Party Wall Extension Next Door

Bolt1234

I wonder if someone could advise please.  My 90 year old Mum lives in a terraced house and next door has applied for planning to build into the loft.  These are only small houses in London but others in the street have done similar.  

She has been sent letters by two different chartered surveyors saying that they will act for her to check all is OK and that the neighbour next door will in ALMOST all cases pay the fees.

Is this worth taking up or do I tell her to ignore these letters

ashe

It depends if she wants to cost them thousands of pounds or not. If you search the forum this gets asked a lot so there will be plenty of advice on it in those threads

grumbler

Bolt1234 said:

...chartered surveyors ...

  chartered ambulance chasers

FaceHead

Would you like to spend thousands on this completely useless piece of paper? Don't worry, your neighbour who you used to get on well with, will be made to pay to bill.

If there is actually a reason to be concerned, discuss it with your neighbour, probably in response to them serving party wall notice. And then come to a grown up agreement on any areas of disagreement.

Only if you can't get to a sensible agreement amongst yourselves (I don't see what this could be, they have a right to convert the loft, and must e.g. do the work during working hours) then you might agree a single surveyor to mediate between you and draw up an agreement. Ignore the ambulance chasers, they aren't trying to help you out.

Bolt1234

My Mum is 90. I live over 100 miles away so it’s not easy to chat it through with neighbours.

She doesn’t want to get into any disagreements with them and knows extensions and DIY needs to be done.

thegreenone

My husband is an SE and every time he puts his name to planning drawings he gets unsolicited letters like this and from builders as well.  They go in the bin.

Would it be an idea for your Mum to post a note through her neighbour's door along the lines of "Please let me know if your Party Wall Surveyor/Building Regs/Council Planning Officer needs access to my loft".   Best wishes  X 

Hopefully, that way, the NDNs know your Mum is okay with the development but that she would like to be kept informed of what's happening and when.  Which is only fair.