Party Wall notice - unnecessary?

Dedekind

Hello 

We had planning permission approved for a rear extension and BR drawings submitted etc. Our engineer advised us to get a PW surveyor in order to be sure whether we need to serve a PW notice to our neighbours, the rule being that we may excavate within 3m of the boundary. He is not sure we need one so he suggested a PW surveyor. 

Can we just serve the notice? If it wasn't needed in the end, is there any downside to serving one? It would save us the PW surveyor fees..

Doozergirl

It applies only if you build within 3 metres of their structure and you intend for your footings to be deeper than theirs.   

Is that the case? 

Dedekind

Its borderline 3m but even if within I think the main reason is that we don't know how deep their foundations are. Most likely we will be going deeper but can't know without digging 

Doozergirl

You can, of course, serve notice without the PWS.  What your neighbours then decide is up to them, but there is the opportunity to save money.  

princeofpounds

Yes you can just serve notice if you like. If you have a good relationship with the neighbour, you can talk it through with them. They may decide it's not necessary to appoint a PWS. Or, they may be more open to a single 'joint' PWS if you haven't yet selected one and involve them in the appointment.

Obviously if you change your 'borderline' 3m to actually NOT 3m then you probably don't need to worry about any of this rigamarole. Which may make a lot of sense given your design is so close to it already.

GDB2222

If I were them, I would say, and this is what I did say when the neighbours wanted to extend up to the boundary: I do want a party wall surveyor, but I don't want to increase your costs unnecessarily, so I'll accept a joint surveyor.


In the end, there was cracking to our house.

FaceHead

The downside of just servicing notice is your neighbour can ask for a surveyor, and then if the work isn't PWA applicable you're in a sticky spot of explaining to them that you've changed your mind about the notice now they've dissented. 

The first step is to decide whether it's within 3 metres. Look at the drawings, use a tape measure and/or talk to your building controller. I've always found building controllers to be very knowledgeable and helpful.

If you're asking, it sounds like it probably is within 3 metres, so the next step is to serve PWA notice yourself - it should take a couple of hours to write a letter, deliver it and drink a cup of tea whilst talking it through with your neighbour. A surveyor really shouldn't be required for routine work. 

mug2007

Avoid if possible as you could end up wasting thousands of £s. 

My neighbour building opposite spent absolutely nothing on the party wall, her builder explained everything and neighbours agreed informally and they proceeded straight away. Everyone happy.

We did essentially the same work, sent the party wall, our neighbour dissented appointing another surveyor.  Cost us £1000s, took 11 weeks and  now we are hardly communicating with the neighbour. 

So be careful what you choose.  The majority of building owners do not send the party wall notice.

I don’t believe the party wall act is fit for purpose.  Although the government explanatory booklet says the best way of settling any point of difference is by friendly discussion with your neighbour and appointment of an agreed surveyor is preferable for residential circumstances should you not agree or want some assurance.  It is still possible for the neighbour to dissent and choose another surveyor at your expense without any justification.

Party wall surveyors can be very persuasive and can easily convince your neighbours they should hire them at your expense.