Party wall agreement with crazy neighbour and surveyor

[alex4751]

Hello!

I have a bit of a crazy neighbour that doesn't answer notice letters, doesn't answer the door, and hides away all the time. I cannot get the person to sign my party wall agreement, so I spoke to a surveyor that recommended I get 2 surveyors, one for me and one for the neighbour. I know already the surveyor that will deal with the neighbour is not going to go anywhere as not even parcels can get delivered, so I'm not keen to pay possibly £1k for each solicitor to knock a door and get nothing done.

I'm trying to find a DYI way to serve notice again via some other form, perhaps record video of me knocking the door with today's newspaper to have enough evidence I gave notice and tried. I don't see any benefit from the surveyor fees to not achieve anything different than I would.

What are your thoughts in this situation?

Hi Alex
We had a similar situation with our party wall agreement and a neighbour who wasn't particulalry co-operative - I dont think it was malicious, more that she was elderly and couldn't make a decision.

We employed a party wall surveyor who issued her the formal notices with the options she had. These were ignored and after 10* working days a "reminder" letter was sent, with a slightly different set of options - we were deemed to be in dispute as the first letter had been ignored.

This second letter was also ignored, so after a further 10* working days our party wall surveyor appointed an independent party wall surveyor to represent our neighbours interests. Between the two of them they came up with a party wall award which was then issued to both parties.

*the 10 days is from memory, but it was that sort of ball park

The key thing is, our neighbour didn't have to sign anything. By ignoring all the letters/notices in effect the decision was taken out of her hands and the process carried on without input from her. She could have appealed the party wall award (as could we) but to do so would have meant lodging the appeal at the county court.

It did mean having two party wall surveyors, which we had to pay for, but the cost wasn't exhorbitant. My understanding if its something fairly bog standard like an extension the party wall award will also be fairly standard and most of the work will be carried out by your party wall surveyor, The whole process took about 6 weeks from start to finish.

I think you could be on fairly dodgy ground proceeding without your neighbours agreement or a party wall award. Unfortunately if your neighbour wont be co-operative it might be best to use professionals to make sure everything is done correctly.

Hope thats of some help!

I'm planning to server notice again with a neighbour as a witness record video and stick the letter to her door. I don't see the point of appointing a solicitor that will not be able to do anything besides getting money out of this. I guess the best I can do is take pictures, record all notices I left and buy some insurance.

I think that @NameChangedToAnswer has given you wise advice, which seems to be along the same lines as the suggestion given to you by a surveyor.

I think you would be foolish to ignore professional advice, particularly as your neighbour is so difficult to deal with. You could end up in legal hot water.

You could also try posting on Legal Matters to confirm the best approach

If she won't respond, then you need to appoint and pay for an independent surveyor to represent her interests. What you're planning on doing (recording the fact you've failed to get a response) means nothing except to prove that you knowingly proceeded without the correct paperwork. It won't offer you any protection, in fact it proves non compliance. You need her agreement, or the agreement of the independent surveyor representing her. The costs for surveyors for the party wall act should have been factored into your budget when planning your project.

You need to follow the process as laid out by @NameChangedToAnswer·on 31/08/2022. Planning to go ahead without having paid for a professional to represent her interests is a very foolish thing to do. There are procedures in place in that scheme for what happens if she doesn't engage with the process. You can't just make up a different cheaper route and expect it to be all ok.

How can a solicitor act on her behalf if she didn't answer?

It's not a solicitor, it's a surveyor. An independent surveyor will look at your plans, assess any likely impact on the neighbouring property and set out a schedule of works to protect the property and ensure that any damage resulting from your works is resolved. That will be agreed with your surveyor and at the end of your project, the surveyor at will re-inspect to ensure everything is satisfactory.
Obviously if your ndn won't allow access such a process will be limited, but you will have fulfilled your responsibilities.

One thing I forgot to mention is that our builder informed us he couldn't start works without either a signed agreement from the neighbour or a party wall agreement.
I understand that a lot of builders (the reputable ones anyway) will take the same approach. So you may find that you need to do this anyway.

There's quite a lot that the surveyor can do without needing access to the ndn property or communicating with them at all. They will need to act more slowly than they would do with the ndn's cooperation as at each stage they will need to give the ndn an opportunity to object and participate but if there is still no response then the next step can happen. Whether you like it or not, you are obliged to pay the costs for a suitably qualified professional to assess whether your plans could adversly affect your neighbour, and that can happen entirely without the neighbour's interaction given the proper amount of time.

My mum's neighbour put a loft extension up next to her terrace house. Mum said she was never notified before of planning permission, no notices outside the house and nothing about the party wall invved.

Do you always need the agreement to do work involving the party wall?

Loft extensions don't always require planning permission.
Party Wall legislation is completely separate from planning and Building Regs.
If the party wall is involved, I think an Agreement is always required, although if the process isn't undertaken I think the neighbour has to go to court to get it started.

There is no such thing as a ‘qualified party wall surveyor’ - anyone can do it. Obviously competent surveyors with the relevant accreditation may offer more experience but it isn’t a legal requirement. Anyone can act as a surveyor apart from the legal owners of the building being renovated / affected. You do need to follow the procedure - issue notice, wait the time, then if no response, act as if it is in dispute and follow the guidelines, which includes appointing a surveyor to act on their behalf, but that person can be anyone independent.

Interesting. My mum swears she was never informed about the loft. A mid terrace turned into a HMO with two new bedrooms upstairs.

We had a covenant on our house which was really hard to understand. The neighbour who owned the covenant also ignored us so we just followed our solicitor advice as surely this is the safest bet? Neighbour was notorious for ignoring neighbours through choice. Possibly why his body wasn't discovered for a month. I never once even saw him in about six years.

It's a surveyor you need to consult with, not a solicitor.

Just follow the professional advice you have been given.

Not sure why the OP posted on here, doesn't seem to want to hear the responses and has already decided on a course of action.