Worried Neighbour
It can be very worrying when your neighbour starts some building works. Valid questions arise such as: are they allowed to build that? Will it affect my house? What will happen if they cause damage to my house or garden?
In all likelihood, if your neighbour is forming a loft conversion or rear extension their works will be covered by the Party Wall etc Act 1996. This is a piece of legislation that places an obligation on a neighbour carrying out certain works to:
- tell their neighbour about the extent works; and to
- carry them out in such a way as to minimise their impact on the neighbour
If the works do fall under the Party Wall Act, the person carrying out the works usually has to pay any surveyor's fees, including the neighbour's surveyor's fees
How We Can Help
If your neighbour is carrying out some building works, contact us to see if we can help. You can either telephone or email us for no obligation free advice. Or you could complete our Party Wall Questionnaire which we will return with our thoughts on whether the works are covered by the Act
Case Study
One of our recent cases outlines how we helped a homeowner living next to some building works
Mr D owed a house in west London. His neighbours, Mr and Mrs S, were converting their loft into a 4th bedroom which involved scaffolding, installing new steel beams at roof level, forming a new dormer window and recovering their roof
Contrary to the Party Wall Act, Mr and Mrs S did not tell Mr D about the works; their builders were walking all over Mr D's roof breaking a number of roof tiles and were generally being un-neighbourly
Mr D contacted us and asked us to help. We visited within 48 hours and talked through his concerns. We then visited Mr and Mrs S and advised them of Mr D's worries. After their intial reluctance, Mr and Mrs S researched the Party Wall Act and agreed they had a duty under to minimise disturbance to Mr D and generally not affect his house
We therefore became involved as Agreed Surveyor whereby we:
- independently reviewed the works to the Party Wall to ensure they would not affect Mr D's house
- prepared a schedule off condition to ensure that if further alleged damage occurred there would be a record
- we also told the builders about the damaged roof tiles, which before the end of the works they replaced at no cost to Mr D
The works and neighbourly matters were all recorded in a Party Wall Award
Our fees were fully covered by the party carrying out the works ie Mr and Mrs S
CWC PARTY WALLS chartered surveyors
18 Bladon Close, Guildford, Surrey GU1 1TY email: PartyWallsWestLondon@gmail.com
Tel: 07432 848 438
CWC Party Walls is the trading name of CWC PW Ltd. Company No10412793
