Party Wall Act?! Any advice?

[user1479588581]

Hi,

Hoping for some advice.

We are due to start a side and back double extension to our detached house as well as a detached garage built in our front plot at the beginning of June. The distance between our house and our neighbor is over the 6 meters required to impact on the party wall, however the garage that we are building in our front plot is not, as it's being built just before their boundary line (retaining wall) and therefore affected by the Party Wall Act of 1996 we need to get I believe an agreement made up and signed by the both of us.

Our architect has said this is something they can handle (we already have approved plans and a survey has been completed on the site already). However, they are being very slow to respond and as the building work is due to start quickly I'd like to know what my next steps should be - is it just a case of calling another surveyor and seeing if they can do it? In your experience, what is the rough time frame of getting an agreement drawn up? We only have 3 weeks before the building work is due to start so I'm slightly panicking!

As the area concerned (corner of front plot) won't be affected by the work on the house, do we have to serve them with notice now before ALL the work takes place ie work on the house begins, or as the garage wont be built for another 6 months do we have a bit of time?

Any advice appreciated!

Hi the party wall agreement us really just a letter with a copy of the plans which make it clear on ownership if the boundary. Sounds like you are building up to the boundary but not on it- the garage wall will act as the boundary unless they put a fence or hedge against it. Chase your architect to send you the draft letter so you can take it round and talk it through. They then just need to put in writing to you their acceptance in line with the act. Hope that makes sense! It's dead easy!

Oh and yes you have time given build time but it's better to do it upfront in case they had any concerns you can address quickly. Tell the architect their going on a long holiday of something and you want it sorted pronto :)

You need to give 30 days notice before works commence but that's only relevant to the garage. But if your builder is planning to dig the foundations of the garage at the same time as the extension, this needs the notice.

Get a specialist party wall person - if your neighbour chooses to appoint one (at your expense) and your architect is unresponsive and slow they will run rings around you.

we had a specialist party wall surveyor. He did it the week before we started the build so you are still ok with your time frame

To clarify....no you are not necessarily OK with your time frame. If MrsBlondie's neighbours agreed to it within a week, that's fine, but your neighbours are entitled to one month's notice (not 30 days sorry), and don't have to agree to the work starting any earlier.

FWW I am an architect.

You don't necessarily need to involve a party wall surveyor. They will charge to undertake a condition survey and this will be hundreds if not thousands of pounds. If the requirement is because you are planning to excavate within 6m of their property, and the excavation will cross a 45 degree angle from the bottom of their foundations, then you need it. Or within 3m and to a level below their foundations. Whether or not you need a Party Wall Agreement is fairly complex and your architects should advise on this (don't rely on my vague explanations.) The first step should ALWAYS be to send the letter - this is free and can be an easy way to get an agreement in place. If you want more information, go to www.gov.uk/party-walls-building-works and download the advisory PDF. It sounds like the OP needs to send her architects an email reminding them of the timeframe and that the neighbours need one month's notice. If in doubt, go to your architect before the surveyor unless you have lots of extra money to spend on potentially unnecessary fees.