If you are considering extending or altering your home, we can advise on the implications of the Party Wall etc. Act 1996. Since the Party Wall etc Act 1996 came into force, homeowners in England and Wales have had a procedure to follow when building work involves a party wall or party fence wall, excavations close to neighbouring buildings and new walls on boundaries.
The Act is designed to avoid or minimise disputes by making sure property owners notify their neighbours in advance of the proposed works. The Act states that where the neighbour does not ‘agree’ in writing to the works a surveyor or surveyors will determine the time and way in which those works are carried out which is laid out in a Party Wall Award.
There are some things that you can only do to a party wall after notifying your neighbour either with the written agreement of the neighbour or with a Party Wall Award. Such works include:
Cutting into a wall to take the bearing of a beam, weathering the junction of adjoining walls or buildings by cutting a flashing into an adjoining building, excavating foundations within three or six metres of a neighbour’s structure and building a new wall on the boundary between two properties.
