notice of party wall act

7 replies

Potatoface2 · 28/12/2015 22:10

my neighbour has been granted planning permission, but has not issued us with a party wall notice....i have advised him he needs to do this but he has chosen to ignore this and his work is commencing soon...what do i do if he just starts his work...dont want to fall out with them but am worried about my own property and where i stand if problems occur

OP posts:

chandalier · 29/12/2015 14:15

I have had this!
All you need to do is ring up a surveyor near you who does party walls and explain the situation. You can instruct him to visit your neighbour to look at the work they propose to do.
Your side of your property next to them will be photographed by the surveyor to prove its condition and a folder sent to you to keep. The surveyor will also check the building work plans through to completion to ensure it is done safely and correctly, without damaging your house.
The whole bill for this service will be paid by the person undertaking the building works-in this case your neighbour -- and you will have to pay nothing and have peace of mind too.
Message me if you have any other questions as I been through this twice now with properties.

Original poster

Potatoface2 · 29/12/2015 22:58

i spoke to a party wall surveyour and he said they cant do a thing until they give notice which they havent done...i have to get the neighbour to give notice first which he appears to be ignoring, although his wife has messaged me on fb/pm stating the work is commencing ...is that good enough?

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chandalier · 30/12/2015 01:19

As I said, this has happened to me twice at my properties. The first time was on hearing a JCB digging up to our foundations one morning We received no notice or anything. I called my own surveyor who came out to us within ten minutes, stopped work and took over and ensured professional, drawn to scale plans were made and a correct procedure was followed before they could continue the work.These 2K surveyor costs went to our neighbour ( who was furious as they wanted to cut corners and save money). The work was checked by our surveyor constantly until completion.
The second time was with another property where the neighbours gave us a 'Party Wall Act 1996 section 6 form' to sign to give our permission to their work. It was undated and did not list clearly exactly the work that was involved. They were angry when we refused to sign it. We demanded to see a professional drawn up plan by a proper surveyor and again there was nothing ( to save money again) so I called out our same surveyor again who took over it all.
In your case I would definitely say the facebook message is enough. Tell your surveyor it is the only contact you have from them and give your neighbour's phone number/ email address so that he can contact them. You should have to do nothing else as he will take over everything. At some point very soon he will see you to photograph the affected side of your house to prove it is crack/subsidence free so that if anything happens later on you will be protected.
If your surveyor is still not interested then I would contact another one.
Don't sign anything from your neighbour agreeing to the work if they do sort out a form for you.
We are on cool terms with both neighbours now but we would rather this than our houses falling down.

Original poster

Potatoface2 · 30/12/2015 01:30

thank you so much....will phone surveyour tomorrow

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gingeroots · 30/12/2015 10:46

chandalier I'm loving the sound of your surveyor .No chance they're based near SE London is there ?

chandalier · 31/12/2015 00:40

They have three offices --- and one is in Camden London.

Message me if you want his details.

McBaby · 31/12/2015 08:41

What extension are they building?

Flip