Neighbours starting expensive £32,000+ rebuild of wall between properties ,worried about liability for costs

[rileynexttime]

Posting for a friend.
Ownership of wall and responsibility for repair and costs not resolved .

Wall is between one house uphill and a lower house .Upper house very old and predates lower Victorian terrace where topography dictates excavation of ground to build Victorian house .

Lower house initially saying "we share a boundary wall"
"appears to have been built to retain your garden so could legally be regarded as wholly your responsibility" .
Offering ,without accepting any responsibility, to split cost .

Friend did not accept this status quo and since then ,despite asking for confirmation about costs ,who pays what has not been answered ..

Builders due to start work this week .

Friend is terrified she will end up with huge bill .
Any thoughts ? Advice ?

Neighbours using an agent with bullying tactics (shouting out of car window as passing friend in street,calling at house ,verbally abusing her ) and has been too terrified to do much .She has not obtained any alternative quotes or specialist reports .Neither supplied by neighbour.

Best to pay for an hour of a solicitor's time as so much is at stake. tehre is a party wall act but other than that I don't know but I do know the law in this area can be very complicated. At the very least read up on the party wall act if in this country.

Does your friend have legal cover on their house insurance? If so, now would be a good time to use it.

Apparently no legal cover .Initial legal advice sought and she was told to ignore first letter as claims not verified.
No party wall act invoked ,work is starting with no party wall notice being served.

Difficult situation as friend does not have my personality and has been overwhelmed .She feels ,I think that if she says little and they get on with it and she doesn't upset them ,then they won't press for costs .
Neighbours want work done over next few weeks because of letting constraints .

Personally I would just write to the neighbours and make it clear that I was not going to contribute to costs in any way.

read the legislation on the Party Wall Act:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preventing-and-resolving-disputes-in-relation-to-party-walls/the-party-wall-etc-act-1996-explanatory-booklet

If you intend to carry out building work which involves one of the following categories:

• building a free standing wall or a wall of a building up to or astride the boundary with a neighbouring property (section 1 of the Act)
• work on an existing party wall or party structure (see paragraph 3 below) or building against such a party wall or party structure (section 2 of the Act)
• excavating near a neighbouring building (section 6 of the Act)

you must find out whether that work falls within the Act. If it does, you must notify all Adjoining Owners. If work starts without a notice being given, an adjoining owner can seek to stop the work through a court injunction or seek other legal redress.

Call RICS Boundary Hotline, they’ll put you in touch with your most local surveyor for 30 minutes free advice. 024 7686 8555.

https://www.ricsfirms.com/media/1229/rics-consumer-guide-boundary-disputes-2018.pdf

We have a similar housing layout and are the lower house - wall is our responsibility as it was built to allow for our land to be levelled and built on.

Is it likely she'd be responsible for work contracted by someone else?

Thank you all.Hard to know if it's a party wall .Is it too late in the day for friend to get advice.? Works started today.
But I'll suggest friend calls that nos ,thank you @fyn
I see from that link (thank you @akkakk ) that it's only" advisable to include a clear statement that it is a notice under the provisions of the Act".
None of the correspondence mentions a party wall.

@fancreek - those are my thoughts

Thinking about it ,if they are going down the party wall route it would seem to me that the lack of agreement means they are in dispute .And according to Act ,surveyors should have been appointed .

Does your friend have the deeds to her house? If so, check the boundaries - it should indicate responsibility for the wall. I echo contacting RICs and getting legal advice.

Well surely the builders contract is with the neighbours?

@TheABC I dont think the deeds help.Agree legal advice needed.

@caramac04 do you mean friend has no need to worry because neighbour has to pay builders ? She is worried that neighbour will come after her for money claiming it's her responsibility.

I would strongly recommend that your friend take a record of condition tomorrow.

I used to act on behalf of the environment agency as a trainee surveyor doing record of conditions of adjoining houses when they were doing works near by. Photograph every, small existing cracks etc… Cover every inch of the boundary and adjoining land. Even of the house and interior depending on the works, drilling etc could cause internal cracking.

That way you have a full record of proof if anything goes wrong to refer to.

We live in an estate all built at the same time with loads of these houses that they couldn't be arsed to level the land for so houses are detached but the gardens are higher up/drives are higher up. All the retaining walls are failing. No idea whose responsibility any of it is.

@fyn good advice ,thank you

@OneFrenchEgg it does seem a very tricky area ,no doubt one which law firms benefit from .

Is your friend the upper house?

As hers is the older house, would it appear on an older map as owning the land the lower house is on? In which case the retaining wall would have been built such that the land was levelled for the lower house to be built, so one might assume the responsibility would lie with the lower house? How long ago was the newer house built? Can you find the original planning details?

The party wall act should be the standard approach for any wall in a boundary - if they don’t follow it precisely then the other party has a slam-dunk right to insist on all sorts of things including a surveyor paid for by the first party and full redemption of any damage etc - but it might mean going to court…

any builder doing that level of work should know the party wall act so a letter setting out the need to invoke it should a) show a serious response and b) stop anything until it is complied with - it can be very expensive for them not to comply

Tell your friend to appoint a surveyor asap. Surveyor will put a stop to it if they need a party wall notice.

@rileynexttime absolutely. We are lower house and my view is that the next door drive is being held up by the wall which is part of the structure (so on them to maintain). However I suspect we will resolve it amicably at some point and with shared funding.

@Ariela from old maps it doesn't look like her house ever owned the land the newer (Edwardian/Victorian ) houses built on .
Can't tell whether the lines on the old maps merely indicate boundaries or walls .Some have tree/shrub sort of motifs on the lines so that might indicate not a wall but planting .
Friend needs to get a RICS on it as pp have said .
Although the builders are already at it .

@akkakk The party wall act should be the standard approach for any wall in a boundary
Obviously this is an area needing expert advice but reading the explanatory booklet on the Part Wall Act it does seem that some walls aren't covered by the Act .
I think my friends wall falls into the category below

Walls that are NOT Party Walls:

These may include boundary walls (a fence wall/garden wall built wholly on one owner’s land) and external walls (the wall of a building built up to but not astride the boundary).

It isn't one of these
Party wall type B
A wall is also a “party wall” if it stands wholly on one owner’s land, but is used by two (or more) owners to separate their buildings (see diagram 4).
as no buildings are involved .

Silly of me to think I can match a RICS knowledge and years of training because I've spent 10 mins reading an explanatory booklet ,I know !!
But ,that aside ,what do you think ?

Your OP said that the other house claims to share a boundary wall - if so then it is a freestanding walk (not fence or hedge) astride a boundary = covered by the act…

their only way out of the act is to claim that they don’t own it / it is not astride the boundary and belongs to the upper house in which case:

• they can’t touch it
• the act still covers any work within 3-6m

If uncertain they should write a letter requesting that any work stops due to need to comply with the party wall act - it will only be determined whether it is covered or not by a court but from your description - wall / shared, then it absolutely falls under the act. The act is there to prevent these kinds of issues.