Can the Party Wall Act be Used to Stop Development Adjacent to my Property?

by: The Party Wall Surveyor

Question

The bungalow next door has been sold and planning permission has been given for 2 detached bungalows to be built by a developer.

On the plans the bungalow nearest to my house appears to be within a couple of inches of the boundary fence (mine) and the gutter of the bungalow appears on the plans to overlap the fence into my property.  The side of my house will be less than a metre from the new building – there is a just a side walkway between my house and the fence. 

On the other side of the plot the neighbour’s hedge would have to be demolished as again the building is hard up against the boundary. My house is new – being built in our garden to have adjustments for my disability – this was where the garage was in the past.

The planning department told me that I can stop the building by not giving permission to dig under the fence for the foundations but permission was given as this is a ‘civil matter’.

Can we stop this building using the Party Wall Act?

Answer

There is nothing in the Party Wall Act that you can use to stop this building. That’s not the purpose of the Act; in fact the purpose of the Act is to enable building work to progress while offering adjoining owners protection.

If you are unhappy with the proposals and feel that you have grounds to object you should put your comments to the local planning office before a decision is made.

The developer would have a right to project his foundations under your fence if he could show that it was necessary.