Party Wall

samlouise01

Hi Everyone,

New to the site and as such this is my first post.

this is a bit long winded but could use your opinions.

My mum lives in a house that is local authority owned but as a long standing tennant still has the rights as an actual home owner.

last year the church next to her house sold its land to a private developer who has built a block of "luxury apartments".

The plot of land they bought is directly beside my mums garden and before they built these flats the garden wall was infact part of the church fence. As you can imagine the developers tore this down and have built these flats so close that now the side of the building is the party wall of the garden.

Last week my brother wanted to put a 6ft pole up between the side of their building and the side of my mums house (He wanted to put up his punchbag for training). only for the management of the building to come out and complain. they said that it wasn't a party wall... (even though all the notices they served to my mum during the construction referred to the boundary as a party wall)

that isn't the end of it!

the side of this building has 7 windows (scaling 3 storeys) overlooking my mums garden. during the planning phase no notice of these windows was disclosed to my mother and we have checked the paperwork they gave us and no drawing shows these windows.

surely this is an invasion of privacy?

so back to yesterday. My brother was out in the garden training when another member of staff from this building has proceeded to open the window and shout at my brother for punching the bag. Now i am not one for arguements but this woman is sticking her head into our garden and is trying to tell my brother what he can or can't do in his own garden. before anyone asks... the windows are not frosted and they open outwards into our land.

is there anything that can be done about this? We was not going to take it any further but seeing as they are now trying to invade our privacy we want to sue the a**e out of them and partly its a feeling of we were here first who are they to tell us what to do?

any advise would be gratefully accepted.

Sam

pimento

Your mother isn't a tennant, she's a tenant.

00ec25

samlouise01 wrote: »

(even though all the notices they served to my mum during the construction referred to the boundary as a party wall)

then remind them of the fact that it is a party wall and you have the documents to prove it. Are you certain that the side of the building is on the line of the boundary, how close to it is it?

samlouise01 wrote: »

the side of this building has 7 windows (scaling 3 storeys) overlooking my mums garden. during the planning phase no notice of these windows was disclosed to my mother and we have checked the paperwork they gave us and no drawing shows these windows.

surely this is an invasion of privacy?

leaving aside what is actually meant by breach of privacy, if it was built according to the approved plans you have no recourse now. I find it hard to believe that during the construction phase the council planning inspectors would have failed to notice that windows were being fitted where they were not planned. Inspectors are very hot on overlooking windows, eg. I was not allowed to fit a window in a garage as it overlooked a neighbour's garden - not exactly something I would be living in and looking out of every day!

you will struggle to sue anyone for anything now if the building was erected according to the plans as you had the opportunity to object and I presume it can be shown you failed to do so. Perhaps there was a change to the plans which you did not notice?

,

cyclonebri1

pimento wrote: »

Your mother isn't a tennant, she's a tenant.

Pratish post PMT, as in your aren't a ten(n)ant, but are a pedant

samlouise01

Pimento- Get a life. If you spend your days scouring Moneysavingexpert looking for typo's you really do have too much time on your hands. If you have nothing relevant to say regarding my post please refrain from commenting.

00ec25-

the side of their building is now acting as the side fence of our garden. my mother kept any plans and documents that she received and no where does it lay mention to these bloody windows. I have been told that as the windows overlook our property they should be A. Frosted and B. Either unable to open or open inwards as when these people look out it is basically trespassing.

I have been told that these inspectors are pretty hot when it comes to building regs but if the above wasn't adhered to and reported as non compliance then what else.

we knew there was something shady going on when my mother kept asking them will there be windows put in overlooking the garden and they gave her the run around. i.e. you have to ask the foreman, you have to ask the architect, you have to ask the consultant.

bargainbetty

http://www.thisisdorset.co.uk/news/neighbour-built-wall-right-outside-window/article-1320162-detail/article.html

Not that I would recommend such an action, but it would solve the problems..... if your land has a boundary, you have a right to put a fence/wall up....

00ec25

samlouise01 wrote: »

the side of their building is now acting as the side fence of our garden. my mother kept any plans and documents that she received and no where does it lay mention to these bloody windows. I have been told that as the windows overlook our property they should be A. Frosted and B. Either unable to open or open inwards as when these people look out it is basically trespassing.

I have been told that these inspectors are pretty hot when it comes to building regs but if the above wasn't adhered to and reported as non compliance then what else.

I have no personal experience of the party wall act in practice, as i did not in the end do the extension i was exploring however from what i remember then if it is on your boundary that is one thing, if however it is a few inches on their side of the boundary that is another thing. Not sure about the size of development you refer to but one thing I remember from talking to my council was that any guttering fiited to my proposed extension was not allowed to cross the boundary so my building would have to be inside the boundary otherwise that would indeed be tresspass

returning to your issues, then yes I was told windows would have to be frosted and also would have to be a minimum height above fllor level so that in reality a person could not easily see out of then (ie around head height). Someone more knowledgeable of buildings regs will no doubt correct this in due course

If I were you then I would be hammering on the doors of the planning dept demanding to confirm that it was built in accordance with the agreed plan. Remember that building regulations inspectors are not checking that it is to plan, it is the planning inspectors who do that - they are two different lots of people from the council. Sort this out before you start making threats of sueing people, can you really afford a court case?

iamcornholio

Just because the PW Act was used, does not make this wall a party wall.

It would be very unlikely that the wall has been built as a party wall - basically the fact that it does not enclose your property or form part of your mother's house means that it is not a party wall (ie shared ownership) - however it may be termed a party wall purely for the purpose of the PW Act.

So your brother as no right to affix anything to it as it is not his property

As for the windows, you need to check with the approved plan at the planning dept to see if this is in fact approved or not. It seems very unlikely that you would get redress now though for the windows being there.

The opening of the windows is an interesting situation. If as you say, the open window crosses the boundary, then it may well constitute a trespass - as may anyone sticking their head out to look over your land - as opposed to merely looking out of the window or not sticking their heads over the boundary. This would require a specialist Solicitors advice

There is also a building regulation relating to fire spread, and this is to do with size and number of openings in walls near to boundaries. You would have to check this with the councils building control dept (not planning dept)

iamcornholio

00ec25 wrote: »

you will struggle to sue anyone for anything now if the building was erected according to the plans as you had the opportunity to object and I presume it can be shown you failed to do so.

The OP never had any chance to sue anyone, as the issue is between the developer and the council, and only the council can take enforcement action for breach of planning regulations.

At best, the OP could complain to the Local Government Ombudsman

cyclonebri1

Many years ago a guy I knew at work got pretty familiar with the party wall act.

He was "knocking out" a fire place in his semi bungalow. Ended up face to face, quite literally, with his next door neighbour:eek::eek::eek:

:rotfl::A

SailorSam

I've not read all of this but you may find something useful here.

Boundary Problems