Hello and welcome to today’s property surveying blog post, in which we are going to be taking a look at party wall surveying matters. In today’s blog, we are going to be concentrating on party wall Notices and more specifically the timings that are associated with them.
What is a Party Wall Notice
Firstly let us look at what a Party Wall Notice is. In essence, this is a letter that will be served to any neighbors (Adjoining owners) who may be affected by your planned works as defined by The Party Wall etc Act 1996.
The Notice will detail what works are taking place and will generally include plans for the works (this is mandatory for Section 6 works), the name, address, and contact details of the one who is proposing the planned works or their Surveyor.
This will then give the neighbor in question 3 differing response options, one is to consent to the notice which in essence forgoes the Party Wall procedure where and if a dispute was to arise then you would agree to solve this in a neighborly matter outside of the protections of the Act.
The second is to dissent and appoint an agreed surveyor for all parties, so this will mean that there would be one surveyor who would oversee the Party Wall procedure for all parties involved.
The third response option is to dissent but appoint your own surveyor, so this would be the same as the second option but each party would have their own Party Wall Surveyor and the two would work together under the guidance of The Party Wall etc Act 1996.
When it comes to serving notice an important thing to note is the correct procedure the Notice must be served under and what information it must include.
If the notice is not served correctly with all the information that I have stated above, then it may be considered invalid and would mean that notice would have to be served again.
The extent that the notice will be valid is not indefinite, even when served correctly the notice would only be valid for 1 year at which point if the planned works are still not ready to go ahead then another notice would need to be served.
Further to this point, the Notice is not transferable from one owner to another, so if you have already served Notice on to one of your neighbors who then move, if a new neighbor moves into the property before the planned works have finished then a new Party Wall Notice will have to be served to the new adjoining owner.
What Works are Notifiable?
Sections 1,2 and 6 of The Party Wall etc Act 1996 cover different planned works that are considered Notifiable under The Party Wall etc Act 1996 and so if you chose to commence with any of the works mentioned then notice must be given.
Section 1. New building on line of junction.
This relates to the building of a new structure that is astride the boundary line. This can include a new fence wall or a new structure.
Section 2. Repair etc. of party wall: rights of owner.
This section has the most variety to it in regards to the works that it covers and can range from cutting into the party wall for the insertion of steel beams when undergoing a loft conversion or to implementing a damp proof course, and can also include the demolition and rebuilding of the wall entirely if it was not fit for the intended works.
Section 6. Adjacent excavation and construction.
This section is just in relation to excavations when there are close to an adjoining owner’s property, this is either in the realm of 3-6 meters depending on how deep the foundations would need to be.
The 3m rule will come into play when excavations are taking place that are going to be 1m or deeper and those excavations are within 3m of the neighboring property.
Whereas the 6m rule will come into play if the proposed foundations go deeper than then if a line was taken at a 45-degree angle from the bottom of the neighboring foundations and those excavations were to cross that line and are within 6m.
Section 1,6 come with a 1-month’s notice period, so notice needs to be served at least one month before the planned works are going to commence.
Whereas any works under section 2 works that are occurring directly on the Party Wall will require a 2-month notice to be served before the planned works are going to take place.
Notice Timings
Once a Notice has been served The Party Wall etc Act 1996 allows for a response time of 16-day which consists of 14 statutory days and 2-day postage allowance.
If there is no response once the first Party Wall Notice has expired then this will mean that a second Notice will need to be served.
The second Party Wall Notice has a total of 12-day response time, which consists of 10 statutory days and 2-day postage allowance.
Once the second notice has expired then this will go to section 10(4) of The Party Wall etc Act 1996 and will give the building owner’s surveyor the ability to appoint a surveyor on their behalf so there are no further delays to the planned works.
I hope this gives you further insight into the Party Wall Notice and into Party Wall Surveying matters. If you have any questions in regards to Party Wall Surveying matters or any of the other services that we offer here at Stokemont then please do not hesitate to get in touch today by either giving us a call or alternatively send us an email and we will be more then happy to assist and advise you.
