If you are a building owner who is planning to undertake construction works, it could be notifiable to your neighbours – known as adjoining owners under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 – for various reasons under the Party Wall Act.
As a building owner if you are planning to construct a new wall on the line or astride the line of junction between you and the adjoining property, then you are required to serve a party wall notice upon the adjoining owner 1 month prior to building the new wall. Works of this nature will require a party wall notice under section 1 of the Act.
The various forms of construction work that fall within the remit of section 2 of the Act are wide ranging and all involve works directly to a party wall or structure.
For example, if a building owner is planning to cut into the party wall to insert steel beams or if they are planning to underpin the party wall then they will be required to serve a party wall notice under section 2 upon all relevant adjoining owners.
A notice under section 2 is required two months before the commencement of the works. However, a building owner can start works at an earlier date within the agreement of the adjoining owner.
A building owner is also required to serve a party wall notice upon an adjoining owner if they are planning on carrying out excavations within 3 meters of the adjoining property. For works of this nature the building owner is required to serve a party wall notice under section 6 of the act, 1 month before they intend to carry out the excavations.
As a building owner it is vital that you follow the correct notice procedures to ensure that your proposed works go ahead as smoothly as possible.
Many building owners choose to serve a party wall notice themselves to save cost in the short term. However, it is relatively common that the notices they serve and the protocol they follow are not deemed valid.
As a result of this, cost and time implications are brought upon the building owner as delays happen.
How can you ensure you party wall notice is valid?
First and foremost, you must ensure that the notice you are serving is addressed to all legal owners of the adjoining property, this must be their full legal names. It is relatively common that notices are addressed to just one of the legal owners and there may be more than one.
The notice must also have the correct contact address of the legal owner of the property you are serving the party wall notice upon. This can be found on Her Majesty’s Land Registry; in some cases, the land registry can be backdated.
If the land registry is backdated, you must address the notice to ‘The Owner’ and attach this to a conspicuous place on the adjoining owner’s property such as the front door. Please feel free to read more about this here.
As part of the notice, the nature and particulars of the proposed works should be stated.
For works involving special foundations plans, sections and details of the construction are also required to ensure the notice is valid.
Another predicament that building owners often find themselves in, is when they have served notice themselves and have had no response. Once the initial 14-day notice period has expired, the building owner is required to serve a further notice under section 10(4) of the Act, this will allow the adjoining owner an additional 10 days to respond to the notice.
If after the additional 10 days the adjoining is still unresponsive, the building owner would then be able to appoint a surveyor on the non-responsive owner’s behalf which would then allow them to legally proceed with their works. If you wish to read more about this, please click here.
If you are a building owner who is planning on undertaking construction works and you are unsure whether it is notifiable under the Party Wall Act, please feel free to get in contact with our team of experienced Party Wall surveyors by clicking here.
