If an owner desires to perform some work on a property that’s distributed to or close to a neighbor’s property, they’ll normally have to issue a notice underneath the Party Wall, etc Act 1996.
Owners are understood to be being the freehold owners or those holding a lease more than one year, a party that has applied for a legitimate contract to buy a house (eg. exchange of contracts), or perhaps a party receiving rents from the property.
The dog owner(s) carrying out the work is/are referred to as a Building Owner’ and the neighboring owner(s) is/are known as an ‘Adjoining Owner’. The notice must include:
- The name of the legal owner(s) from the property undertaking the job and their correspondence address.
- The address from the property where the jobs are proposed.
- The name(s) of all the owners of the adjoining property together with their correspondence address.
- A description of the proposed work, often a single line giving a short description.
- The proposed start date for that work – usually two months from service of notice or one month where excavations and underpinning is involved
- A definite statement the notice has been served under The Party Wall etc Act 1996 and the relevant section cited (usually section1, 2, or 6)
- The date the notice has been served.
- If the notice is for excavation work, then a drawing showing the position and depth of the excavation should be included.
- An invite for the Adjoining Owner to accept the whole shebang or dispute the works.
- A reason that if a dispute arises a Party wall surveyor (to be named with details) would be appointed to act on behalf of the Building Owner.
The Entire Process Of Serving A Notice Underneath The Party Wall etc Act is as follows:
- The owner planning to carry out the job must serve a written notice around the owners of the adjoining property a minimum of two months before the intended start of the work OR one month where excavations are participating.
- Each Adjoining Owner should respond on paper giving consent or registering dissent – if your neighboring party does nothing for 14 days from the notice date, the effect would be to place the notice into dispute, and also the Adjoining Owner is needed to appoint a Party Wall surveyor London to handle the matter.
- No work may commence until all neighboring parties have agreed on paper towards the notice (or perhaps a revised notice).
This information has described how you can correctly issue a notice in compliance with the Party Wall etc Act 1996, and what such notice must include. If you are unsure how the Act pertains to your unique circumstances, the local Building Control Office may be able to offer you some free suggestions about the topic.
Finally, be aware that discussing intended use neighbors is free, and can often assist in avoiding the kind of misunderstandings that could arise if a notice arrives unexpectedly.
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