Party wall agreements are blank cheques for your neighbours to spend your money.

[marconi]

If you have not done it, and we regret we did not, it is worth having a discussion with a scaffolder about the art of the possible. There are some very impressive scaffolds erected for building work at houses near us which do not go onto the neighbour's land - they go front to back over the top of the house.

 

[The Ghost]

Here a back to back house purchase/sale goes for about 10g. Loft conversion 15k PWA costs maybe 5-10K. Don't forget I can go off the party wall as well and just ignore the neighbours and get on with it.

 

[telectrix]

scaffolding???? that's for wimps. a few beer crates stacked up well efficient up to 30 ft.

 

[Squid]

Loft conversion for £15k feck me.........

Apologies I live in London, the prices mean its cheaper to extend then to move, the stamp duty is a real killer.

Sell the house to a bunch of misfits and then move, that'll learn them lol

 

[The Ghost]

I know, my Son just bought a house for 675K and considered it cheap outside London! The conversion would just be a shell conversion hence cheap. The rest I will do myself. So total cost may be higher but over time.

 

[Octopus]

Where did you get costs from all you need is to issue them with an agreement and get photos taken before the work starts, technically you don't even need a PWA, are they elderly?

Don't give up as its just a hiccup,

Preventing and resolving disputes in relation to party walls - GOV.UK - https://www.gov.uk/guidance/party-wall-etc-act-1996-guidance

The party wall agreement is to protect you against your neighbor making claims against you.

2 years ago it cost us about £2700

Irritating neighbors costs included.

Seek local advice. You can have one surveyor to represent both of you and this saves money too.

Edit. If you are detached this could affect you too.

 

[Wilko]

It does defeat me as to why neighbours so often approach these things in a combative way. What do they think will happen if they ever want anything?

 

[Octopus]

And, if you are extending, you have absolutely no right of access into your neighbour's property for scaffolding, not at ground level nor directly above the fence or wall.

 

[The Ghost]

I am the kind of person who would sign and trust the neighbour to do what is right. Having looked into it, wow! it is a multi-million pound industry filling the pockets of totally unscrupulous and unaccountable surveyors who do not give a flying feck about anyone but their bank account. I read this one case a homeowner agreed and it was insured builder etc. Knocked down house next door their house sunk into ground some inches, builder went bust, mortgage company repo'ed house. Or plot. They had to pay thousands.

 

[The Ghost]

Just been through the saga of Party Wall

Irritating neighbors costs included.

As a matter of interest are you still on good terms (if you ever were) with your neighbours?

 

[Octopus]

Our neighbors were alerted to the party wall act by ambulance chasing people. We didn't know about it, nor did they.... Needless to say we aren't talking and their stupidity cost us thousands in delays and additional costs.

I can't wait for the day they need our assistance ...... If they ask I will have no hesitation in offering help. I will do this just to show how stupid they were.

They have always been odd

 

[Doomed]

My loft conversion cost 23K and the neighbours were no problem - in fact it transpired that the chimney needed to be rebuilt as an additional cost, when I told the neighbour on that side I was going to have to do that as well he offered to pay half the cost of the chimney rebuild!
Nice bloke.
The neighbours on the other side did moan about the builders knocking their satellite dish out of alignment, which I fixed and they also mentioned that the builders oggled their 17 year old daughter in her underwear.

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

if you do sell your house and move, then avoid the standard estate agents, my girlfriends sister just sold her house in Bristol using one of them online agents, she used purple bricks, it saved her nearly £2k. The fees came to about £800 instead of closer t0 £3k When she bought her current house she used a fixed fee property solicitor, she paid £500+vat. In all she was a couple of thousand to the good for avoiding the standard high street agents.
Knowing your neck of the woods @Vortigern if you do sell then it will not take long to go at all and the sort of person likely to buy it would use the online platforms to find it anyway. so save your money.
Also if you do stay put and do the attic then maybe look at indemnity policies to maybe cover yourself and avoid any surprises.

 

[marconi]

As a matter of interest are you still on good terms (if you ever were) with your neighbours?

We remain polite and respectful - it's better not to have a simmering feud. We achieved what we needed to and don't worry ourselves about their awkwardness. We have not built anything extraordinary or having an impact on them.

 

[The Ghost]

f you do sell then it will not take long to go at all

Yes you are absolutely correct. They go within a week around here especially the cul-de-sac we are in. We bought it within 1 hour of the board going up, you had to be fast as heck.