Party Wall/Legal People - foundations tresspass

[sufferingaggressiveneighbours]

Hi

Name change - regular poster to this lovely forum.

We have some aggressive neighbours who are doing extensive building work and have shown no respect to the legal rights of either of their neighbours of their detached house. On one side they thought they could build on a shared driveway (issue now resolved legally I understand). On our side their footings have come under the fence which is on our side of the boundary. It is now being propped up artificially. Plans showed their foundations coming as far as the boundary. Of course, if the foundations exceed the boundary then the building with its eaves may well do too.

We understand that it is not within the jurisdiction of the party wall surveyor, although he said it is debateable and is shocked at the level of aggression. His approach would be for him to get involved to avoid a civil dispute. The other sides party wall surveyor, just seems to think we should go civil.

We have had our boundary measured by a professional surveyor (at our expense) but they are refusing access. Obviously, we would use this as showing we have done everything we can to prevent a civil dispute.

My questions are:
Can the (very professional top firm) party wall surveyor help us further without us incurring his costs?
What should we do regarding access for our boundary surveyor being refused?
What should we do regarding the trespass of the foundations?
What can we do regarding a potential building/eaves trespass?

We will be grateful for any pointers that can be given.

Regarding the foundations, they are perfectly allowed to place standard foundations that project under neighbouring land. Reinforced concrete etc wouldn't be allowed. And anything above ground wouldn't be allowed.

This is reinforced concrete - I think. A trench. What exactly is reinforced concrete? To put foundations on our land I thought that they had to serve a line of junction party wall agreement? They did not.

Reinforced has metal bars in it, not very common for domestic loads. Trench is just filling a hole with concrete.
Yes technically they should have service m served a party wall notice but there are no penalties for non service of the notice. The party wall act is an enabling act, so it is designed to make people able to develop their land, not to let neighbours prevent that.
It also includes surveyor obligations so that everything is tied down and documented before the build starts rather than waiting till some problem and then trying to work out whose liability it is.
If the building has happened and hasn't damaged anything and would otherwise comply then there's no retrospective action as no loss has been incurred as a result of not following the prescribed procedures.
You can tell I'm not a fan of the party wall act!

I think you should focus on any potential trespass and consider what remedy you are expecting. If it's a trespass of a building that affects your enjoyment eg extended so you can't get your car into the garden, then you could get an order to rebuild correctly. If not then it might be just a case of damages

perfectly allowed to place standard foundations that project under neighbouring land

So my neighbour could build their foundation past my boundary line and under my garden? What about if I wanted to build an extension but my neighbour’s new foundations were in my way on my land? I’m just asking out of interest because i’m shocked that anyone could build foundations on land they don’t own!

Correct, you can just cut back to the boundary and but yours up against theirs

Your neighbour should be paying for your party wall surveyor under the Party Wall Act as far as I understand. They're supposed to pay for someone who on the side of the 'party wall' rather than the individuals concerned.

'Perfectly allowed to place standard foundations that project under neighbouring land'

Doubt this very much. That's trespass, which is a tort for nuisance and a common law offence. If they have not served notice of their intention to undertake notifiable work (party wall etc, Act 1996) then they have also not followed their statutory obligation (Civil Law). Very naughty indeed on both counts.

It is an enabling Act, but with caveat that those affected are protected against erroneous actions. This includes an obligation, legally, to pay the reasonable fees of a party wall surveyor.

Speak to a party wall surveyor, I'm sure there will be plenty that may offer free advice/help lines etc.

Seems as though your neighbour is acting the donkey!

You won’t have a party wall agreement if they are detached, but you may have a shared boundary. They absolutely cannot put anything within your boundary, but difficult to comment without a title plan

If anyone excavates within 6 metres then that 'may' be applicable regardless of type of property. best to speak with someone who knows what's what. tk surveying group have helped us out twice.

We live in a semi and both neighbours -attached and detached (from us) required notification because of the depth of foundations (because of the drains where we are and of crescent ridiculously deep).