can you make a party wall higher if it's stone?

[huntinthehornybacktoad]

We have a beautiful old stone wall around our little private garden about 1.4 metres high. On the other side of it a builder neighbour has put an enormous shed with windows overlooking our garden and a ton of scaffolding equipment.
Before anyone asks, I've asked him to move it away from the boundary (no, because the neighbours on the other side would give him trouble) and complained to the council over the years to no avail.
So today it occurred to me that if this was any other kind of barrier then either of us would be entitled to make it higher.
And I wondered whether I could shell out loads of ££££ to make this wall 2.0metres high.

[I know I know I am spending too much time thinking about my neighbours and boundaries at the moment but aren't we all?]

He has always pronounced the boundaries between us to be "his wall" but from my limited knowledge that's just not how party walls work....

His stuff just looks awful and the garden is basically a builder's yard. If you sit out on the seat in my garden at lunchtime his mates come in and out to get stuff from the shed (between jobs) and they are literally looking down on you from above.

Check your deeds, they will tell you whose the wall is. A garden wall is very unlikely to be a party wall. You could always put fence panels 'atop' the wall to make it higher. Or if it is his wall then there's nothing to stop you putting a fence in on your side of it.

The deeds just contain a declaration that the walls between number 20 and the property are party walls.

That’s the title deeds

Trouble with fence on my side is that it’s a beautiful old Victorian stone wall..... it just has awful crap looming over the top of it

Could you put an elegant (victorian type) trellis above the wall? I suspect being 'party' it means it is jointly owned so you may not be able to attach physically to the wall.

In which case @huntinthehornybacktoad have a look at the Gov info on party walls - you might have to talk to 'experts'?

www.gov.uk/party-walls-building-works/when-how-tell-them

I’m up for an elegant Victorian style trellis.... does such a thing exist? Can you show me a pic?

That’s helpful planet thankyou.
I can only see what’s at the Land Registry -but I guess that counts?

I was going to say trellis too and grow some flowering climbers up it.

We had to get the conveyance deeds to specify who's fences were who's. They are marked with either a T if it is yours or two T's together if it's both I think (from what I remember)

Blast -for complicated reasons I haven’t got them.
Surely if the title deeds have the declaration that works?

I just rang the land registry and ordered them, £7 I think. I ordered the title deeds at first thinking it'd be marked on there but ended up having to ring them and find out what to do!

What about evergreen pleached trees? Long stems mean you will still see the stone wall

@huntinthehornybacktoad - this looks interesting, both for ideas and information? (I've only skimmed it btw)

www.jacksons-fencing.co.uk/the-edit/advice-on-planning-permission-for-trellis-fence-toppers

“evergreen pleached trees”

That sounds intriguing – I have a couple of standard roses but they aren’t enough