Party Wall Advice for Owners of Properties in Hackey

An owner of a long neglected 4 storey Victorian townhouse to the north of London Fields devised a scheme of works intending to restore the property to its former glory. The works consisted of back to brick renovation and alterations to a neglected rear extension.

Party wall notices were served and both adjoining owners, being unfamiliar with the building owner who had recently acquired the property, appointed Peter Barry Surveyors to produce written and photographic condition surveys of their property prior to the works proceeding. This gave them peace of mind that they could resolve any damage with the building owner, in the unlikely event this was sustained to their property.

Both condition surveys were produced in time for the works to commence on schedule. The building owner commented that she found our assistant surveyor Callum Escott to be ‘very helpful and efficient’ and that he had provided a great service.

There are some works which most people would assume are covered by the Act but are not. A good example of this is where the owner of a top floor flat within a converted terraced house is undertaking works that affect the party walls. Because the party walls being affected do not divide the building owner’s property from the flats below, the owners of those flats do not need to be notified.

This situation arose on a recent job close to Haggerston in E8 where the building owner’s surveyor had erroneously served notice on the owners of the flat below who subsequently approached us to act for them. Our surveyor, Justin Burns, explained to the building owner’s surveyor that the notice was invalid and, as a compromise, the building owner agreed to cover the cost of Justin scheduling the condition of the flat below. The building owner was pleased with the outcome as the cost of preparing the schedule was considerably less than it would have been if an award had been required.