House Extension

eweston80

Hi All

My husband and I are considering an extension to the back of our house (3m x 3m) as I understand it we dont need planning permission just building regs am I right?

Secondly our neighbours have an extension (the same size) so our extension would touch their extension wall. Ive been reading lots of stuff about 3rd party wall act and am still really confused if this would apply to us.

Any help you guys can give me is very much appreciated.

Kind Regards
Emma

markdavey

The below does not constitute advice and is merely my observations after having just completed a similar project to yours. Professional advice should be sort if you are unsure...

Your extension sounds like it would be a permitted development and as such will not require planning, only building regs. This is not the case however, if the property has already been extended and you are building onto that existing extension.

If you are in any doubt after visiting the planing portal (linked to above) you should contact your local planning team and ask. The local council provide a free assessment service where they assess the plans and advise whether you should apply for planning or not.

As far as The Party Wall Act is concerned, my opinion is that it is not worth the paper it is written on. If you follow the letter of the act, your foundations will undoubtedly require you to issue a Party Wall notice (as your wall is going to be adjacent to your neighbours and you will not know whether you will need to dig your foundations deeper than your neighbours). The act, however, does not cater for retrospective enforcement so if you do not issue a notice and get on with the build, once your foundations are dug and your builders are 'out of the ground' that part of the Party Wall Act no longer applies. The template Party Wall Act Notices are worded in such a way that they are, in my opinion designed to instill fear into the recipient (read them for yourself and you'll see why).

It may get a bit more sticky if your wall is actually going to be attached (or touch as you put it) to your Neighbours. Simplest and easiest solution would be to discuss your plans with your neighbours and ask them if they have any objections before you start (if you get on with them that is). At least you will then know how they feel about it. You can then take a view as to whether you issue a Party Wall Notice at all.

There is certainly no need to engage a PWA surveyer if you can both reach an agreement together, this is by far the cheaper solution.

iamcornholio

Avoid the PWA at all costs .... or it literally will cost you dear.

You wont/can't use the neighbours wall, but will need to build your own wall adjacent to it, and if you leave a small (10mm gap) from the boundary then you are not building on the boundary and so avoid needing to serve a PW notice

For the foundations, you "assume" that the neighbours foundations are 1m deep and your designer designs a notional 1m deep foundation, and so again you avoid needing to serve a PW notice.

eweston80

Hi All

Thank you so much for the advice I'm really grateful.
We get on really well with our next door neighbours and they are fully aware of our plans weve even popped in and had a look at their extension and theyve offered to help dig the footings etc so fingers crossed it should all go smoothly.

Thanks again
Emma :j