Party Wall Appointment
Bournemouth, BH9
Close to Christchurch and Boscombe.
Background: The works required excavation for foundations within 3 m of the adjoining owner's property and below the level of the adjoining owner's foundations. The building owner also wanted to erect a new left side flank wall on the line of juncture.
We were appointed by the adjoining owner to act on his behalf as 'adjoining owner's Surveyor'.
There was one adjoining owner to the works and he 'dissented' to the works outlined in the Notice.
The works involved the erection of a ground floor rear and side extension to the back of the house.
Conclusion:
The building owners served Notice describing the full width rear extension works they intended to undertake but subsequently only received planning permission for an extension to half the width of the house. The revised design showed that the excavation works would be undertaken at more than 3 m distant from the neighbouring property and so the Party Wall process became abortive.
As a general note on building owners commencing the Party Wall process before they have received a positive result from the planning application: where time is of essence, it can make sense for a building owner to begin the party wall process before he has received planning permission. If the works subsequently become abortive he need only pay his appointed Surveyor in accordance with the amount contracted and the adjoining owner's Surveyor in accordance with the amount of time he has spent.