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A Quick and Easy Introduction to The Party Wall etc Act 1996

Most people find the thought of dealing with party wall issues a daunting prospect. The Party Wall etc Act has many connotations, so it is no surprise that lots of people have difficulties with it.
Things can become even more convoluted in major cities like London, which have many period properties and buildings in close proximity to each other. It is vital that these issues are dealt with properly.

Explaining the Party Wall etc Act 1996

The Act provides rights and responsibilities whichever side of the ‘wall’ you are on. For the party carrying out the work the Act provides for rights not afforded by common law, such as access onto the neighbours land to carry out some or all of the proposed works, or provide temporary works (e.g. scaffolding) during the course of the works.

It is important to understand the Act whether it is you or your neighbour who proposes to carry out work on shared or close by structures. The Act covers work on structures such as shared walls, floors/ceilings of flats, garden walls, and excavations near a neighbouring property.

The general principle of the Act is that all work which might have an effect upon the structural strength or support function of a party wall or might cause damage to the neighbouring side of the wall must be notified.

Some of work covered by the Act is listed below:

* Demolishing and/or rebuilding a party wall.

* Increasing the height or thickness of a PW

* Cutting into the PW to take load bearing beams.

* Underpinning a PW.

* Excavations within 3 metres of a neighbouring building where the excavation will go below the bottom of the foundations of the neighbouring building.

* Excavations within 6 metres of a neighbouring building where the excavation will go below a line drawn 45° downwards from the bottom of the foundations of the neighbouring building.

Work which is not covered by the Act includes putting up shelves and wall units, replastering and electrical rewiring.

If your planned work on an existing structure falls under the Act, you must then issue a notice to all affected neighbouring parties. The neighbouring parties must then decide whether they wish to dispute the notice or not.

As with all work affecting neighbours, it is always better to reach a friendly agreement. Even where the work requires a notice to be served, it is better to informally discuss the intended work, consider the neighbours comments, and if practical amend your plans accordingly.

by Dystopos

Issuing a Notice under the Party Wall etc Act 1996

If an owner wishes to do some work on property that is shared with or close to a neighbour’s property, they will normally have to issue a notice under the Party Wall etc Act 1996.
Owners are defined as being the freehold owners or those holding a lease in excess of one year, a party which has entered into a legal contract to purchase a property (eg. exchange of contracts) or a party receiving rents from a property.

The owner(s) carrying out the work is/are referred to as a Building Owner’ and the neighbouring owner(s) is/are referred to as an ‘Adjoining Owner’.The notice must include:

* The name of the legal owner(s) of the property undertaking the work and their correspondence address.

* The address of the property where the work is proposed.

* The name(s) of all the owners of the adjoining property together with their correspondence address.

* A description of the proposed work, usually a single line giving a brief description.

* The proposed start date for the work – usually two months from service of notice or one month where excavations and underpinning is involved

* A clear statement that the notice is being served under The Party Wall etc Act 1996 and the relevant section cited (usually section1, 2 or 6)

* The date the notice is being served.

* If the notice is for excavation work, then a drawing showing the position and depth of the excavation must be included.

* An invitation for the Adjoining Owner to agree to the works or dispute the works.

* An explanation that if a dispute arises then a surveyor (to be named with details) would be appointed to act on behalf of the Building Owner.

The process of serving a notice under the Party Wall etc Act is as follows:

1.The owner intending to carry out the work must serve a written notice on the owners of the adjoining property at least two months before the intended start of the work OR one month where excavations are involved.

2.Each Adjoining Owner should respond in writing giving consent or registering dissent – if a neighbouring party does nothing for 14 days of the notice date, the effect is to put the notice into dispute and the Adjoining Owner is required to appoint a surveyor to deal with the matter.

3.No work may commence until all neighbouring parties have agreed in writing to the notice (or a revised notice).

This article has described how to correctly issue a notice in compliance with the Party Wall etc Act 1996, and what such a notice must include. If you are unsure how the Act applies to your particular circumstances, your local Building Control Office may be able to offer you some free advice on the subject.

Finally, bear in mind that discussing intended work with neighbours is free, and can often help avoid the kind of misunderstandings that may arise if a notice arrives unexpectedly.

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Land Surveyors are Must When Buying Property

Land survey is usually done for locating, explaining, and mapping exact boundaries and corners of available land property. Services of land surveyor are generally needed when you purchase a home or a piece of land. This is of course a huge investment you may take once in life time so you need to know all the related information. Land survey basically includes record and field research, measurements and calculations with findings displayed on survey plat, which is handed over to land owner.

Land surveys are usually unnoticed, but it is of course an essential part of the land sales process. They portray the lawful description of the land to be moved. They could assert that the owners know the locations of the property’s fences/boundaries and any developments, which needs to done. By rule, the land survey should be done only by any authorized licensed surveyor. As title companies rely on land surveys to identify some title exceptions, it is very important that safety measures are taken to make sure their precision. A real estate lawyer could further assist the consumer of land with ensuring the land surveyor perfectly portrays the land to be bought.

The tasks that are performed by attorney will confirm the following:

•    The legal document of the property in the title commitment and survey counterpart;
•    Any easements, encroachments, and up gradations are renowned on the survey and have been looked at to see if they are satisfactory to the consumer; and
•    It comprises all the information, which the parties asked for.

While there is widespread need for surveyors within each state, the real set surveys could differ in name and explanation and from group of people to other. You will come across two basic types of surveys: First one is American Land Title Association survey, other wise called as ALTA survey, and second one is boundary survey. The ALTA survey is the most comprehensive and most widely used for marketable real estate dealings. The standards that were taken by the American Land Title Association and the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping comprise, among other things such as all walls, buildings, boundaries marker and other noticeable up gradation on the land within five feet of the available boundary line. As well, all encroachments, improvements and hold up lines have to be pointed our.

The boundary survey on other hand sets the perimeters, separation lines or boundaries of some piece of real estate. For built-up land in a part, a boundary survey would as well display easements and other hinder lines. The buyer could ask a surveyor to add more required helpful information to the boundary survey, like the place of buildings on the land, rights of way, and easements. In fact, boundary survey is in most places reasonably priced and offers a lot of useful information.

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by Blue Mountains Library – Local Studies

What You Need to Know About Party Wall Matters

What do you need to know about party wall matters? That depends… how much of a glutton for punishment are you? If you intend to tackle a construction project that involves a party wall matter by yourself, then what you’ll definitely need to know plenty about the complicated world of party wall matters. You can start with a free copy of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister’s handy 22-page Explanatory Booklet that we can provide you with a link to. But even that, as the booklet will tell you, is “not an authoritative interpretation of the law.” You’ll have to keep researching all the myriad details of your particular situation. For most people, this does not strike them as fun at all. And if you’ll likely ever do but one or two projects involving a party wall matter, then the huge investment of your time required to master the various regulations is probably not worth it. In any case, you (as the Building Owner ) cannot act as a Surveyor. You can serve the Notices but if the Adjoinming Owner dissents / disagrees then you will have to appoint a Surveyor in any case. But you can avoid much of the hassle by hiring a professional party wall surveyor at the outset and authorising them to act on your behalf throughout the entire process.

Whilst you can serve Notices, if they are not properly written and served then they could be invalid and all procedures that follow are null & void – you go back to square one.

Party Wall Matters

Anyone who carries out certain work involving a party wall, construction on a boundary or excavation for foundations close to an adjoining building anywhere in England and Wales is likely to need to consider the requirements of the Party Wall Etc Act of 1996. One of the most important requirements of the Party Wall Etc Act 1996 is that you must give notice to all Adjoining Owners, even if your construction work does not extend beyond the centre line of the Party wall. That is very important to note: even if you didn’t think you’re affected by the Act because all your construction appears to take place upon your property… you still possibly are. And once your neighbours are legally informed that you are carrying out work that could potentially affect their structure and property, they’re also going to feel much better about your project (and likely refrain from causing you potential delays) if they see that you have entrusted the Party Wall matters to a professional firm of Party wall surveyors.

The Party Wall Surveyor

London Party Wall Surveyors can assist you with your project from start to finish. We’ll perform the initial research to determine your specific job needs and give you a written estimate of costs. Our professional surveyors can prepare notices, liaise with your Architect, Engineer etc., and obtain the information neccessary to assist in putting an agreement in place in a timely manner. We’ll keep you advised of the progress of the party wall matters, and our experience in dealing with the issues that arise will help . If any issues do arise, you can rest easy that London Party Wall Surveyors will quickly respond to them.

Collier Stevens Chartered Surveyors, Building Surveys, Homebuyer Reports, Party Wall Surveyors, Disabled Access Auditors
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