Is the party wall act relevant here?

Duck345

I am interested in knocking down a few internal walls in my property. Its basically 3 little one storey outhouses with a flat roof all connected and I'd like to knock down the walls so that it makes it a small corridor from our kitchen leading to a small bathroom.

We're end of terrace so these little outhouses run along the wall we share with our neighbour. Our properties are the same just mirrored.

I'm confused as to whether we would need to serve a party wall notice to the neighbour for knocking down these walls. 

Thanks for any insight you can give.

Alter_ego

If your neighbour's property is the other side of a wall, it's a party wall. In which case don't knock it down

Duck345

Alter_ego said:

If your neighbour's property is the other side of a wall, it's a party wall. In which case don't knock it down

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I don't want to knock down the party wall but the walls connected to the party wall that are on my property dividing my outhouses. 

Am I thinking about this too much and its only direct work on a party wall that requires notice?

Rdwill

I think if you don't affect the wall that runs with your neighbours you should be ok.

This may involve leaving a little buttress at each point where the internal walls were so if the bricks are built into this wall. If they are not and just tied in somehow I would just get on with it.

The key point to work out is are you going to affect the structural integrity of the wall that you share with your neighbout.,  

Duck345

Rdwill said:

I think if you don't affect the wall that runs with your neighbours you should be ok.

This may involve leaving a little buttress at each point where the internal walls were so if the bricks are built into this wall. If they are not and just tied in somehow I would just get on with it.

The key point to work out is are you going to affect the structural integrity of the wall that you share with your neighbout.,  

Thanks very much for your insight!

FaceHead

So you have some walls perpendicular to the party wall that you want to take out?

What will the steels that replace the walls sit on? The party wall? If so, cutting into the party wall to put the steels, e.g. on padstones in the wall should be notified. 

Or will there be uprights with new foundations to take the steels? In which case digging around the wall should be notified. 

PWA need not be a big deal.  You can write your neighbour a letter from the templates available online, have a chat with them, and ask them nicely to sign the form. 

Edit: as Rdwil says if you're leaving a stub of wall and sitting the steel on that, potentially then it's not PWA notifiable. Really it depends on the design of what you're doing.

Rdwill

Facehead, my understanding is that these walls are not load bearing, but maybe worth confirming before you knock them down.

Duck345

Thanks @FaceHead for the reply.

Our first port of call is a structural engineer for guidance re another internal wall in the middle of the house so I will liase with him about these walls too.

canaldumidi

Your structuralengineer will know whether you need tocomply with the PWA, but the key consideration seems likely to be whether the walls being removed are structural, and if so, how the required support will be provided.