Expert Party Wall Solicitors

How to Calculate Compensation for breaching the Party Wall Act

Matthew Hearsum — Tue, 14 May 2013 13:00:27 +0000

Where the building owner infringes an adjoining owners property rights, for example by enclosing upon their wall, or by attaching something to it, the surveyors may be called upon to value those infringements in an award of damages, or compensation. But how should surveyors approach this task? The Court of Appeal have helpfully given guidance on [...]

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Party Wall Notices and Joint Owners

Matthew Hearsum — Wed, 01 May 2013 13:00:37 +0000

Tricky situations can arise where there is more than one owner of land or buildings that are subject to the Party Wall Act, as it may not be possible to locate all of the owners. Can a notice be served if only one of the building owners is available? What happens if all of the [...]

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Who is an Adjoining Owner?

Matthew Hearsum — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:00:01 +0000

Before the building owner starts work he must serve one or more notices on the “adjoining owner”. But who are they? The neighbours, right? Well yes, but it is not necessarily that simple “Adjoining owner” is defined in section 20 of the 1996 Act as “any owner … of buildings, storeys, or room adjoining those of the [...]

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Party Wall Injunctions & Costs – Nelson’s Yard Management Co v Eziefula

Matthew Hearsum — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:29:49 +0000

The Court of Appeal recently gave judgment in Nelson’s Yard Management Co v Eziefula [2013] EWCA Civ 235, a case concerning whether the defendant should bear the costs of an aborted application for an injunction for breach of the Party Wall etc. Act 1996. Background Nelson’s Yard Management Company (“Nelson’s”) is the freehold owner of 1 [...]

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Boundary Disputes 3 – Adverse Possession

Matthew Hearsum — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 13:00:37 +0000

In my last posts here and here I looked at how to establish who is the “paper owner” of the land subject to a boundary dispute; that is, the person that owns the land according to the deeds. But this is only half the story. Even if it can be shown that one person is [...]

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Boundary Disputes 2 – The Surveyor’s Report

Matthew Hearsum — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 13:00:34 +0000

In my last post I explained that the starting point in any boundary dispute is to find and analyse the first conveyance. In this post I will cover the next stage, which is to commission a boundary surveyor’s report. The Court of Appeal set out what the surveyor should be asked to do in the [...]

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Boundary Disputes 1 – Find the First Conveyance

Matthew Hearsum — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 13:00:45 +0000

Following on from my earlier post, this is the first in a series that will set out the approach that the Courts and Land Registry Adjudicator will adopt when resolving boundary disputes. Although often the first thing the parties look at is the Land Registry and Ordinance Survey plans, they are simply not relevant in [...]

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Today is the Roman festival of “Terminalia”…..

Matthew Hearsum — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 13:00:26 +0000

….. which celebrates the Roman god Terminus, who was tasked with the protection of boundary markers. Where Roman estates adjoined they were marked with a boundary stones which usually included a statute of Terminus (pictured) Each year on 23 February, Roman land owners would celebrate with neighbouring families garlanding their respective sides of the marker [...]

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Basement Excavations & Damages for Loss of Value

Matthew Hearsum — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 14:28:43 +0000

Basement excavations are becoming increasingly popular in London and the South-East, and I am often asked to advise on the impact the works may have on the value of adjoining premises. This issue arises particularly where the basement is to be constructed in such a way that it might prevent future development of neighbouring properties. [...]

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Party Walls and “Raising Downwards”

Matthew Hearsum — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 13:52:44 +0000

This post started life as part of a discussion on LinkedIn, but I thought the subject deserved more lengthy treatment. An unfortunately common idea, particularly in relation to basement excavations, is that a building owner can “raise a party wall downwards”. It is often used to avoid the absolute restriction on special foundations without the [...]

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