Party Wall infringement

Phil_Boucher

Hi,
I would like some advice from anyone who knows a thing or two about construction law. So please holler if you can provide some insight to the following debacle:
I have a Party Wall Award with my neighbour who has essentially gutted her Victorian terrace to build a large rear and loft extension. I believed this would protect our home from anything untoward that might happen and ensure she stayed within the letter of her plans.
Yet today I walked into the rear garden to see that her builders had removed our half of the shared chimney stack - something that was never agreed. She also didn't inform us that it was going to be taken down. Her builders simply removed it. So we now have a large gaping hole in the loft and a missing chimney.
In fairness to her, she has offered to rebuild the chimney. But surely this sort of thing must be against the law? It can't be right that you can remove someone's chimney without telling them. Can it?
All help gratefully received.
Phil

bris

It's not against the law, it's a civil matter between you.

This will get very complicated as no one here will be able to tell you anything as your title deeds will need examined by a qualified solicitor who specialises in this field.

There can be reasons why the chimney was removed safety concerns and such, like I said though very specialist problem and one that has had neighbors fighting for years, both in the streets and courts.

Mojisola

Phil_Boucher wrote: »

Hi,

I have a Party Wall Award with my neighbour who has essentially gutted her Victorian terrace to build a large rear and loft extension. I believed this would protect our home from anything untoward that might happen and ensure she stayed within the letter of her plans.

Have you contacted your Party Wall Surveyor?

earthstorm

Yes this may be ethically wrong, but look at it this way
the builder is removing her half of the chimney stack as its dangerously crumbling away, but just does her half and leaves your half to crumble away and fall through your roof and onto the bed that your partner is sleeping in or your kids ( if you have any) and cause them serious injuries or worse.
This way the builder has seen fit to remove the whole stack and in due course will be rebuilding it at no cost to you and making it safe for many years

Phil_Boucher

All very good points. So thank you for your help. Yes, I have contacted my surveyor and the local council, as I also believe she is in breach of her planning consent. I will hopefully hear from them on Monday.
As for the crumbling chimney: it was in excellent condition before she decided to remove her half. Her builders then decided to remove our half as it started to lean towards her property. So in terms of safety it was the correct thing to do at that moment in time but only stemmed from their own demolition work.
What was not correct is that she did not inform me it was going to happen in advance - of after it was done. Her architect also designed her loft around 4-5 months ago, giving them plenty of time to consider how the chimney could be safely split in two.
More crucially, the chimney sits above the bedroom of my four year old daughter. She could easily have been playing in the room at the time it was removed, yet they didn't think to inform us.
So, ultimately, she has removed a perfectly satisfactory chimney stack without any care for my family's safety and did not consult or inform me about any of this. And in case you think it was because they had to do it in a split second: I work from home. All they had to do was knock on the door.

bris

What family safety are you talking about, laying it on a bit thick there.

The chimney would not have been demolished with a wrecking ball, it would have been dismantled brick by brick so there was no safety concerns.

earthstorm

Some builders will remove half a stack and then shaw up the other half until they rebuild the removed half, but then some builders will remove the whole stack and then rebuild the stack.

when was your half of the stack repointed/built?
It may have looked OK to you from the ground, but when on the roof it could show problems.

Poppy9

Choose your battles carefully.

Talking civilly with your neighbour about being informed of work affecting your property will go a long way for future good neighbourly relations.

The builder should have told you what he was doing but perhaps he assumed that neighbour had told you so just ask that this misunderstanding doesn't reoccur.

shaun_from_Africa

It might be advisable to get something in writing from the builder stating exactly what they have done to your property and if possible, see if you can get them to provide an insurance backed guarantee for the work.

At present, you have no written contract with the builder so if there was a problem in the future you may struggle to get a resolution from them. (assuming that they were even still in business)

arcon5

Getting something is writing is a good idea.

But not sure why you going at this full on.... you've spoken to her, she's offered to rebuild it so clearly knows it shouldn't have happened... the end result being betterment. Sounds alright to me, assuming she honours this. If she doesn't then getting more official is still an option

SidP

today I walked into the rear garden to see that her builders had removed our half of the shared chimney stack - something that was never agreed. She also didn't inform us that it was going to be taken down. Her builders simply removed it. So we now have a large gaping hole in the loft and a missing chimney.

Seems to me there are two issues here:
1) You're upset that your neighbour and her builder have done something they had no permission to do.
2) Your home has sustained structural change that may render it susceptible to damage, and that has removed a feature and, thereby, diminished your home's functionality.

Try to focus on (2), as this is something concrete and tangible. Do your best to take the affront of (1) on the chin. Get your house back to a secure, insurable, safe state, and mull over the affront when the status quo is restored.

Good luck.