The UK Party Wall Act of 1996 was enacted to avoid and solve disputes between neighbors who share a standard boundary. It defines the rights of owner's of buildings in regards to any building, alteration, renovation or repair work to boundaries and walls between adjacent properties.
MOSTLY Used Rights
The most popular rights because they build owner's are the following:
Adjacent excavation and construction
Construction of new party and boundary walls
Cutting into walls to take beam bearings or to insert damp proofing
Demolish and rebuild a common boundary
Raise the height of a wall
Raise the thickness of a wall
Underpin the party wall
Your Duties Under the Act
If you plan to perform any work to common boundaries, you must give notice to all adjoining home owners. You cannot cut into your side of the party wall without informing your neighbors of one's intentions. The act does not provide for any specific enforcement procedures but if you neglect to serve notice, you risk being served with a court injunction or your neighbor(s) may seek some other legal redress.
Your neighbors cannot stop you from exercising your rights under the Party Wall Act but they have a say in when and the way the work is undertaken. The act also expressly states that you may not cause unnecessary inconvenience to your neighbors. https://calhoun-meadows.blogbright.net/the-party-wall-act-implications-for-all-parties in this instance specifically refers to any extra nuisance over and above whatever would predictably occur once the work is carried out in the correct manner.
Owners of adjoining properties should take notice that the main purpose of the Party Wall Act is to facilitate development and isn't meant to be a hindrance. In case you fail to react to a notice given beneath the act, the developer/building owner may appoint a surveyor on your behalf and the dispute resolution process will proceed without your consent.
Appointing a Party Wall Surveyor
In the case an agreement cannot be reached between adjoining home owners, the legal requirement is to appoint a celebration Wall Surveyor. Surveyors are legally mandated to do something impartially; they ought to not favor the appointing owner. Helpful hints could also appoint a surveyor each for them to come to an agreement on their behalf. However, this is a more costly and time-consuming option. In the former case, the owner going to undertake work pays the surveyors fees including fees reasonably incurred by his neighbor(s).
When choosing surveyor, one must be careful to appoint a specialist with a history of surveys of the nature. The reason being that is a highly specialized field with serious legal implications in the case one or omission is committed.
If you're planning some work and your neighbor has failed to respond to your notice or you are currently involved with a dispute, call AA Projects and obtain help from first class Party Wall Act surveyors.