Hi everyone. Hopefully someone who reads this will have more experience than I do in these matters because currently I'm tearing my hair out. I'll try and be as concise as poss.
We are in a terraced house in Zone 3 London. Our adjoining neighbour on one side died, the family sold the house and it is being turned from a 3 bed to a 6 room HMO (House of Multiple Occupancy). This means in order to make the necessary room, there is a single storey extension to the rear and also a dormer loft conversion going in.
We were not advised that any work would start. There has been no communication from anyone. The first we knew about it was when skips turned up and work commenced. Despite trying to talk to the builders themselves, the language barrier and their complete uninterest in talking to us means that's largely pointless. My DH caught the foreman at one point and asked him what was going on, but although he seems personable, he is A) Not there all the time and B) Can't advise us as to what steps to take.
The owner is uncontactable. There is a shell company on Companies House that leads nowhere. Land Registry has not been updated. The Foreman will not give us the owner's contact details.
As I understand it, we should have been given notice that work would be commencing. I know that the rear extension can technically go in unchallenged as it's dimensions are within permitted development limits, although they had to dig foundations within 3 metres of our boundary (like within one metre). But the dormer extension I'm pretty sure can't go up without planning permission.
We've checked all available online databases which have been no help.
Anyway. We have no PWA with next door, and none has been forthcoming. Cracks are appearing in our walls (all documented, we started taking photos as soon as work started so we have evidence of the damage). Today we went into the loft to do our daily round of photos only to find that next door have knocked through (obviously by accident) and just casually rebuilt the part of the wall they damaged.
Chunks of masonry are falling into our back garden -big enough to have caused serious harm should they have hit someone. The whole set up is shonky in the extreme.
We are looking to sell and move. We are currently with an estate agent and the house is on the market. What we don't know is where we stand with regards to the lack of the PWA going forward. Our conveyancing solicitor has been a bit wishy washy about advising us one way or the other. We don't want to take the nuclear option and start a dispute -we just want to know that our house is safe and will be repaired to a good standard once all their work is done.
Is it worth speaking to a Party Wall surveyor, given that we have no-one to contact with regard to who is responsible? Should we wait until all the building work is done next door and then try and sell, rather than trying to do it with no PWA in place, as that will surely be flagged up by any half decent survey done on our property?
I'm just so furious and stressed that we have been given absolutely no right to reply or respond, the owner is uncontactable and seemingly unaware (or doesn't care) that his builders are knocking chunks off our house. The same is happening to the other adjoining neighbour.
Thank you if you've made it this far. Any advice would be very gratefully received.