New neighbour has started a full width rear extension, no party wall agreement- WWYD?

[UnknownDecisions]

Our new neighbour who we don’t know very well started some work last week. I’ve just noticed now that it’s a full width rear extension right up to the shared boarder. There’s nothing on the planning portal but I’ve been told by them that they did get building reg sign off. We’ve not had anything in terms of a party wall agreement. It’s not clear where they intend to tie in the extension. I’ve just been told ‘up to the fence panel’

Oops! Hit enter too soon.

if they’re taking it all the way across and tying to the party wall, should we be concerned if they’re started without a party wall agreement?

You don’t get signed off by building regs until the project is completed?

You could ring building control and see what has been said, but IME with a neighbour doing work on the party wall, building control just told me, "it's a civil matter" "the builders will have followed the correct procedures" (without even checking) and refused to even let me speak to ask any questions. So I wouldn't hold out much hope that you can actually do anything unless you're prepared to throw a lot of money down the toilet on legal fees, sorry.

Party Wall legislation cannot be enforced by Building Control, or the Planning department. If a PWA is required under the Act and hasn't been carried out, the only recourse you have (if speaking to your neighbours doesn't work) is going to court to get an injunction forcing them to stop work until the correct procedures have been carried out.

So speak to your NDN again, and say that they must serve you with the PWA paperwork.

In the meantime, photograph everything to clearly show the current state of your property - walls (inside and out), boundary treatments etc.

Is the neighbour’s house attached to your house and/or are the foundations of the extension within three meters of your house? That’s the threshold for needing a PWA as far as I know.

I don't think going up to a fence separating your properties would necessarily require party wall agreement. It depends where your actual property sits in relation to the build.

I would need to be within 3 meters of your property wall, I believe.

For a rear extension, it may well be done under permitted development, but they would need to get building regs sign off - this will not be finalised until the build is completed (although they do make interim inspections as the build progresses).

The neighbors house is our attached neighbour so we share a wall. The foundations (I’ve had a nosey) are being dug and go right up to the fence line.

had a scan of the PWA guidelines. Looks like it’s not a legal requirement (so I can’t force the work to stop) but works to protect the person building. So if I see damage on my house, I’d have to take them to court but they wouldn’t be able to prove it wasn’t them and so would have to pay.

As an attached semi or terrace they will be within 3 m of your house so PWA will apply. You could get an injunction to stop their works until the PWA is in place.

I'd also want to see their plans - are they building to the boundary line? How high, what style roof? What about guttering (must not overhang your land) and any windows facing you?

The fact they haven't consulted you about their plans is not a good sign of neighbourliness, but they can build quite a lot under permitted development even without getting any prior approval from the council.

@Rollercoaster1920 they just told us yesterday. We’ve had a look at the permitted development rules and it looks like they can build what they’re building under that.

can you force a PWA? We didn’t get on with the old neighbours and would like to start afresh with this one ideally. We’ve taken loads of pictures of the inside walls and the outside.

For party wall stuff read this:
https://www.gov.uk/party-walls-building-works/work-tell-your-neighbour-about
And
https://stokemont.com/what-to-do-when-my-neighbour-doesnt-serve-a-party-wall-notice/

Previous posters suggested taking photos now to prove any damage (whether or not there is a party wall award this is useful).

Do ensure their planned extension is are not encroaching on your land or airspace. Also how do they plan to build without access from your garden? The neighbours sound entitled and CFers.

Are you in London, OP?

Not in london.

@Rollercoaster1920 i assumed they would build from their side. But I’ve never had to build a wall so have no idea 🤣 they wouldn’t really be able to step onto our side to build because we’ve got storage boxes up against the fence. So if they want to build from outside they will have to take the fence panel up and then move our boxes to do so.

we’ve taken loads of photos. DH’s view is we can either take them to court now or if they damage the walls we’ll have to take them to court anyway. all the things we’ve read suggest it will be in our favour because they have failed to give notice. And Stopping them now when nothing has happened will cause a lot of friction moving forward.

im quite nervous about the whole thing

We had a similar problem with our attached neighbour who decided to knock down a shared wall leaving our loft open to the elements. Luckily we have a mate who is a surveyor who went round all guns blazing and stopped the work. If they start work requiring a PWA without one in place they are automatically in dispute with you which means they pay for the professionals for both sides (in our case 2 surveyors, 2 structural engineers and a mediator) so it cost them upwards of £10k and a 6 month delay, plus we were awarded damages and they had to repair our property. If they’d done it properly a PWA is about £1k and involves one surveyor who can work amicably for both parties.
I would insist they stop work until you’ve had someone independent look at the plans at their expense. They lost any right to neighbourliness when they commenced work without considering your rights, damage to your property or outlook etc.
If their build damages your foundations it is too late to be complaining then!

We looked at getting an injunction and it looks expensive. Also there were suggestions that if they appeal and the court decides an injunction was not required we’d have to pay their legal costs and costs for any works delayed