Thank you, for clicking on today’s Property Surveying blogpost topic. Through our weekly blogposts, we aim to discuss some of the more complicated and tricky areas of the surveying profession, in an effort to help you fully understand the procedures that can often be shrouded with confusion.
Party wall surveying is one of the most typical and prevalent services that our team of RICS and party wall surveyors handle on a daily basis.
There is no topic more open to interpretation and opinion than party wall access.
Party wall access comes into play when a building owner is planning on undertaking works to their property, has served a Party Wall Notice upon their adjoining owner, with those planned works giving them the legal right of access under the Party Wall etc Act 1996.
Party wall access is dealt with under Section 8 of the Act, with the wording formally set out as follows:
RIGHTS OF ENTRY
(1) A building owner, his servants, agents and workmen may during usual working hours enter and remain on any land or premises for the purpose of executing any work in pursuance of this Act and may remove any furniture or fittings or take any other action necessary for that purpose.
(2) If the premises are closed, the building owner, his agents and workmen may, if accompanied by a constable or other police officer, break open any fences or doors in order to enter the premises.
(3) No land or premises may be entered by any person under subsection (1) unless the building owner serves on the owner and the occupier of the land or premises—
(a) in case of emergency, such notice of the intention to enter as may be reasonably practicable;
(b) in any other case, such notice of the intention to enter as complies with subsection (4).
(4) Notice complies with this subsection if it is served in a period of not less than fourteen days ending with the day of the proposed entry.
(5) A surveyor appointed or selected under section 10 may during usual working hours enter and remain on any land or premises for the purpose of carrying out the object for which he is appointed or selected.
(6) No land or premises may be entered by a surveyor under subsection (5) unless the building owner who is a party to the dispute concerned serves on the owner and the occupier of the land or premises—
(a) in case of emergency, such notice of the intention to enter as may be reasonably practicable;
(b) in any other case, such notice of the intention to enter as complies with subsection (4).
In layman’s terms, what this means, is that a building owner is given the temporary and legal right to enter onto the adjoining owner’s land, property or air space in order to sufficiently and safely fulfil and conduct their planned construction works.
A key distinction with party wall access, is that it is one of the few Acts which will expressly give a building owner such rights.
However, for party wall access to apply, the building owner must be undertaking works which fall within the realm of the Party Wall etc Act 1996. However, importantly and pivotal to the afforded rights of access, the building owner must also be undertaking works within the Party Wall Act, which give rise to the right of said access.
Party wall access works as afforded by the Act, generally speaking, are as follows:
Building New Walls up to, or Astride, the Boundary Line
The construction of new walls up to or astride the boundary line, will give the building owner the legal right of access onto the adjoining owner’s land.
The standing of the Act and position, is that in affording a building owner this legal right of access, their contractors will be able to safely exercise and undertake the planned works.
If the Act did not allow for such access to be permissible, the building owner would likely need to come up with potentially dangerous and time-extensive protocols in order to safely construct the new proposed flank wall.
It is worth noting, that party wall access is not an open calendar, instead, the building owner will need to ensure that the works to which access relates to, are carefully approached. Furthermore, that the contractors prioritise this work, so that access is limited for the least amount of time possible.
To put this into perspective, for your average rear extension, access is not going to be for multiple months. Instead, it is likely to be for a number of weeks, thereby incentivising and compelling the building owner to undertake the work without delay.
Furthermore, such approach and consideration will ensure that the adjoining owner is not unnecessarily inconvenienced for such access.
Raising or Undertaking Works to a Party Wall, or Party Fence Wall
The next area of the Party Wall etc Act 1996 which affords a building owner the legal right of access, is undertaking any works to a party wall or party fence wall. A party fence wall is the legal referral and recital to a shared garden wall.
Just as the building owner gains a legal right of access when building up to the boundary line, they also gain legal access if they plan to undertake any works to structures that are on, or astride the boundary line.
Again, the way to look at this from the perspective of an arm’s length, is that the Act is allowing the building owner the legal right of access in an effort to reduce the risk that their contractors would face in fulfilling and undertaking the works. However, also as the structure that is being worked on is in effect a shared structure, the building owner has the legal right to both sides of it.
This will commonly mean that the building owner will need to access the land, or air space within the adjoining owner’s property and demise, in order to sufficiently and adequately undertake their planned works.
Party wall access can be shrouded with issue, as in many cases adjoining owners will take particular exception to the fact that a building owner is given the legal right onto their land, albeit that right will only be for a limited period of time.
Our advice here at Stokemont, would be that an adjoining owner carefully considers the proposals, as ultimately in the Act affording such access rights, the outcome is to reduce inconvenience and ultimately risk which is the all-important factor here.
Common scenarios whereby access into airspace will be required are for the raising, or maintaining of party parapet walls which are often situated and located above roof levels on semi-detached or terraced houses.
However, equally as I am sure you can imagine, party fence walls can separate all different types of structures, irrespective of whether they are terraced, semi-detached, detached, residential or commercial.
Here at Stokemont, we deal with party wall access on a daily basis. In many cases, it forms part of the vast majority of the Party Wall Awards that we draft and serve.
If you would like to discuss party wall access procedures and protocols with us, feel free to give us a call today, and we would be more than happy to assist and advise you.
