Work Started Without Party Wall Agreement
It is customary for two evaluators to prepare and agree on their assignment within 6 weeks of the delivery of notifications. The speed of the process usually depends on how quickly your neighbor responds, and the agreed assessor may be able to do the paperwork much faster. Indeed, “corrective measures” (whether repairing the damage or describing the work done) are often taken care of by party wall surveyors who award retrospective prices. If your neighbor has done his job without notice, he is in no way safe. They continue to have a duty of care under customary law to repair the damage caused by their works. As a decent standing builder, you`re probably happy to pay for the damage caused by your work on your neighboring property. Difficulty arises when you are trying to determine what damage was actually caused by your work and what value the work has in repairing it. Some neighbors see your willingness to pay for damages as a right to claim additional work. A party wall surveyor can protect you from brazen claims. Your neighbor can`t stop you from doing the work, but they can require a formal agreement to be made to cover how the work will be done and how the damage that can be done to their property, how it will be caused. In other words, if you`re doing structural work on a wall you share with your neighbors, you`ll need a party wall agreement. In practice, once you have carried out relevant construction work without giving notice, your neighbour cannot insist that you issue an opinion, nor can you obtain an injunction to arrest you. However, this in turn means that any litigation arising from this work will likely have to be resolved by lawyers and not by party wall surveyors in court.
A party wall notice offers you protection against false or malicious claims from your neighbors and costly legal fees. The reality of the situation is that surveyors cannot control the work for which no notification has been issued, and it is wrong for everyone involved in the construction project to think differently. Therefore, let`s say your neighbor has served you with a party wall notification regarding a proposed rear extension, but then your neighbor starts a loft renovation without notice, causing cleaning and decorating damage on your side of the party wall. Currently, there is no legal mechanism under the Party Wall Act, etc. Law of 1996 according to which the problem of damage must be solved because your neighbors have not sent you notice regarding the renovation of the attic. In my experience, builders who use reportable work without notice fall into one of two categories: those who do not know the law or those who think their neighbours do not know the law. So a friendly conversation before they start working brings them straight to both counters. .