Party Wall Award not complied with - what happens now?

[MGMidget]

Our neighbours have done an extension immediately next to ours. A party wall surveyor was appointed and issued an 'award'. We were concerned about the impact on our wall, the foundations, etc, of them building immediately up against our wall. The party wall surveyor insisted on amendments to their plans to protect our wall and foundations. It now seems they have ignored at least some of them, maybe all! Does anyone know what happens now? The extension is built and almost complete. The amendments to the plans requested would hardly have cost them anything to do but they would be impossible to do now without tearing down the extension and starting again.

I would contact your party wall surveyor. What were the amendments requested?

We are in a similar situation except our neighbours are bonkers and they are threatening to tear it down. We assumed it would go to arbitration but they have just sent a threatening letter. If it doesn't comply with the agreement (ours does) then the surveyors should get together and decide on a Protista action. If they can't agree then go to arbitration.

Appropriate action

A visual inspection has revealed that work requested by the surveyor hasn't been done. This extended the length of the wall and down below foundations. Its separating boards between the two walls so that our wall isn't dragged down by their extension 'settling'. I'm waiting for the party wall surveyor to come and take a look but there's only a 1cm air gap between the two walls and extension almost complete so wanted to get an idea of what course of action may be possible in advance of his arrival!

Thanks Superram. We only have one 'agreed surveyor' as we wanted to be helpful to our new neighbours in saving them costs when they seemed so nice. They are in the property development business though (although planning to live in the house) so I just hope we haven't been duped into making a mistake on an 'agreed surveyor'! It was our choice of surveyor though so hopefully everything will be OK. I just have this sinking feeling that hopes of good neighbourly relations may be looking less likely now.

Update: party wall surveyor has been for a visit and advised that they have indeed not complied with the party wall award. However, it can't be rectified without tearing down the building and rebuilding! He's talking about us getting legal advice and we should be getting substantial compensation. Has anyone ever been in this boat? He said he'd never seen anything like it before - such a basic error and so simple for them to have done it right (and cheap!). The result is that we are risk of structural movement owing to how they have built. I'm wondering what the implications are for us - difficulty selling our house in the future? Increased premiums for buildings insurance?

I would insist it was pulled down if puts you at any risk

Do you mean immediately next to your house or next to your extension?

SwedishEdith, I mean immediately next to our extension but the extension adjoins the rest of the house and their extension also adjoins the rest of the house. Its a kitchen 'side return' extension to a Victorian terrace if that means anything to you.

Our extension goes (almost) to our boundary. Wall was built wholly on our side, not a 'party wall' and they have done the same with their wall so that both walls meet side by side approximately at the 'line of junction' (i.e. boundary line) between the two properties. In fact our wall is slightly inside our boundary line. It was set back slightly from the boundary to allow for separating materials to be inserted between our wall and a new neighbour's wall in the future. They have just built straight up to our wall and my guess is that means they will have also poured their concrete foundations right next to ours instead of separating them with some boarding.

The surveyor is concerned that when their property settles, ours will be 'settling' with it which since they haven't separated their wall from ours as they should have done. At the least, that means redecorating but his concern is regarding our roof which is a specialist structure which will be expensive and disruptive to repair if movement damages it.

Lighteningirl, it would be very simple if they just had to tear down and rebuild as problem would be resolved. However, I don't think its going to be an option now. Surveyor says compensation is the way forward but no idea what we should be expecting for this as I don't know how much its going to affect us yet, hence asking if anyone has experienced this and what impact might it have on insurance premiums, resale value, anything else?

I see loads of stuff about neighbours ignoring the party wall act but it tends to be ignoring the serving of notices etc. This time its ignoring construction details that the party wall surveyor insisted on in his award!