Party Wall worries and extension

[DecentHour]

We are hoping to do a rear single story extension (side reveal), we're the mid terrace house with neighbours on either side. Am beginning to get quite bogged down in possible party wall worried.

On one side, we actually want to use a formal party wall (the shared building boundary is on our land ie is a legal party wall) so we thought we would go through the proper process of appointing a surveyor, although serve the actual notice ourselves to try to minimise costs.

On the other neighbouring side, we were hoping to just give them notice and hopefully avoid appointing a surveyor, although they are a bit awkward.

I am beginning to worry a lot about the party wall situation though - eg if our builder somehow fucked up and their house was structurally damaged, who would have to pay - us or the builder's insurance?

Also, so many people build extensions - how many actually go down the party wall route of serving notice etc? A friend is currently building an extension within 3m of her neighbours and has just ploughed ahead without getting any signatures. I don't now if I am overthinking the party wall aspect and becoming overwhlmed by it before even getting the drawings etc done.

Any thoughts or advice welcomed.

I don't now if I am overthinking the party wall aspect and becoming overwhlmed by it before even getting the drawings etc done.

Yes you are 🙂. Just get drawings done, factor in the cost of dealing with the Party Wall Act on both sides (our architect gave us a ballpark figure from the outset) and don’t worry about it.

If the builders damage your neighbours’ property it will be covered by their insurance.

We are mid terrace and did an extension. We got a party wall agreement with both sides including surveyors report for both sides paid for by us. You just have to factor it in to the cost.

You have to offer them the survey. They can waive their rights but why on earth would they. Neither of ours did although we are quite good friends with one side and thought they might just agree. The report is protection for you just as much as for them otherwise they could accuse you of damage that is already there.

Also you have to live with these people for potentially years to come. It's never ever going to be popular with neighbours getting an extension. It only makes their life worse. They have to put up with months of building noise, parking nuisance etc etc Things can get tense.

So we felt it best overall to have everything on a proper legal footing and avoid any disputes.

We have just done an extension, semi detached. Affected both sides, we drew up plans and then made a couple of tweaks to make sure both neighbors were happy. We served notice ourselves and both said they were happy and didn't need official surveys. We supplied both side with a copy of our builders liability insurance and obviously if there had been issues it would have been our side that fixed the problem. We have completed building work now and all was fine, still on good terms with both sides.

Same here, semi detached but only affected the house we're attached to. Talked through the plans with the neighbours beforehand, get on well anyway so talked about a couple of concerns they had, all sorted. Prepared and served the notice ourselves, they signed it and gave it us back, no surveyors involved.

I think the problems often arise when you don't involve neighbours from the start - if they think you're being upfront, you're going to be considerate (obviously recognising that the works can be disruptive and they might be concerned) and use reputable builders, lots of issues can be sorted before you even start.

Obviously check the builders come recommended, not just for the works they complete but how they go about the build (tidying up after themselves, considerate etc) and they have full insurance.

As others have said, your neighbours have a right to appoint a surveyor if they so wish, so you have to budget for the cost and go through the process.

Yes people bother! Legally you have to serve a party wall notice (if the work affects or is within x distance of the party wall). If you don’t, the neighbours can get your works stopped.

The neighbours have 3 options after the notice - 1) agree to the works (no surveyor), 2) dissent to the works (this means they want a surveyor to supervise) but agree to share your surveyor or 3) dissent to the works and want their own separate surveyor. With 2) you pay for one surveyor with 3) you pay for two surveyors.

We had one neighbour do 2) and one do 3).

Our neighbours both wanted a surveyor (I don't blame them) but they did agree to share ours so one guy did both sides the same day and whilst it was extra cost it wasn't bank breaking in the scheme of the whole thing.

I am nearing completion of my extension- semi detached side and rear, needed party wall both sides.

Both neighbours asked for a survey and agreed to use my surveyor and then it was all done and dusted in a day. Cost 1500 but now everybody is covered.