Party Wall, Party Fence Wall, or Neither?

[Viperzs]

Good morning!

We have been granted planning permission to replace the existing conservatory and garage, yay. The existing garage sits either on, or up to (who knows!?) the boundary, and the eaves/gutters overhang the neighbouring plot. There is a fence attached to the north face of our garage which continues to the north corner of the plot.

The neighbour is, as per most stories, less than desirable and made it very clear when I first moved in that he doesn't welcome any work and will be giving no permissions for anything. Therefore when I planned this work, I told him nothing about it. The first he knew was the consultation period. The new building plans have been drawn in a way that the back wall of our garage, that is on/against the boundary, stays where it is.

What I need to know is if the back wall of our garage is a party wall, party fence wall or neither, so I know if I need to serve any notices. Although the wall will be staying as it is, the roof will need to come off at some point so the new roof can go on.

Any guidance would be appreciate please, as I haven't been able to find anything that makes clear sense so far.

[Viperzs]

OutInTheShed said:

Will your guttering be on his side of the boundary? Is it already so?

The existing guttering on the back wall overhangs. The guttering etc for the extended parts will not overhang as the new walls will be stepped back from the boundary.

[Viperzs]

Thanks for the confirmations, I'll start reading the details of party wall agreements again!

Mr Pointy said:

If the roof is coming off presumably the guttering will need to be replaced, so will that give your neighbour an opportunity to object to it being over the boundary line?

For the guttering on the rear wall it would only be a replacement of existing, and not increasing any overhang so I suspect that should be fine. The builders might be able to leave the gutters where they are and just take off enough roof to be able to change the pitch as required.

[Viperzs]

Aluminati said:

He’ll be a lot of fun come scaffolding time….

Yep, that'll be interesting. The builders have said that if he doesn't give permission to be on his land to do it, or is generally awkward, they'll still be able to do it, some aspects might not look great such as the pointing. If it's on the side facing him, that suits me fine!

He's the typical cul-de-sac nimby, always getting involved in what everyone else does even when it has no impact on his life. I'm so excited...

[Viperzs]

Slagathore said:

Does PWA still apply if you bring the wall in by a foot or so?

I know you'd lose a bit of space inside, but may be a small price to pay if you can bypass PWA/your neighbor all together?

I would imagine taking the wall down would be subject to the same act though? I presumed that would be the case and we submitted our plans on the basis that keeping the wall in place would be much easier.

Cow Corner said:

Remember the act is designed to enable works - in this case he can make it hard work, but he can’t stop you.

Don’t try to be clever to avoid triggering the act - build what you want and use the act for what it’s designed for - to manage construction on the boundary. The fees here shouldn’t be punitive.

I would be asking your PW surveyor to politely make the point to him that it’s in the neighbours interests to allow good access, given that the alternative is that he looks out at a wall that’s been built over hand for the next 20 years..

I definitely agree it's in his best interest to not be a complete penis about it, as builders can make the process rather unpleasant for him by being regularly inconvenient. Although I would rather everything stayed mature and civil!

It is good to know the general premise of the act is to enable works, rather than limit them. I'll get someone involved as a surveyor ASAP.