In this week’s property surveying blog post topic, we are going to be discussing Party Wall surveying, and in particular, different types of party wall construction.
Under the Party Wall Etc Act 1996, which is the legal Act which governs various different types of party wall works, if you are planning on building a new wall up to the boundary line, or astride the boundary line, the Party Wall Etc Act 1996 governs these works and ultimately sets out the procedures which need to be followed in order to best safeguard both your property, and your neighbours’ property.
There are two different types of options for the placement of a wall during the course of construction. The first is to build the wall up to the boundary line, which effectively means that the wall will be built entirely on the building owner’s land, and right up to the outer edge of their boundary. This means that the foundations that sit below ground are eccentrically loaded, meaning that they are wholly on the building owner’s land, however, it also means that the entirety of the brickwork, blockwork, roof, fascias, guttering and any other element of the proposed structure is wholly on the building owner’s land.
One of the most common misconceptions of the Party Wall Etc Act 1996 is that a building owner has to step their wall away from the boundary line. This is not the case. The Act gives an owner the right to build within the full curtilage of their land, and for that reason, many owners tend to opt for this option, as it ultimately ensures that the building owner is able to achieve a large extension, which can lead to maximum internal space.
The next type of wall construction that can be done is to build the wall astride the boundary line, effectively half on the building owner’s land, and half on the land of the adjoining owner. In order to do this, the building owner must have the written consent and agreement of the adjoining owner, as effectively, the adjoining owner will be allowing the building owner to use part of their land in undertaking their proposed construction.
You may ask yourself why an adjoining owner would allow such a thing. Well, in allowing the building owner to build astride the boundary line, in the future, should the adjoining owner come to build a similar extension, they will be able to build directly off that flank wall and ultimately use it to form part of their extension. The benefit of this, is they too will end up with a larger extension, and ultimately a cheaper one, as the contractor will not need to build the entirety of a flank wall.
Party wall surveying procedures are often confusing, and in many cases, can cause alarm for both building owners and adjoining owners.
If you’d like to discuss your party wall surveying procedures with our team of experienced and qualified Party Wall Surveyors here at Stokemont, give us a call today, and we will be more than happy to assist you.
