In this week’s surveying blog post, we are going to be discussing party wall roof access and in particular, when it applies to party wall surveying procedures.
Under the Party Wall Etc Act 1996, a building owner will have the legal right of access onto an adjoining owner’s land, in order to undertake and complete their work in a safe and satisfactory manner.
In the case of roof access, this will often mean that a building owner, and importantly their contractors, have the legal right of access onto and over an adjoining owner’s roof, and their space, in order to undertake their proposed construction works.
While this is an odd concept for many adjoining owners to get their head around, as ultimately it is their land, and their property, the Act is designed to be facilitated in nature, thereby enabling a building owner to have this right, means that the Act enables the works to take place in a safe, sound and secure manner.
However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that a building owner can just crack on with construction works without proper consultation, as the Act also ensures that any access is fully considered and usually governed by a Party Wall Award, commonly referred to as a Party Wall Agreement.
First and foremost, the Act will be carefully considered in advance of the works being undertaken, usually by two party wall surveyors, or if both owners agree to the same surveyor acting, by an agreed surveyor.
The surveyors role is to ensure that the works are not only minimized in terms of risk, but also in terms of duration.
The party wall surveyor will look at the adjoining owner’s property as it currently stands, and ultimately ensure that the property is held at the least amount of risk as a result of the works as possible.
In many cases, the access will be via cantilevered scaffolding, which ultimately means that there is no form of pressure being applied to the adjoining owner’s roof, and ultimately that the scaffolding platform is all built off the building owner’s land with the full support being gained from that structure.
The benefit of this is that if the adjoining owner’s roof is of an older nature, tiles can often become brittle, so the smallest of pressures will result in cracked or slipped tiles, with a knock on effect being water ingress.
A scaffolding tower will also be encapsulated in polythene sheeting to its entire perimeter, and usually double boarded which effectively means that there are two boards of timber which the builders will stand upon.
While this may seem to be a little bit of an overkill, here at Stokemont, we have seen access, and in particular roof access, to be a very likely cause of damage. This is usually not as a result of the risk, but more a result of the contractor’s not giving the access the proper attention it requires, and ultimately just proceeding in a way that best suits them.
Party wall access is one of those areas that needs to be carefully considered, and considered by an experienced and qualified party wall surveyor, well in advance of the proposed works commencing.
If you would like to discuss your party walls and procedures with our team of qualified surveyors here at Stokemont, give us a call today, and we will be more than happy to assist and advise you.
