Are you in a party wall dispute or have been served with a party wall notice?

Our Client’s Say:-

“Andrew goes above and beyond to support you on your cases and give you all the facts that you need. Andrew has recently helped me with an Upper Tribunal Application and without him I don’t think we would have been successful. Thank you Andrew”

The law says that must tell your neighbours if you want to carry out any building work near or on your shared property boundary, or ‘party wall’, in England and Wales.

Party walls stand on the land of 2 or more owners and either:

• form part of a building
• do not form part of a building, such as a garden wall (not wooden fences)

Walls on one owner’s land used by other owners (2 or more) to separate their buildings are also party walls.

You can also have a ‘party structure’. This could be a floor or other structure that separates buildings or parts of buildings with different owners, for example flats.

You must tell your neighbour if you want to:

build on or at the boundary of your 2 properties
work on an existing party wall or party structure
dig below and near to the foundation level of their property

Examples of this type of work include:

• building a new wall
  cutting into a party wall
  making a party wall taller, shorter or deeper
  removing chimneys from a party wall
  knocking down and rebuilding a party wall

You must give notice to your neighbour between 2 months and a year before you plan to start building works. Include what you plan on doing.

You must appoint a surveyor if you and your neighbour cannot agree. You can appoint a surveyor together or each appoint your own. The surveyors will then agree on a ‘party wall award’.

This is a legal document which says:

what work should happen
how and when it will be carried out
who will pay for which part and how much will be paid (including surveyor’s fees)

If you wish to dispute a party wall award, the court can then get involved to make a determination.

The process

The first stage of any  party wall dispute, is to advise on the merits of either bringing or defending a claim. This will involve an analysis of the claim and drafting a letter to the other side. Sometimes, it may be necessary to advise on expert evidence from a party wall surveyor. I will usually provide a written advice and phone call to discuss options.

Mediation

If I am bringing or defending a party wall claim – mediation is always an option. This keeps the costs of Court proceedings down.

Litigation

However if litigation and court proceedings are necessary, I will bring or defend a claim for you in a robust way but commercially sensitive way to try and resolve a dispute in the most cost-effective way possible.

As my work is on fixed fees so you know exactly what to expect in terms of the work that we will carry out and when and there are no surprising bills at the end of the matter.