Reply to: London Flat, 14 day legal notice of shared wall building work on neighbours flat

[sbakoola]

Thanks for that, reading the guide it looks like the owner of the flat next door is liable to pay for any damages created on our side due to the building work. Unfortunately the owner of the flat next door is based in Monaco ! so how could the English courts pursue him if we lodge a claim for damages and he doesn't bother turning up to court ? Also he sounds like a property developer what if he sells the building 4 months after the work is complete but then 2 months after this it is revealed that there is a problem with subsidence or a structural weakness in the shared flat wall manifests itself ... he can do a runner with the money and not be liable right ??

[doodab]

There are no neighbours present its full of sacks of cement ready for work to commence so no contact. More worrying is that the flat upstairs made several attempts to contact the surveyor representing next door wanting the building work done and was met with a wall of silence. Our building maintenance company which charges us 3k plus per year didnt answer any questions of mine and recommended the name of a surveyor only. Questions about who was going to check out the builders insurance and what was the typical procedure for party wall disputes and claiming compensation in the event of problems ocuring. And its the building maintenance company that deals with the building insurance not us mad
mad

Does anyone know how to go about putting a stop to this work if our surveyor would spot something dangerous.?

Thanks in advance.

Read the guide I posted. It tells you what to do. Basically you can reply to the notice and if you can't reach agreement then you invoke the dispute resolution procedure.

[sbakoola]

There are no neighbours present its full of sacks of cement ready for work to commence so no contact. More worrying is that the flat upstairs made several attempts to contact the surveyor representing next door wanting the building work done and was met with a wall of silence. Our building maintenance company which charges us 3k plus per year didnt answer any questions of mine and recommended the name of a surveyor only. Questions about who was going to check out the builders insurance and what was the typical procedure for party wall disputes and claiming compensation in the event of problems ocuring. And its the building maintenance company that deals with the building insurance not us mad
mad

Does anyone know how to go about putting a stop to this work if our surveyor would spot something dangerous.?

Thanks in advance.

[d000hg]

Have you thought about just asking the neighbour to show you the plans? It's in their interest to be friendly and open so you don't cause a fuss.

[doodab]

If they are installing a lift next door - which will generate noise- should you not be insisting on a say in the level of sound proofing to be added to the party wall?

WHS. I have a couple of friends who have had work done on a party wall and in EVERY case there have been problems afterwards because of noise transmission into the neighbours house.

[Troll]

If they are installing a lift next door - which will generate noise- should you not be insisting on a say in the level of sound proofing to be added to the party wall?

[Support Monkey]

Why not just go round the neighbours and have a chat with them about it, and ask to look at the plans, also check out the council website as the plans will be on there

I would ask them if their insured for any damage to the party wall

Putting steels in is not going to effect you unless they go through the wall which is unlikely unless its very unstable already and if they do they will be liable for all repairs.

If its not your property they need to be speaking to the freeholder anyway, your only concern should be the noise and disruption they may cause, again i would be speaking to them maybe come to an agreement to only work weekdays and to stop after 17:00 PM

[BrilloPad]

If the neighbours are doing work then they have to pay to protect your property. They have to appoint a surveyor on your behalf.

[doodab]

You might want to have a read of this, it's the governments guide to the party wall act and what it all means.

http://www.communities.gov.uk/docume...pdf/133214.pdf

[Halo Jones]

Ok this issue is known as “party wall works” it can be complicated but a few key points to consider are:
Unless you own the wall you can't approve / dispute any works
You need to appoint a specialist party wall surveyor (not the same one as the neighbour, as that could lead
to a conflict of interest)

(The person who does own the wall may not give a damn about your discomfort during the works)

To find a surveyor try the RICS website , most chartered surveyors will have a free 30 min chat with you to let you know your options.

Things to consider:

Check the works:
What times are they going to be undertaken?
Will your property be left unsecure at any point?

Get copies of the (PI) insurances of the engineer & architect

Request copies of the drawings / method statements of the works being undertaken, the drawings show you where & the method statements will tell you the how of the works

Typically a lift pit is only 1.5m deep so they will not be going down too far: the hassle will be to dig around the footing (which could be up to 2m deep), cut away the haunching & then underpin it to prevent movement: this is very noisy works & will reverbarate will reverberate throughout the whole building, if there are any kiddies about be prepared for lots of crying.

But the good news for any money hungry contractor is that If you can “reasonably justify” it you can claim for financial recompense

[Joeman]

Might not need Planning Permission, but will certainly require Building Regs approval as it involves structural walls, and steels etc.

If you dont own the building then you dont really have to worry too much (apart from noise, dust, inconvenient etc) because if it all goes wrong, the building insurance will cover it and seek damages from the builders. just watch out for cracks appearing in your walls

[SueEllen]

You need to get in touch with the freeholder asap as you do not own the fabric of the building and therefore can't legally agree to this on the freeholders behalf unless they give you expressed permission to which you should get in writing and keep.

As well as doing that I also suggest you get in touch with the surveyor asap (do it verbally then follow it up in a letter mentioning when you verbally told him) , tell them that the owner of the building is not you but the freeholder and give him the freeholders contact details.

Also the fees are paid by owner who wants to do the work.

So even if you (or your freeholder) get your own surveyor the neighbours pay for it.

The reason their surveyor wants you to agree to do the work is that it keeps the costs down for the neighbours and he gets more money. The surveyor has to act impartially regardless so it doesn't matter whether you use their surveyor or get your own one. Also the work can't start until the surveyor has been round. If the surveyor isn't sure of anything they will get another professional in i.e. a structural engineer otherwise they risk a massive indemnity claim if anything goes wrong.

(Listening to people moaning about their work has come in useful again )

[Zippy]

When the neighbours were having some building work done (potentially affecting party walls) they sent a surveyer round to our house. He charged them £800, so I'd imagine it would cost a similar sum for you to hire your own.

[Freamon]

yes potentially no planning permission, but the cutting into the shared wall and placing steel beams into it worries me. Also the owning company is based abroad so they could get cowboy builders in plus the buildings are very old indeed .. Georgian era ! so I'm very worried about this.

I'll see what the building maintenance company has to say about it, as stated they deal with the building insurance and each of us pays them £3,300 per year to 'maintain the building' so they should get involved with this.

I put this email out just to get advice on this as I want to protect my main investment, getting video evidence of my walls and windows before building starts is the first step, I will go to the local council to see if they got any planning permission and i will request it ... any other tips .... advice ... ? please !

I would have thought they would need to get approval from the freeholder as the wall isn't their property? I would write to the freeholder.

[sbakoola]

You should be able to see their application online at your council's website. As a neighbour, you should probably also have received a letter about it.

However if they're having a lift installed and the work is all internal, maybe no planning permission is required?

yes potentially no planning permission, but the cutting into the shared wall and placing steel beams into it worries me. Also the owning company is based abroad so they could get cowboy builders in plus the buildings are very old indeed .. Georgian era ! so I'm very worried about this.

I'll see what the building maintenance company has to say about it, as stated they deal with the building insurance and each of us pays them £3,300 per year to 'maintain the building' so they should get involved with this.

I put this email out just to get advice on this as I want to protect my main investment, getting video evidence of my walls and windows before building starts is the first step, I will go to the local council to see if they got any planning permission and i will request it ... any other tips .... advice ... ? please !