Help problems with both neighbours

Mary-Lou_2

regarding parti-wall. Hello, this is my first post. I have just had my loft converted, and my neighbours, which are attached to our house(it's a semi-detached) complained about parti-wall, that I had to serve them by law. We never even heard of this before, the council never told us. So we researched and talked to the person dealing with our planning permission and decided not to serve any parti-wall, as it would cost us thousands for what we think is totally unnecessary, and instead our builder gave the neighbours his card and said anything wrong he'd put right. Still, neighbours contacted a company that deals with parti-walls, who sent us some pretty strong worded letter, which we ignored. Loft build, nothing happened. Now we are begining to have our extension done and our other neighbour, which we are not attached to, said the same thing about parti-wall, saying by law we should have served, etc. It was very clear both neighbours had spoken about our work(which they knew for months it was happening). The neighbour not attached to us ALWAYS complain if we do anything- garage, dog kennel, fence, etc, always. Now, she says the foundations to be dug would affect her house, but, there's about 2 meters gap between the houses. We are not going near her fence. This person said the council wrote to her about parti-wall but why didn't they say anything to us? We'd never known had the neighbours not mentioned it. This has caused friction between us and our neighbours and we doubt we will be speaking to either again, which is a shame. Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks in advance.

googler

The way you report it, I'm not surprised there's friction. You seem to have ignored your legal obligations, you seem to have ridden rough-shod over your neighbour's objections, rather than resolving them diplomatically, etc etc.

You want advice?

Learn how to look at yourself with others' eyes. Learn how to be a good neighbour.

Stooby2

Some bedtime reading for you. Hopefully it'll help you understand why your neighbours are upset.

https://www.gov.uk/party-wall-etc-act-1996-guidance

Mary-Lou_2

Googler, can you please explain what you mean? We have been more than diplomatic since moving here, we never, ever started any trouble, we actually don't socialize with any people around here, but always been polite, so I don't understand your "advice". As I explained before, we researched and spoke to both neighbours, prior to having the work done, and they were fine until they received letters from companies offering their services, at my expense, of course. You can't say say I am not a good neighbour, and all I said was I ignored letters from those companies. And why are you saying I was not diplomatic? Please re-read my post, as, just because I don't agree with my neighbours doesn't mean I was not diplomatic. I find your post unhelpful and offensive.

Mary-Lou_2

stooby2, thank you for the link, but I have already researched it. I just wanted some advice from people who have experienced similar issues.

DRP

Mary-Lou wrote: »

which we ignored..

Why did you ignore this? Why didn't you discuss this with your neighbour in an adult fashion?

.

Mary-Lou wrote: »

Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks in advance.

Dont ignore your neighbour's wishes if you want to maintain good relations.

Mary-Lou_2

We ignored the letter sent by the party-wall company!! We had already spoken to them about the work to be done, and they were fine about it, until they received a letter regarding party-wall.
So, to maintain "good relations" with my neighbours I should grant their wishes? If so, I'd not have been able to have a garage built, or change my fence, paint my house, etc. because the neighbour objected to everything we have done to this house. What about my wishes? They are ignoring them:mad:

jellie

Mary-Lou wrote: »

As I explained before, we researched

If you've done your research, then you should know all about the Party Wall Act - it's hard to miss when you're reading about doing building work.

I imagine your neighbours just want to ensure that they are protected should any damage be done to their homes during your renovations.

Doozergirl

If I understand you correctly, that you live in a semi detached house and the neighbours with the problem now are not attached to you and the wall of the extension is 2 metres away from the boundary, then the party wall act does not apply to you and them.

Presumably, the wall with the original neighbour that you are attached to, may. If you can step your extension in a little bit away from them, then you can avoid it that side as well.

There are companies out there deliberately trying to take advantage, I would try and avoid the PWA on this build altogether.

Mark_Mark

Mary-Lou wrote: »

Googler, can you please explain what you mean? We have been more than diplomatic since moving here, we never, ever started any trouble, we actually don't socialize with any people around here, but always been polite, so I don't understand your "advice". As I explained before, we researched and spoke to both neighbours, prior to having the work done, and they were fine until they received letters from companies offering their services, at my expense, of course. You can't say say I am not a good neighbour, and all I said was I ignored letters from those companies. And why are you saying I was not diplomatic? Please re-read my post, as, just because I don't agree with my neighbours doesn't mean I was not diplomatic. I find your post unhelpful and offensive.

I think you'll find you did start it by ignoring the party wall act.


Had you done that to me I would have had your build stopped when you were without a roof.

fezster

Party wall act does not just cover the physical boundary, but can also apply if you are digging foundations which may affect your neighbours foundations. I cant remember the details, but it involves drawing a diagonal line from the bottom of your foundations up to the neighbours building, and depending on distance, may come under the PWA.