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(8) Where the building owner is required to make good damage under this Act the adjoining owner has a right to require that the expenses of such making good be determined in accordance with section 10 and paid to him in lieu of the carrying out of work to make the damage good.
(9) Where—
(a) works are carried out, and
(b) some of the works are carried out at the request of the adjoining owner or in pursuance of a requirement made by him,
he shall defray the expenses of carrying out the works requested or required by him.
(10) Where—
(a) consent in writing has been given to the construction of special foundations on land of an adjoining owner; and
(b) the adjoining owner erects any building or structure and its cost is found to be increased by reason of the existence of the said foundations,
the owner of the building to which the said foundations belong shall, on receiving an account with any necessary invoices and other supporting documents within the period of two months beginning with the day of the completion of the work by the adjoining owner, repay to the adjoining owner so much of the cost as is due to the existence of the said foundations.
(11) Where use is subsequently made by the adjoining owner of work carried out solely at the expense of the building owner the adjoining owner shall pay a due proportion of the expenses incurred by the building owner in carrying out that work; and for this purpose he shall be taken to have incurred expenses calculated by reference to what the cost of the work would be if it were carried out at the time when that subsequent use is made.
(1) An adjoining owner may serve a notice requiring the building owner before he begins any work in the exercise of the rights conferred by this Act to give such security as may be agreed between the owners or in the event of dispute determined in accordance with section 10.
(2) Where—
(a) in the exercise of the rights conferred by this Act an adjoining owner requires the building owner to carry out any work the expenses of which are to be defrayed in whole or in part by the adjoining owner; or
(b) an adjoining owner serves a notice on the building owner under subsection (1),
the building owner may before beginning the work to which the requirement or notice relates serve a notice on the adjoining owner requiring him to give such security as may be agreed between the owners or in the event of dispute determined in accordance with section 10.
(3) If within the period of one month beginning with—
(a) the day on which a notice is served under subsection (2); or
(b) in the event of dispute, the date of the determination by the surveyor or surveyors,
the adjoining owner does not comply with the notice or the determination, the requirement or notice by him to which the building owner’s notice under that subsection relates shall cease to have effect.
(1) Within the period of two months beginning with the day of the completion of any work executed by a building owner of which the expenses are to be wholly or partially defrayed by an adjoining owner in accordance with section 11 the building owner shall serve on the adjoining owner an account in writing showing—
(a) particulars and expenses of the work; and
(b) any deductions to which the adjoining owner or any other person is entitled in respect of old materials or otherwise;
and in preparing the account the work shall be estimated and valued at fair average rates and prices according to the nature of the work, the locality and the cost of labour and materials prevailing at the time when the work is executed.
(2) Within the period of one month beginning with the day of service of the said account the adjoining owner may serve on the building owner a notice stating any objection he may have thereto and thereupon a dispute shall be deemed to have arisen between the parties.
(3) If within that period of one month the adjoining owner does not serve notice under subsection (2) he shall be deemed to have no objection to the account.
(1) All expenses to be defrayed by an adjoining owner in accordance with an account served under section 13 shall be paid by the adjoining owner.
(2) Until an adjoining owner pays to the building owner such expenses as aforesaid the property in any works executed under this Act to which the expenses relate shall be vested solely in the building owner.
(1) A notice or other document required or authorised to be served under this Act may be served on a person—
(a) by delivering it to him in person;
(b) by sending it by post to him at his usual or last-known residence or place of business in the United Kingdom; or
(c) in the case of a body corporate, by delivering it to the secretary or clerk of the body corporate at its registered or principal office or sending it by post to the secretary or clerk of that body corporate at that office.
(2) In the case of a notice or other document required or authorised to be served under this Act on a person as owner of premises, it may alternatively be served by—
(a) addressing it “the owner” of the premises (naming them), and
(b) delivering it to a person on the premises or, if no person to whom it can be delivered is found there, fixing it to a conspicuous part of the premises.
(1) If—
(a) an occupier of land or premises refuses to permit a person to do anything which he is entitled to do with regard to the land or premises under section 8(1) or (5); and
(b) the occupier knows or has reasonable cause to believe that the person is so entitled,
the occupier is guilty of an offence.
(2) If—
(a) a person hinders or obstructs a person in attempting to do anything which he is entitled to do with regard to land or premises under section 8(1) or (5); and
(b) the first-mentioned person knows or has reasonable cause to believe that the other person is so entitled,
the first-mentioned person is guilty of an offence.
(3) A person guilty of an offence under subsection (1) or (2) is liable on summary conviction to a fine of an amount not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.
Any sum payable in pursuance of this Act (otherwise than by way of fine) shall be recoverable summarily as a civil debt.
(1) This Act shall not apply to land which is situated in inner London and in which there is an interest belonging to—
(a) the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple,
(b) the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple,
(c) the Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn, or
(d) the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn.
(2) The reference in subsection (1) to inner London is to Greater London other than the outer London boroughs.
(1) This Act shall apply to land in which there is—
(a) an interest belonging to Her Majesty in right of the Crown,
(b) an interest belonging to a government department, or
(c) an interest held in trust for Her Majesty for the purposes of any such department.
(2) This Act shall apply to—
(a) land which is vested in, but not occupied by, Her Majesty in right of the Duchy of Lancaster;
(b) land which is vested in, but not occupied by, the possessor for the time being of the Duchy of Cornwall.
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, the following expressions have the meanings hereby respectively assigned to them—
“adjoining owner” and “adjoining occupier” respectively mean any owner and any occupier of land, buildings, storeys or rooms adjoining those of the building owner and for the purposes only of section 6 within the distances specified in that section;
“appointing officer” means the person appointed under this Act by the local authority to make such appointments as are required under section 10(8);
“building owner” means an owner of land who is desirous of exercising rights under this Act;
“foundation”, in relation to a wall, means the solid ground or artificially formed support resting on solid ground on which the wall rests;
“owner” includes—
a person in receipt of, or entitled to receive, the whole or part of the rents or profits of land;
a person in possession of land, otherwise than as a mortgagee or as a tenant from year to year or for a lesser term or as a tenant at will;
a purchaser of an interest in land under a contract for purchase or under an agreement for a lease, otherwise than under an agreement for a tenancy from year to year or for a lesser term;
“party fence wall” means a wall (not being part of a building) which stands on lands of different owners and is used or constructed to be used for separating such adjoining lands, but does not include a wall constructed on the land of one owner the artificially formed support of which projects into the land of another owner;
“party structure” means a party wall and also a floor partition or other structure separating buildings or parts of buildings approached solely by separate staircases or separate entrances;
“party wall” means—
a wall which forms part of a building and stands on lands of different owners to a greater extent than the projection of any artificially formed support on which the wall rests; and
so much of a wall not being a wall referred to in paragraph (a) above as separates buildings belonging to different owners;
“special foundations” means foundations in which an assemblage of beams or rods is employed for the purpose of distributing any load; and
“surveyor” means any person not being a party to the matter appointed or selected under section 10 to determine disputes in accordance with the procedures set out in this Act.
(1) The Secretary of State may by order amend or repeal any provision of a private or local Act passed before or in the same session as this Act, if it appears to him necessary or expedient to do so in consequence of this Act.
(2) An order under subsection (1) may—
(a) contain such savings or transitional provisions as the Secretary of State thinks fit;
(b) make different provision for different purposes.
(3) The power to make an order under subsection (1) shall be exercisable by statutory instrument subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.
(1) This Act may be cited as the Party Wall etc. Act 1996.
(2) This Act shall come into force in accordance with provision made by the Secretary of State by order made by statutory instrument.
(3) An order under subsection (2) may—
(a) contain such savings or transitional provisions as the Secretary of State thinks fit;
(b) make different provision for different purposes.
(4) This Act extends to England and Wales only.
Party Wall etc Act 1996