Please help neighbour may start building without party wall agreement, So stressed

[woodpigeons]

My neighbour has planning permission for a large two story extension on the boundary between our properties.
This will involve foundations about 50cm from my house,
I contacted a party wall surveyor and sent him a copy of the plans.
He said a party wall agreement was needed and wrote to neighbour in May telling him he must apply for one.
So far the neighbour has done nothing about this but says he intends starting digging the foundations this month.
The surveyor says all I can do is take out an injunction to stop the work if it starts before the PWA.
Please, please advise me as I’m disabled and CEV so can’t do much.
The neighbour is actually a developer who bought the house and has no intention of living there, He intends to do the work himself,
He’s angry I opposed the planning permission application.
I felt it was too big and too near my house and would involve removing dividing fence, impact on my privacy and damage my garden which I’ve spent a lot of time and money on.
Thus I really can’t speak to him without him being abusive. I’m not an unreasonable person and usually get on well with everyone whereas he has a reputation for such behaviour.
I’m also concerned about building control and if his foundations, without a PWA, will be deep enough to not damage my house.
Thank you so much for reading this and hopefully someone can advise me what to do next,
I don’t want to do anything to further anger the neighbour but want to be prepared if he starts building soon.

If planning permission has been granted then you can't stop the works happening. You just need to set out what you want from the party wall agreement & contact the neighbour

How does a party wall agreement relate if there are two walls that are separated? And you say "on the boundary" but also 50cm away from it. Are you in detached houses? I'm not being obtuse, I'm just confused. Wouldn't his insurance or the contractors be liable for any damage?

You need a party wall agreement if building works take place within 3 metres of your building. You can get an injunction if work starts without one.

Thank you everyone and sorry I wasn’t clear. The boundary is 50cm from my house but around 2metres from neighbouring house so he is intending to build from his house to the boundary (both are detached).
He is a difficult man so I want everything set out legally, including him paying for any damage, before work starts.
As far as I can find out there are rules for depth of foundations and these rules mean his have to be deeper than mine. I think a PW surveyor would determine that by checking the depth of my foundations and building control would then check it was done.
I’m not sure if I should contact building control if he starts on the foundations without a PWA.
Does anyone have any idea of the possible cost of an injunction ?
I really don’t have the money to pay for it but might get it on my house insurance,
I don’t know if I would need a solicitor and if I should wait until he possibly starts building, without PWA, to start thinking about it.
Another reason I don’t want problems with neighbour is I might sell it after this work and move as this experience has soured living here. Thus I don’t want to have to declare any neighbour problems to potential buyers.

Was going to say check your house insurance for legal cover

I think if I know what I should do, if necessary, and in what order, then I’ll be able to relax about it a bit knowing I have a plan.

@woodpigeons

I think if I know what I should do, if necessary, and in what order, then I’ll be able to relax about it a bit knowing I have a plan.

See whether you have legal cover on your house insurance or any other policy you may have and contact them for advice. Tbh I would probably contact my house insurers anyway even if I didn't have legal cover.

Thank you starfishmummy I’ll do that on Monday.
When I said about selling I don’t think I would be letting the buyers in for any problems as he intends to sell the massive (almost double original size) house.
I did think about selling before the work started but didn’t as I thought it would be totally unfair to buyers.
Once, if as I expect, the insurance confirms I have legal cover do I contact a solicitor about a possible injunction or do I wait until work starts ?
That’s assuming I need a solicitor.
Sorry for asking silly questions but I can’t go out at all,
Can’t walk and am no longer allowed to drive.

Hi Op. This is a very good resource for you. Cl;early sets out requirements

Contents
1 Overview
2 Work you must tell your neighbour about
3 When and how to tell them
4 Reaching an agreement with your neighbours
5 If you can't agree
6 When works begin

www.gov.uk/party-walls-building-works

I had this! He wouldn't have a party wall agreement and caused so much damage. I told him firmly in writing that he did not have access to my land or airspace.

A horrible man. Swooping up properties for students. I hope that has all fallen apart.

@woodpigeons with my insurers there's a legal advice line to ring. Mines never needed to get beyond the giving me some advice stage - fortunately - but I imagine if it has to go further they will tell you how to go about it.

As I understand it, he only needs a PWA if the foundations are going to be deeper than yours. Depending on your houses, he may not need a PWA and he's not doing anything wrong by not having one.

We also did a 2 storey extension and builder said we were unlikely to need a PWA. We did one anyway with our neighbour just because we get on very well but when they started the work, the builder confirmed we weren't going deeper than neighbours foundations so didn't need one.

I don't see how the Party Wall Surveyor could know the depth of your foundations unless thats on your neighbour's plans?

If he does need one, the only way to stop work is by going down the legal route but that will be expensive. It's not a matter for building control / the council.

I think your neighbour is hoping that you are ignorant of the rules regarding PWA's or that you are not prepared to take out civil action against him. The fact that he hasn't started the process and is talking about starting work this month on the foundations, does sound that he has no intention of paying for a party wall surveyor for himself or for you (if you request an additional surveyor). As others have said, contact the legal team on your house insurance and start the ball rolling. If you don't deal with this ASAP, you could find yourself having to deal with the aftermath of his construction work with no proof that he damaged your house/garden/etc.

You neighbour only needs a PWA if:

If they plan to:
 excavate, or excavate for and construct foundations for a new building or structure, within 3 metres of any part of a neighbouring owner's building or structure, where any part of that work will go deeper than the neighbour's foundations ; or
 excavate, or excavate for and construct foundations for a new building or structure, within 6 metres of any part of a neighbouring owner's building or structure, where any part of that work will meet a line drawn downwards at 45° in the direction of the excavation from the bottom of the neighbour's foundations

This booklet is really helpful - page 19 relates to your situation

I just wrote a long reply and lost it.

The surveyor says there are two reasons why a PWA is needed.

First they will be building foundations much deeper than on my house due to building regulations having changed since it was built. The new, longer foundations (less than one metre from my house)can damage its foundations so remedial work may need to be done.

Second that the extension is on the boundary. This can’t be disputed as the neighbour’s garage forms part of the boundary and they intend to extend the garage quite a long way into the back garden.

The insurance company will pay for legal cases where there is more than a 50% chance of winning.
From what the surveyor says it seems like a pretty much cut and dried case.
So thank you everyone. It’s been so good to discuss it and hopefully I can get my surveyor soon to deal with the abusive neighbour,

Africa2go
Can I come to Africa with you ?
I spent a large part of my life doing aid work there and would love to be back.
The surveyor digs down to look at foundations and see how long they are. That’s part of what they do in the PWA process.