Serving party wall notice on council owned house

CMJS

Hi, does anyone know how councils typically respond to party wall notices on their houses? What are your experiences?

We are planning a ground floor extension across the rear of our new mid terrace property (minimal necessary offset from boundaries, 15cm?), up to 5m deep, with smaller first floor extension above (min 1.5m from boundaries, 3m deep).

One side is council tennants, so just trying to get a feel for how much it will cost us. Council is Welwyn Hatfield.

Thanks very much

Doozergirl

Minimal necessary offset? There is no such thing. The PWA allows for you to continue the party wall on - therefore to cross the boundary on their side by 15cm.

If you have to serve notice, at least serve it so it benefits your house in the short term and both houses in the long term, if and when next door is extended.

Tom99

Doozergirl wrote: »

Minimal necessary offset? There is no such thing. The PWA allows for you to continue the party wall on - therefore to cross the boundary on their side by 15cm.

If you have to serve notice, at least serve it so it benefits your house in the short term and both houses in the long term, if and when next door is extended.

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]You can only built a new party wall, i.e. one that straddles the boundary line, with your neighbours permission.[/FONT]

CMJS

Thanks Doozergirl and Tom99 for your responses. I had forgotten to add about seeing if we can build on the boundary in such a way that our neighbours could use the wall for a future extension themselves. The extra width would be a big help!

I had assumed that, without permission to build on the boundary, we had to stay 15cm from it (I think I read that somewhere). How close can we go? And how close can we go without adding additional cost for more complicated foundations?

I'm still looking for experiences on how councils react to party wall notices. Do they typically just default to requiring surveyors or might they agree to a good set of plans on a "you fix any damage" basis?

Thanks very much

Tom99

If you have not already done so, download the .gov booklet on the PWA. Its 55 pages are worth a read.

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

Doozergirl

Tom99 wrote: »

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]You can only built a new party wall, i.e. one that straddles the boundary line, with your neighbours permission.[/FONT]

Indeed. And there is still no such thing as a minimum offset.

Doozergirl

I suspect that they would go down the PWS route, or at least require decent drawings and method statements from your side.

But I also think that the PWS would appreciate the benefit of crossing the boundary with a new party wall, as they can apply logic and not be emotional about people grabbing land in the short term.

CMJS

Thats helpful advice and info, thank you again.

tim12

CMJS, how did it go? Did you serve notice to the council? I'm looking to build next to a council property with a party wall but there's next to no information on the web about this process.

Martink93

Hi I'm looking for some advice I want to build a single story extension just in from the boundary line leaving the original fence up. Planning permission has been passed. But next door has asked for 8 weeks notice. the architect who done the plans is acting as a surveyor and gave 4 weeks notice in the party wall notice.. will this be a problem? The day after the neighbour asked for her 8 week notice she pulled down my fence and put one that is over 2m and it's slightly into my land where we need to build.. I have got the deeds and that fence is mine and i payed for it so how do I go about getting the fence put back? I've tryed been civil so she wouldn't dissent to the party wall notice but as she has essentially commuted a crime of criminal damage and trespassing would I be able to put my fence back to normal and get a party award strait away?

Martink93

Surly as she has asked me to stick to the rules of notices then hasn't on her side of things that should make her side of the argument void?