and isn't meant to be a hindrance. In case you fail to react to a notice given under the act, the developer/building owner may appoint a surveyor on your behalf and the dispute resolution process will proceed without your consent.
Appointing a Party Wall Surveyor
In the case an agreement cannot be reached between adjoining property owners, the legal requirement would be to appoint a Party Wall Surveyor. Surveyors are legally mandated to do something impartially; they ought to not favor the appointing owner. The property owners may also appoint a surveyor each for them to arrived at an agreement on their behalf. However, Right of Light Consultants Spitalfields is usually a more costly and time-consuming option. In the former case, the dog owner going to undertake work pays the surveyors fees including fees reasonably incurred by his neighbor(s).
When selecting surveyor, one must be careful to appoint a professional with a track record of surveys of the nature. This is due to this is a highly specialized field with serious legal implications in the case an error or omission is committed.
If you are planning some work and your neighbor has didn't respond to your notice or you're currently involved in a dispute, call AA Projects and obtain help from top notch Party Wall Act surveyors.