Party Wall Agreement After 14 Days

skybluearmyontour · 17 March 2019 at 9:56AM

Hello,

Wondering if anyone has any knowledge of this after reading several guides and not getting anywhere..

I presented my neighbour with a a party wall notice (I did have a long chat with her before serving...she is not a neighbour we particularly get on with...and one that definitely does not want us to build our extension!) and we heard nothing until day 13 of the notice period where she gave us a list of questions and points. We have answers to most questions but was unable to get hold of the builder on a Friday night (understandable!) to answer a couple.

On day 14 we was going over to speak to her to talk through most of our the Q&A however couldn’t get hold of her... think her daughter has gone into labour so that is fair...

Now as the 14 days have now passed we seen as being in dispute under the act.

Does anybody know whether we can resolve the dispute ourselves before going down the route of an agreed surveyor? If we can resolve and she signs consent after the 14 days is it still valid?

Really want to avoid having to shell out for a surveyor because I can see her not agreeing to a joint surveyor also so costs are going to spiral.

Any help appreciated!

zaqxsw · 19 March 2019 at 5:29PM

Hello - I am a party wall surveyor so hopefully my advice is useful!
After the passing of 14 days, if the neighbour hasn't responded, the Act states that there is a dispute. You then serve another notice giving your neighbour 10 days to appoint a surveyor.

The reason for these deadlines is so that neighbours do not frustrate the process by refusing to respond. The deadlines are there to ensure that your build goes ahead and they are there to break the deadlock.

I have always seen these deadlines as discretionary. You are entitled to give your neighbour more than 14 days to respond, but you cannot give them less - unless they agree.

So, although technically there is a dispute under the Act, if you felt that more time might get the consent you are looking for, you can choose to exercise discretion and allow your neighbour more time to respond. If you do this, I would recommend you speak with your neighbour to see how long they might need. If it sounds reasonable, then you can proceed with the hope of avoiding surveyor's fees.

I seem to give a lot of advice with a view to avoiding surveyor's fees!

Good luck

skybluearmyontour · 20 March 2019 at 8:23PM

Thank you zaqxsw!

That’s good to hear.

We got hold of our builder on the Monday & completed the remaining responses. My wife also met with the neighbour that morning & talked her through each point & she seemed content. So we signed our responses & gave them to her (along with another positive acknowledgment form). She’s come round tonight saying she believes the gutter hangs over her boundary despite us and our plans clearly stating everything contained within boundary (which she should’ve raised during planning... think it’s quite clear the PWA is not for boundary disputes). She’s really getting on our t***. Giving her a few more days to sign then I think I’m just going to have to issue the 10 day appoint your surveyor notice.

zaqxsw · 15 April 2019 at 4:24PM

Good luck with the process. Hopefully your neighbour responds and you don't waste money on having to appoint two surveyors - which is what happens when your neighbour doesn't respond.

Party Wall Agreement After 14 Days

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