Building Owners

Are you intending to do any of the following work to your property? If so it may surprise you to know you will need to serve a Party Wall Notice on your Neighbour BEFORE starting the works and as well as serving this notice you have statutory waiting times after serving before you can start the work without agreement.

Underpinning
Conversion of basement, loft or garage
Roofing works, including to a chimney
Evacuating and casting foundations within 3 or 6 metres of an adjoining building
Alterations, demolition or even repairs to a wall, ceiling or floor shared with another property
An extension no matter if rear, side or loft
Building a wall up-to or astride the boundary with a neighbouring property

Home Heroes can assist you with notices working by agreement. We are able if a dispute arises to work with you as the Building Owners Surveyor and subject to the agreement of all parties we can even act as an agreed surveyor.

A party wall notice is a legal document that is prepared by the building owner(s) or there representatives regarding works they intend to carry out in close vicinity to a neighbouring structure of boundary line.
The purpose of the notice is to inform neighbouring owners and long-term leaseholders of the implications of the building owner’s development. There are three types of notice available Line of Junction, Party Structure and Notice of Adjacent Excavation, it is not uncommon for there to be a need to submit more than one notice and you are required to submit all applicable notices under the act

In simple terms yes you can and if you are confident in doing this and understand the act we would encourage you to and have even provided free templates to do so and our company also operate a Party Wall Notice Generator the reason being if there is an agreement you’ve experienced no cost.

However, it is important to note that any errors or omissions can render a notice invalid if it is later contested you would be required to serve another notice which could potentially cause delays and cost you money with your building contractor.

Home Heroes Limited are experienced party wall surveyors and as such we can draft your notices for you and our fees are reasonable and easy to understand, why not contact us today to discuss your project so we can offer you some advice.

You could but you would be at risk from very expensive delays and legal action and your adjoining owners legal costs.

An adjoining owner can apply for a injunction against the building owner or the contractor to stop works while no compliance with the act is going ahead this could delay you by and additional two months PLUS the legal costs of obtaining the injunction.

No, there will be cases where they will dissent but in most case for very small projects Neighbours are usually happy for works to go ahead, especially if you get on.

More extensive projects there is a chance they will want a surveyor to put their mind at rest.

This could be via an agreed surveyor and could cost you less than you think and keep everyone happy.

Adjoining owners that just dissent to be awkward are actually the kind of adjoining owners you want to dissent so you have a detailed Schedule of Condition, should anything go wrong or be suggested that the notifiable work has caused damage.

If after you have served your valid Party Wall Notice, the adjoining owner consents (Which has to be in writing) then yes you can proceed with the works, after the notice period if they also agree to forgo the notice period you can start work immediately subject to planning and building control.

It is important to know you still have a legal duty not to cause damage or unnecessary inconvenience to your neighbour, it is also worth noting that an adjoining owner can remove consent at ANY time if they are unhappy and they change there mind, then the rest of the Act will apply.

Usually it is the Building owner, who wants to carry out the building work that is responsible for paying the associated fees this includes the adjoining owners(s) fee’s where they have chosen there own surveyor rather than an agreed surveyor which they are entirely allowed to do.

At Home Heroes Limited, once we have all the information and the designs we are usually able to offer fixed fees, our fixed fee will cover the award based on the original issue and if requested and paid for the Schedule of Condition