A party wall agreement is made and signed off by both you and the neighbour. It is the party wall Act 1996 and very common when talking about parties walls in England and Wales for works like extensions, loft conversations or structural alterations.
The Act covers the wall of a building, but also garden walls built up to a boundary and excavation close to neighbouring buildings. Common work sparking the act includes cutting a hole in an adjoining wall to put steel beams, enlarging this wall thickness, eliminating chimney-breasts and starting trenches within particular distances.
The procedure starts when a Party Wall Notice is served on the influenced neighbours before the job starts. Your neighbour can either agree, or disagree and ask for a surveyor. If a dispute arises, an agreed surveyor (or one each) will create a Party Wall Award. This will contain the works to be done, how they will be carried out and also have a schedule of condition ensuring that the neighbour’s property condition is recorded before any work commences. For help from a Monmouth Architect, consider www.hillsandcompany.co.uk
Many homeowners get caught last minute by waiting. Party wall agreements might take weeks so schedule it with your timeline, along all other things listed like planning permission and building regulations.
A party wall agreement is not the same as planning permission, it is a separate thing – but the former can help to avoid miscommunications, and also reduce the risk of time-consuming (not to mention expensive) disputes. If you are ever on the fence about launching a proof of concept in your project, seek guidance early so that it doesn’t get out of control.
