Hello and welcome to today’s property surveying blog post, where we are going to be taking a look into Party Wall Surveying procedures and whether you need to serve a Party Wall Notice if you are planning on building an extension.
If you were planning to construct an extension to your property then this would be considered Notifiable, if the works were being undertaken to a semi-detached or a terraced house.
Although if you live in a detached property and your neighbours (adjoining owner under the Party Wall Act) were over a greater distance than 3m, you would not need to serve a Party Wall Notice as this would go beyond the scope of the act.
In a semi-detached or a terraced house then the planned works would be considered notifiable under the Party Wall etc Act 1996, the notifiable works will definitely fall under sections 6 of the Act and potentially under sections 2, and 1 depending on the way the planned works are going to be carried out.
The notifiable works under section 6 will relate to the excavations that would be necessary for the foundations.
In accordance with the Party Wall etc Act 1996 if you are excavating within a distance of 3m from an adjoining owner property and are going to a lower depth than the foundations of the neighbouring properties then you would be required to serve a Party Wall Notice.
For deeper foundations, this extends to 6m, but unless under exceptional circumstances it is unlikely that you would need deep enough foundations that it would trigger section 6(2) of the Party Wall etc Act 1996.
The planned works could also be Notifiable under section 1, depending on how the flank wall for the extension is going to be erected.
If the flank wall was being built on or astride the line of junction, then this would be notifiable under section 1 of the Party Wall etc Act 1996.
If the wall for the extension is being built on or astride the line of junction then a section 1 Party Wall Notice may also be necessary for access to the adjoining owners’ land to complete the wall on their side.
An extension could also be Notifiable under section 2 of the Party Wall etc Act 1996 if the adjoining owner has their own extension that you are building off, as to build off the wall you would need to cut into and expose the Party Wall to do so, which would fall under section 2.
What is a Party Wall Notice?
Now that I have outlined when you would need to serve a Party Wall Notice let us look at what a Party Wall Notice actually is.
A Party Wall Notice is a letter that will be sent to your neighbours, that will inform them of the planned works that are taking place, what sections of the Act the planned works fall under, and details of the building owner and/or their Party Wall Surveyor.
The Party Wall Notice will also generally be accompanied by drawings, which for section 6 works, foundation drawings would be necessary.
Party Wall Notice Response Options
When it comes to responding to the Party Wall Notice, they are 3 distinct ways that you are capable of doing so.
The first response option is to consent to the Party Wall Notice, in doing so this would be the end of the Party Wall procedures and if a dispute was to arise as a result of the planned works then this would have to be handled by way of common law.
The Second is to dissent and appoint an agreed Party Wall surveyor, so they would be one Party Wall Surveyor who would act on behalf of all the parties involved and would be solely responsible for carrying out Party Wall Procedures and the draft and service of the Party Wall Award.
The final response option is to dissent and appoint your own Party Wall Surveyor so this would be similar to the second response option but within this response option there would be two Party Wall Surveyors who would work together to implement the Party Wall procedures and for draft and service of the Party Wall Award.
Thank you for reading today’s blog post, if you have any questions in regards to today’s topic or any of the other services that we offer here at Stokemont, then please do not hesitate to get in touch today by giving us a call or popping us over an email and one of our experienced surveyors will be happy to assist and advise.
