Party Wall Act and neighbour’s extension

[Maggiethecat]

My neighbour has served notice for their single story extension which will come within 3 inches of our shared boundary fence.

We are semi detached houses but the walls of our houses do not abut (that’s with my other neighbour).

The notice is served bcos they intend to excavate within 3 meters of my house and this may be lower than our foundations.

They confirm they will not be underpinning our property.

We get on well with our neighbour and don’t want to be unreasonable but also want to protect our position if there is any issue.

Questions:

Would an engineer not have to do calculations to establish if our property requires underpinning?

Does the engineer have a duty of care toward our property?

Are there questions we can ask/require information that will explain their decision.

Underpinning, if required, sounds it could be a nightmare - does it sound worse than it actually is?

If not underpinned and any damage done I presume we can claim damages?

Although it is possible that excavations are likely to affect the boundary fence and possibly my paved garden area next to the fence my bigger concern is the possible effect on the support/foundations of my property.

Is this overthinking things? If I don’t consent I know she’ll have to pay (probably a couple thousand pounds) to get a party wall surveyor and there will be delay.

Consenting is fine I suppose if there is no issue but if there are problems I expect things will become fraught if I have to raise a dispute and I expect we won’t be good neighbours anymore.

Any thoughts/advice on how to proceed is appreciated.

Get a party wall surveyor to assess and your neighbours will be obligated to pay.

Get a party walk surveyor.

“Raising a dispute” just means you want a party wall surveyor. This is totally within your rights and very normal in PWA situations. You shouldn’t feel bad for asking her to appoint a surveyor if you have structural concerns (as you clearly do).

If you want to be nice, agree to share a joint surveyor rather than asking to appoint your own additional surveyor - that way she just pays one set of fees not two. But I would ask that you choose the joint surveyor together to avoid her appointing a cowboy. Don’t use anyone who has sent an unsolicited letter.

In answer to your questions, a party wall surveyor will take photos/measurements before the work starts and so if any cracks etc open up after the works the neighbours will have to pay for remedial work. That might involve underpinning as an extreme, but unlikely. They should have to repair damage to your fence, patio etc. Their builders might be more careful knowing there is a party wall surveyor…

By the way I would say you are FAR more likely to fall out if you consent, have no surveyor, and then there is damage. You then have no independent person saying what caused the damage and what repairs are necessary. The surveyor is there to help avoid falling out!

Sounds party wall surveyor is the way to go.

@minipie - that is very true - that's when it's likely to become fraught!

I spoke with a surveyor whose details she gave me today and he says that we could also just do a schedule of condition. He looked at the proposed works and they seem reasonable but thinks a schedule documenting the condition of my house would help if there was an issue later on that we felt was caused by her works.

He also mentioned that it's likely that her builders will require access over our property if they are to finish/render the side of her extension properly so I reckon that at least a schedule should be prepared.

I'm not sure if a party wall award would add anything more if the works do not appear likely to cause an issue?

He said that there is not likely to be a big difference in timings for him to prepare a schedule or an award so I'm wondering if the difference is likely to be cost?