Party wall agreement dispute

Economical

Please help. we served a party wall agreement notice to our neighbour who said they wanted 6 weeks, and they have now appointed a surveyor. Do we have to pay for this surveyor. We are building a back extension with a single storey on the side along the boundary at the back of a linked semi terraced house. Only the garage is linked with the neighbours house, & the single storey is not going to be a joint wall but they have already gone to a surveyor without even letting us know the issues, saying they don't understand the plan. My fear is that we are going to have all these extra surveyors fee to pay on top of the extension! We haven't even started the work. We are only going to dig along the boundary to put the foundation for the extension. Do we really have to pay the surveyor they've appointed. We have to now appoint a surveyor, and any idea how much all this would cost? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Orford

You acn download Party Wall Act, which will answer most of your questions Here:
http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/planningandbuilding/partywall

olias

If the extension falls under the criteria of the party wall act, then yes,you will have to pay for their surveyor. The cost could be considerable - approx £500-£1000 for each surveyor. Sorry.

Olias

naijapower

I also suggest you study the Party Wall Act carefully to see if this work falls under its remit.
If it does then your neighbours might be right.
Have you considered having a friendly chat with them to explain your intention in more detail. This might make them more co-operative

Economical

Hi, we've already got the part wall agreement booklet & have spoken to the neighbours nicely but when we talk to them their concern doesn't seem to be that big. We just don't know why they had to appoint a surveyor & now we have to appoint one too and have a meeting, which is all going to cost us. I just don't know why we have to pay for their surveyor. We have no intension to encroach on their land or cause damage if that's the case we'll repair & we told them this. I think they are deliberately making it difficult for us.

olias

You have to pay for their surveyor because it's the law! Why should they have to pay to confirm your extension isn't going to cause a problem to their asset (house), when your extension is not benefitting them and is nothing to do with them. You might well have said you will pay to put right any problems you cause, but unfortunately, these days, your word means nothing - for all they know, you could cause them or their house all sorts of problems and then just turn round and say, 'tough!'. You can't blame them for protecting their greatest asset and investment!

Olias

marybishop

Olias is right. The PW Act is there to make sure everything is agreed before work starts so that both sides are covered if things go wrong. It's there to protect both parties. Too many people try to go the cheap route and then end up in all sorts of battles with neighbours when damage is caused. Depends what price you put on neighbourly relations but in this day and age they can be priceless!!

olias

I have posted this on another thread and felt it would be useful to post on this. If you have a disagreement with a neighbour then when you come to sell, legally you HAVE to disclose this to a potential buyer and this may well cause them to be scared off and cause a sale to fall through, therefore I think it is in the OP's interest to bite the bullet and pay for the party wall surveyor and keep things amicable with the neighbour

Olias

IAIN

Economical. You say you served a party wall agreement (I assume you mean notice) on you neighbours. Was this a party wall notice or a 3m notice? You have no right to construct a new party wall, ie a wall that straddles the boundary line, however, you do have the right to construct a new wall up to the boundary line, with your footings extending on to your neighbours land, providing the footings do not contain any steel reinforcement. To do this, you will need to serve a line of junction notice. Your neighbours can not object, and therefore no surveyors are appointed.

If you are excavating for new footings within 3m of your neighbours footings and below the level of their footings, you would need to serve a 3m notice. In this instance they can appoint a surveyor to prepare a party wall award. Your cheapest option in this situation would be to appoint the same surveyor. If a single surveyor is appointed by both sides, they have to act impartially and operate in the interests of the Party Wall etc Act. For a simple extension, the surveyor should not be charging more than £500.

If you are not excavating below the level of your neighbours footings then there are no 3m issues and no notice needs to be served. If you and your neighbours houses were constructed within the last 30/40 years this is quite possibly the case. If they are older properties, the footings may not be that deep.

If you have any other queries, I am happy to advise.

Iain

Economical

We have now appointed a surveyor ourself so have to pay both surveyors! I read somewhere that this party wall agreement was invented by the surveyors for the surveyors (so they can make some money), I mean £500 for a few hours job! Our extension is within our boundary. Yes, we are excavating/building up to the boundary line but there is no party wall involved, it's a semi. I feel the neighbours should have spoke to us about their concern and see how we intend to work round their problem rather than appointing a surveyor straight away.

Economical

How do I go about changing the law?