Party wall agreement

kellypurple

I'm having some work done on a house Ive bought, including the removal of the chimney, work has started and I've just received a voice mail from a neighbour threatening legal action. I've since looked at the party wall agreement and it appears I should have served notice, I wasn't aware of this any my builder never mentioned it. My new neighbour seems to enjoy complaining having already done so several times about minor things but she goes straight into confrontation mode rather than discussing any issues she may have so as you can imagine I'm not exactly relishing the thought of having to speak to her.I fully accept I am in the wrong but can anyone advise me on my options? I'll be speaking to my builder tomorrow but I'd like to be a bit more informed as to my options

Dan-Dan

If she is serious then you better crack on , if she gets an injunction work will have to stop

Just hope your builder is more savvy with structural works than he is with advising clients on basic issues like this (not that that is an excuse for you not to have found this out for yourself from the off)

To be honest , i`m siding with your neighbour already

kellypurple

Dan-Dan wrote: »

If she is serious then you better crack on , if she gets an injunction work will have to stop

Just hope your builder is more savvy with structural works than he is with advising clients on basic issues like this (not that that is an excuse for you not to have found this out for yourself from the off)

To be honest , i`m siding with your neighbour already

Thanks very helpful, fully aware I'm in the wrong however its too late for me to change that so I'm looking for advice on what I need to do

DRP

As above. Get on with it and hope she doesn't get all suey on you.

Does no one speak to their neighbours any more? There's been a few of these pwa threads recently, where it seems a bit of a chat may have simplified things considerably.

Doozergirl

Yup. What they said. Is it just the chimeny breast where you're affecting the party wall?

If you've finished, there's nothing they can do. Once the work is done, there's no more Party Wall Agreement.

The PWA is the most pointless, toothless piece of leglislation. If your neighbours are good, they'll have a nice chat with you and be okay about the work. If they aren't, they have the perfect opportunity to stall your project and cost you a fortune.

phil24_7

Finish it then buy them some flowers or chocolates and offer an apology. In future run and major works by them before you start. You don't have to listen to them, just make them aware of what you are going to do! I also suspect you will never get a PWA signed by them in future!!!!

kellypurple

It's just the chimney breast on the party wall nothing else.

Thanks all I was just so shocked at the voice mail she left threatening to sue I was starting to panic, I'll see if I can speak to her and get it resolved

paye

I agree with the others, once the notifiable works has already taken place they can't do anything. Your low life of a miserable neighbor can only do something such as getting an injunction for stopping works on the party wall but if the works have already taken place what can they do.

I've issued my party wall notice and had a response from one of my neighbors, but the other neighbors I have had no reply, so I'm just going to crack on with my loft conversion and make sure on the day of the steel arrival, my builders will chop out the wall for the steel and have it in place on the same day. Why is it some people are just so weird. If I had a neighbour like that i would let it carry on and then I'll get my own back.

MisterBaxter

As others have said get the work done as quickly as possible before the neighbour has a chance to obtain an injunction that would stop the works dead.

The only real issues I can foresee would be if your neighbour complains that there has been damage to their property as a result of the works that have been done. A PWA Agreement/Award can help to defend any claims but without it there is the very real chance that the burden of proof would rest with you (there is case law relating to PWA where this has happened), under normal circumstances both parties would have to put forward a case and the outcome would be based on balance of probability. If any claim of damage is legitimate then it is only right that you remedy it but the lack of PWA Award/Agreement could leave you more open to spurious claims.

If your neighbour is an honest person and there has been no damage to their property then in reality the lack of a PWA Award/Agreement is unlikely to cause any issues for you. There are no direct penalties for failure to comply with PWA.

I theory your neighbour could apply for an injunction that requires you to put them back into the position they would have been in before they were denied their rights under PWA, again case law exists where this was considered but ultimately denied on grounds of reasonableness although compensation was awarded (in this case there was direct impact on the neighbour that resulted in the compensation).

PWA is in and of itself toothless but if a neighbour does go to Court don't expect an easy ride as the Courts don't like people ignoring the law; it has rightly been seen as being toothless because not many cases end up in Court as for the most part it simply isn't worth it.

Keep_pedalling

I'm not surprised they are hacked off, our next door neighbour carried this work out and the noise alone is enough to drive you out of your home. Luckily I have really nice neighbours and I had plenty of warning.

AndyBSG

Doozergirl wrote: »

The PWA is the most pointless, toothless piece of leglislation.

This.

We have had party wall issues with a neighbour who decided to build an entire extension on the side of our wall.

When we looked into it the only thing we could have done was get an injunction to halt work while the Party Wall Act requirements are enforced.

However, once the work is complete the whole Party Wall Act then becomes worthless so as long as your builder finished the work there's nothing your neighbor can really do unless you cause damage to his property.

So, just get the builder to crack on and finish it quick smart!