Episode 16:

Hello and Welcome to the Part3 with me podcast.

The show that helps part 3 students jump start into their careers as qualified architects. I am your host Maria Skoutari and this week we will be talking about the Party Wall Act.

Let’s start first with what a Party Wall is:

There are two types of party walls recognised under the Party Wall act.

Party Wall Type A:

A wall is a “party wall” if it stands beside the boundary of land belonging to two (or more) different owners.

This a wall can be:

part of one building
or separates two (or more) buildings
or consists of a “party fence wall”

A wall is a “party fence wall” if its not part of a building, and stands beside the boundary line between the

lands of different owners and is used to separate those lands (for example a masonry garden wall). This doesn’t include wooden fences or hedges.

Part Wall Type B:

A wall is also a “party wall” if it stands wholly on one owner’s land, but is used by two (or more) owners to separate their buildings. An example would be where one person has built the wall in the first place, and another has built their building up against it without constructing their own wall. Only the part of the wall that does the separating is “party” - sections on either side or above are not “party”. The Act also uses the term “party structure”. This is a wider term, which could be a wall or floor partition or other structure separating buildings or parts of buildings approached by separate staircases or entrances such as flats. Walls that are not Party Walls: Are boundary walls (a fence wall/garden wall built wholly on one owner’s land) and external walls (the wall of a building built up to but not beside the boundary).

So what does the Act itself do:

The Party Wall act came into force on 1st July 1997 and it applies to England and Wales.

The Act provides a framework for preventing or resolving disputes when it comes to party walls, party structures, boundary walls and excavations near neighbouring buildings. It covers anyone intending to carry out work as described in the Act and must give Adjoining Owners notice of their intentions. The Act applies even to Crown, government and local authority owned property. Work typically includes the building, alteration and repair of party structures and new excavations and construction work within a stated distance from buildings on adjoining land. It also covers construction and repair of walls on line of the junction.

Where the intended work is to an existing party wall a notice must be given even where the work will not extend beyond the centre line of a party wall. A party wall may not necessarily have a boundary running through its centre line for the whole of its length but for only part of its length.

Adjoining Owners can agree with the Building Owner’s proposals or reach agreement with the Building Owner on changes in the way the works are to be carried out, in their timing and manner. Where a dispute arises in relation to a new party wall or party fence wall, and where there is no written consent by the Adjoining Owner within fourteen days to a notice served in relation to an existing structure or an excavation, the Act provides for the matter to be resolved by a surveyor or surveyors in a procedure for the resolution of disputes.

It’s essential to mention that the Act is separate from planning or building regulations approval, so even if you have planning permission and /or building regulations approval you still need to go through the process with the adjoining owner under the Act.

What does the Act generally cover within it’s legislation:

The Act covers various work to be carried out directly to an existing party wall or party structure, new building work at or beside the boundary line between properties and excavation within 3 or 6 metres of a neighbouring building or structure, depending on the depth of the hole or proposed foundations.

Work may fall within more than one of the above types and involve different types of buildings and structures for example, houses, garages and office buildings. If you are not sure whether the Act applies to the work that you are planning, you might want to seek professional advice.

So when you establish that the work you are carrying out is to a party wall that is shared between two adjoining owners, you then must serve notice to the other owner of the works you are intending to carry out and when, although not a formal document it must still be recorded in writing. You must then serve the notice at least two months before the intended works are estimated to start to an adjoining owner in writing and you should include within the notice:

Your name and address
The address of the building to be worked on
A full description of what you propose to do
When you propose to start
Date of writing of the notice

The notice can then be delivered in person, by post or email and is valid for a year.

So once the notice is served, then you must wait for the person or persons that received the notice to respond on wether:

They give their consent
They refuse to consent to the proposed works
Of they may do nothing

If you don’t hear back from the adjoining owners within 14 of submission of the notice then it is assumed that a dispute has arisen. Or alternatively an adjoining owner may potentially come back with a counter offer of additional or modified work they wish for you to carry out which they need to do so within 14 of receiving the initial notice.

An adjoining owner is anyone who is an owner of land, buildings or rooms adjoining those of the building owner, which may include the local authority. A property can also be deemed to be adjoining if it is within the relevant distance even if it is not actually adjoining. The adjoining property may have a freehold owner, or a leasehold owner all of whom may be an ‘Adjoining Owner’ under the Act. Where there is more than one owner of the property, or more than one adjoining property, it is your duty to notify all Adjoining Owners.

Following the issue of the notice, if a dispute, however, does come up, the first route is of course to aim for a friendly discussion, if an agreement is not reached then you must agree with the adjoining owner on appointing an ‘Agreed Surveyor’ to draw up what’s called an ‘Award’. Or alternatively, each owner can appoint their own survey to draw up an award together. They must both act impartially and consider the rights and interests of both parties and their duty is to resolve the matter in a fair and practical way. If one of the parties doesn’t agreed with the surveyors appointed then a third surveyor can be approached to resolve the matter.

A surveyor can be any person who is not a party involved in the matter, and it can’t be the person already appointed to supervise the building work and the appointed party should have good knowledge of construction and procedure under the Act and you can’t act for yourself.

So once a surveyor is appointed they must then put together the so called ‘award’ also known as ‘party wall award’ - this document is a legal document and must:

Set out the work that will be carried out
Say when and how the work is to be carried out
Specifies any additional work required (for example necessary protection to prevent damage)
Contain a record of the condition of the adjoining property before the work begins
Allows access for the surveyor(s) to inspect the works while they’re going on as required

The surveyors fees are typically paid by the Building Owner which includes the adjoining owners fees as well if the works are for the Building Owners sole benefit. If the work, however, is to repair a defect the adjoining owner will also have to contribute to the costs depending on their use of the structure or wall and the surveyor then decides who pays what and its stated within the award document.

If the adjoining owner refuses to appoint a surveyor, then the building owner will need to appoint a second surveyor to act on behalf of the adjoining owner to continue with the process.

So what happens if you want to access the neighbouring property and the adjoining owner isn’t on board with your works:

Under the Act, an Adjoining Owner must, when necessary, let in your workmen and your own surveyor to carry out works in pursuance of the Act (but only for those works), and allow access to any surveyor appointed as part of the dispute resolution procedure. You must give the Adjoining Owner notice of your intention to exercise these rights of entry within 14 days, except in case of emergency. If access is necessary to carry out the notified works you may wish to include this requirement in the notice that you serve when seeking consent to carry out the works to avoid any dispute at a later stage when work is underway. It is an offence, which can be prosecuted in the magistrates’ court, for the occupier or other person to refuse entry to or obstruct someone who is entitled to enter premises under the Act. If the adjoining property is closed (for example an unoccupied property) your workmen and your own surveyor may enter the premises by breaking open a fence or door, if they are accompanied by a police officer after following the Act’s procedures. You should discuss access for works with your neighbour. It is often in the best interests of the Adjoining Owner to allow access voluntarily to build a wall or to carry out works for which there is no statutory right of access, as this will allow a better finish to the side of the wall that they will see.

Before you go down that route, however, of entering an adjoining owners property it is worth knowing their rights under the Act which include:

To appoint a surveyor to resolve any dispute
Require reasonably necessary measures to be taken to protect their property from foreseeable damage and for their security
Not to be caused any unnecessary inconvenience
Be compensated for any loss or damage caused by relevant works
Ask for security for expenses before you start work under the Act to guard against the risk of being left in difficulties if you stop work at an inconvenient stage

You may start work one month after your notice was served, or earlier by agreement.

Similar to the adjoining owner, the Building Owner also has rights under the act if they wish to carry out work on an existing party wall, which includes, the right:

To repair a party wall
To insert a damp proof course
To underpin the whole thickness of a party wall
To cut into a party wall to take the bearing of a beam (for example for a loft conversion)
To raise the height of a party wall (for example, adding another storey)
To extend a party wall downwards (for example, to form a basement)
To demolish and rebuild a party wall (for example, if it is structurally defective)
To underpin the whole thickness of a party wall (for example, to form a basement)
To cut off projections from a party wall if necessary to build a new wall adjacent to that wall (for example, removing a chimney breast)

So what I just went through is the process you take for carrying out works to an existing party wall. The requirements for creating a new building on the boundary line between neighbouring land are slightly different. Similar to the existing party wall, you have to notify the adjoining owner through serving a notice one month in advance noting you are planning to build beside the boundary or if you plan to build a wall wholly on your own land but up against the boundary line. - You can find such example letters on the government website included in the episode notes. You should avoid starting work without giving proper notice as the Adjoining owner has the right to ask you to stop the work through a court injunction or other legal procedures.

If the Adjoining Owner consents within 14 days to the building of a new wall astride the boundary line, the work can then go ahead. The expense of building the wall should be shared between the owners in proportion to the use of the wall. The consent must be by a notice in writing. If the Adjoining Owner does’t consent in writing within 14 days to the proposed new party wall astride the boundary line, you will be obliged to build the wall wholly on your own land, and at your own expense. You will have to compensate any Adjoining Owner for any damage to his property caused by the building of the wall, or the placing of footings and foundations under his land. There is no right to place “special foundations” under his land without his written consent. You can then start the work one month after the notice is served given the adjoining owner had provided consent.

If a dispute arises then you go through the same proceed as the existing party wall process of appointing a surveyor to put a party wall award together.

The same process as the construction of a new building is followed when it comes to excavations near neighbouring buildings, including:

Excavate, or excavate for and construct foundations for a new building or structure, within 3 metres of any part of a neighbouring owner’s building or structure, where any part of that work will go deeper than the neighbour’s foundations; or
excavate, or excavate for and construct foundations for a new building or structure, within 6 metres of any part of a neighbouring owner’s building or structure, where any part of that work will meet a line drawn downwards at 45° in the direction of the excavation from the bottom of the neighbour’s foundations.

And obviously what I just went through is the same process if a neighbour was serving you with a Party Wall notice.

In terms of our role and responsibilities when it comes to party wall matters, as architects, although the RIBA forms of appointment don’t make specific reference to party walls, we may be expected to carry out more work than expected, so in that scenario we must point our clients attention to the party wall act and to the Client Guide document on Party Walls so they are aware of their duties and obligations. If the services you are providing are extensive then you may wish to add a section in the ‘Other Services’ section of your appointment outlining the party wall services and agree the fee on a time charge basis. We may even be approached to act as the party wall surveyor given we are not the architect on the job.

You will therefore, have to inform the client of foreseeable complications with regards to the works, obtain information about the site and/or existing building and check legal aspects verified by solicitors, alert the client of establishing the names and addressed of all adjoining owners to serve the notice to, explain the benefits of making informal approaches to the adjoining owners to viola up relationships and explain to the client the differences of party wall procedures from planning and building regulations, acquire a list of potential party wall surveyors in case an issue arises, carry out a visual inspection taking into consideration how close the adjoining properties are, advise the client to commission a full site survey including depth of foundations and as a precautionary measure it would be wise to note all the works being carried out and to which parts and what may be effected.

The architect will then have to make sure the builder/contractor is aware of the party wall agreements and the architect must ensure the contractor fully complies with the requirements of the party wall award.

So to sum up:

The Act provides a framework for preventing or resolving disputes when it comes to party walls, party structures, boundary walls and excavations near neighbouring buildings.

There are two types of party walls - a “party wall” if it stands beside the boundary of land belonging to two (or more) different owners or a “party wall” if it stands wholly on one owner’s land, but is used by two (or more) owners to separate their buildings.

Once the work is established you must serve notice to the adjoining owner within 2 months for an existing wall and 1 month for a new wall. If the adjoining owner doesn’t accept then you must appoint a party wall surveyor to put together the award document:

Set out the work that will be carried out
Say when and how the work is to be carried out
Specifies any additional work required (for example necessary protection to prevent damage)
Contain a record of the condition of the adjoining property before the work begins
Allows access for the surveyor(s) to inspect the works while they’re going on as required

So some key points for architects would be to:

Familiarise yourself with the Party Wall Act legislation
Consider such issues from Stage 1 commencement
Alert the client of their obligations and rights
Agree additional services to carry out works relating to the party wall
Advise the client to notify adjoining owners
Carry out a visual inspection
Commission a full building survey
Advise client to maintain good relationships with the adjoining owners to help with the process
Gather a list of potential party wall surveyor in case they’re needed
If you’re asked to be the party wall surveyor make sure you have the relevant skills and knowledge to do so
Factor into the programme any potential delays due to Party Wall matters
Include any party wall issues within the tender documentation to the contractor
And consider if a separate contract will be needed for the party wall works
Keep an accurate Final Construction set of information for the Building Owner which can be included in the Health and Safety File.