Party wall woes

[squalorvictoria]

Our corner neighbours are currently building a single storey side extension (they applied for a two storey extension, twice, but it was refused because it would have overlooked our garden massively). Now, in order to squeeze in the extension, the builders have partially demolished and rebuilt their party wall. It's a bodge job and a bit of an eyesore, with holes in it and a big section missing at the top - they would have needed to access our garden to repair some of it and didn't. They didn't ask to come in, I would have allowed it.

I don't want to kick up a big fuss. We've sold the house, so my main concern is jeopardising the sale. Obviously don't particularly want to go too far down the legal route either.

Couple of questions:

1. We were notified when they applied for planning permission, but from what I can gather they also should have sent us a separate letter re. messing around with the party wall (Party Wall Act)? They didn't. Anything we can do about that?

1. We've tried knocking and inviting them to view the bodge job of the wall (their extension totally covers the wall on their side so they can't see it) but they won't answer! We've also got two bucket loads of rubble that we'd like to throw in their skip. What can we do?

1. Vague concerns about safety around a badly repaired wall with holes in.

Our buyer's surveyor is coming over on Tuesday and I'm really worried this is going to be flagged as a problem. I'm desperate to move and do NOT need any spanners in the works. I can put a pic on my profile if that helps?

Speak to your solicitor.

Is the party wall 3 meters from your buildings?

It's about 2.5 metres from our house, roughly, and RIGHT next to the garage.

Don't have a solicitor, and have never used one in a non-conveyancing capacity.

Like I said, we're moving soon, so are reluctant to waste money on a legal battle that we likely won't see the end of. What would be the likely cost/timescale of getting legal on their arses?

As next to your garage and within 3 meters of your house they should have got a party wall agreement. Your buyers surveyor and solicitor will be querying all of this with your solicitor, and quite rightly they will want issues settled before they exchange contracts with you.

If you are using a conveyancing solicitor instructed for the sale, I have no idea why you are not prepared to speak to them?

You can keep your head in the sand, and it will all come back to bite you at a later stage or deal with it all now, take some pictures and speak to your solicitor. Your buyers, the vendor of your house, your solicitor and Estate agent will not be impressed that you knowingly wasted their time and money, potentially sabotaging other people's moves etc, in the hope that this will go away.

Er, steady on.

I didn't say I wasn't prepared to talk to my solicitor, I just didn't KNOW that a conveyancing solicitor would be able to assist here. I thought I'd have to get another solicitor on board at additional cost.

And we're in a chain of two so there won't be any "sabotaging" of anyone else's moves.

Thanks for your snippy advice.

Hello Real Party Wall Surveyor here. Big misunderstanding of the 3m rule above... the 3m rule ONLY applies when your neighbour excavates to a depth deeper than the bottom of your foundations within 3m. Your neighbour can do pretty much what he wants above ground / above the level of your footings if he is on his grounds. Is the "party wall" you describe on the boundary? If its just a wall on their land, even if its only 50mm or so, then its not a party wall and the party wall act won't apply.

It's along the boundary separating out gardens, yes.

I was a little confused about whether this qualifies as a party wall or not. The council seen to think so, because when I contacted the Planning Department for advice, the reply was essentially "We don't get involved with party wall stuff, go away".

I've added a photo to my profile.

You can just about see the breezeblocks where they've partially rebuilt one section of the wall.