Can my neighbour knock our boundary wall?

J

Janemurf57

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We live in a terraced house and our neighbour has gotten permission for a large extension. We don't get along that well and a number of us lodged objections. We have been told that parts of our boundary walls will need to be knocked in order for the builders to gain access to the back. None of this was in the planning. Wondering where we stand on this?
 
Even if the building neighbour was entitled to do so, 'telling' you that your wall will be knocked down to suit their convenience is ill-mannered at best.

What actual notification have you received? Is there an undertaking to reinstate the boundary? Are you the only house impacted?
 
Is the area of the boundary wall being knocked on your site or is it being knocked behind the extension,
in other words, do they need your permission to knock for want of a better word their own wall for access to their own site if they have permission and agreement from the people directly impacted,
 
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Janemurf57 said:
We live in a terraced house and our neighbour has gotten permission for a large extension. We don't get along that well and a number of us lodged objections. We have been told that parts of our boundary walls will need to be knocked in order for the builders to gain access to the back. None of this was in the planning. Wondering where we stand on this?
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When you say your neighbour got permission I assume you mean planning permission from the Local Authority. If so, then you should lodge an appeal with An Bord Pleanála.
 
This issue comes down to ownership, boundaries and precisely where the wall sits on the boundary. Planning permission has nothing to do with whether it is permissible to knock a wall in the context of a boundary issue between neighbours. The planning affects the building itself.

If the wall sits entirely on their property, your permission is not needed for the wall to be knocked.

If the wall sits entirely on your property, the wall can’t be touched.

If the wall abuts or straddles both adjoining properties (ie a “party” wall), then your permission is required.

The builders cannot enter or pass through your property to do the build without your permission.

In any event, you would need to take a look at the planning documents pertaining to the extension (usually available for free online on your local authority’s website). And your own title documents to see the legal position concerning the wall. If it’s a terraced house I suspect it’s a party wall.
 
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Jayom75 said:
If the wall sits entirely on their property, your permission is not needed for the wall

If the wall abuts or straddles both adjoining properties (ie a “party” wall), then your permission is required.

The builders cannot enter or pass through your property to do the build without your permission.

In any event, you would need to take a look at the planning documents pertaining to the extension (usually available for free online on your local authority’s website). And your own title documents to see the legal position concerning the wall. If it’s a terraced house I suspect it’s a party wall.
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Out of interest
Some terraced Houses have back entrance access lots have a standard size door, lots have increased the opened size

By knocking the wall running between their property and the back access roadway/right of way rebuilding the wall to support a larger entrance in some cases to improving the existing size enterance,
 
Thirsty said:
Even if the building neighbour was entitled to do so, 'telling' you that your wall will be knocked down to suit their convenience is ill-mannered at best.

What actual notification have you received? Is there an undertaking to reinstate the boundary? Are you the only house impacted?
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The notification I received was them telling me some of the wall between the front gardens and the back gardens has to be knocked along with some of the shared alley way wall in order for machinery to get in. There was a comment to reinstate the wall however it is old and I don't think it will be possible to do it
 
Jayom75 said:
This issue comes down to ownership, boundaries and precisely where the wall sits on the boundary. Planning permission has nothing to do with whether it is permissible to knock a wall in the context of a boundary issue between neighbours. The planning affects the building itself.

If the wall sits entirely on their property, your permission is not needed for the wall to be knocked.

If the wall sits entirely on your property, the wall can’t be touched.

If the wall abuts or straddles both adjoining properties (ie a “party” wall), then your permission is required.

The builders cannot enter or pass through your property to do the build without your permission.

In any event, you would need to take a look at the planning documents pertaining to the extension (usually available for free online on your local authority’s website). And your own title documents to see the legal position concerning the wall. If it’s a terraced house I suspect it’s a party wall.
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Thanks.

The walls are shared party walls. Additionally the structure of the alley way will need to be changed to accommodate machinery.

There was nothing about this in the plans, and I suspect because they wouldn't get permission for it? So I think this may be their way around it.

I will ring the council tomorrow to see where we stand on this
 
It’s one thing to get planning permission to build but that doesn’t imply that access to build has to be facilitated by other parties, including yourself.

It seems like the passageway to the side of the property being developed is simply too narrow to allow entry to the required machinery. This is not your problem nor your responsibility to address. Your cooperation would be needed but you’re under no obligation to facilitate the use of your property for access.
 
Salvadore said:
It’s one thing to get planning permission to build but that doesn’t imply that access to build has to be facilitated by other parties, including yourself.

It seems like the passageway to the side of the property being developed is simply too narrow to allow entry to the required machinery. This is not your problem nor your responsibility to address. Your cooperation would be needed but you’re under no obligation to facilitate the use of your property for access.
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Yes. I agree. The council won’t get involved. You will need to reply in writing to state that you are not agreeing to this request. Quickly.
 
DeeKie said:
Yes. I agree. The council won’t get involved. You will need to reply in writing to state that you are not agreeing to this request. Quickly.
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This is good advice. Your neighbour will need to find an alternative way of bringing machinery onto his property without trespassing on your property. How he does this is not your problem and this needs to be made clear to him.
 
ALEXA said:
This is good advice. Your neighbour will need to find an alternative way of bringing machinery onto his property without trespassing on your property. How he does this is not your problem and this needs to be made clear to him.
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All problems can be solved.

Ask questions first - how long will build take, what are plans for re-instatement (you want drawings and specs, engineers sign off, not just promises), what recompense will you get for noise, mess, inconvenience.
 
Pinoy adventure said:
Whatever you do agree too make sure you get it in writing and exactly what you want.
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So important. Consider doing it by registered post. Be really clear about not agreeing on each and every element of their proposal. You should finish by reserving all your rights generally, requesting written confirmation that they will not proceed. If you know who their build you should inform them of your objections also in writing. You can simply enclose a copy of your letter to the neighbour.
 
Potentially worth checking with a solicitor to see exactly what deeds say and get a more 'official' looking letter sent.

But permission to do work doesn't mean permission to access someone else's property. When we put an extension on the back of our terrace it was very clear from talking to builders we'd need to spend more money and time on a smaller specialist digger due to the difficulties with access, and we'd need to basically take out part of the front wall of the house to gain access through the house (which was thankfully being gutted). In the end the builder we went with found a workaround but it didn't involve knocking any shared walls. All these ways are a bit more expensive though which may be why they're avoiding it/chancing their arm.

One thing to consider is, could you benefit by giving them some permission? E.g. you say the wall isn't in great condition: If you allow them to replace it but specifiy that the whole wall has to be replaced to a specific standard, and reach an agreement on that? I think the main thing is they're showing themselves to be chancers so you want to take action ASAP, and if you see any builders on site or if there's a name of an architect or firm in the planning docs I'd be specifically ringing them to make sure they know there's no permission and its a shared wall. They won't want to risk opening themselves up to liability.
 
ReesesPieces said:
But permission to do work doesn't mean permission to access someone else's property.
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Correct, the planning process does not convey any rights to interfere with a shared boundary or to secure access over another's property. Without the landowners permission, you would need to seek a 'Works Order' via the District Court to do either. More here.
 
The neighbour isn't allowed onto your land, and if the wall straddles the boundaries of both properties it is considered to be joint ownership and therefore they can't just knock it because it suits them.

You will notice on many rear-extensions to terraced houses, the extension wall is built about a foot inside the boundary wall for exactly this purpose. It looks a bit silly when it's done (as you often have a 6" gap you can't get into to clean out, etc) but it allows for the wall to be finished/plastered/dashed, the roof overhang and the gutter overhang, without overhanging into the neighbours property.

My friend lives in the middle of a 5 house terrace. One of the neighbours (end terrace) was approached before by new owners of the house directly beside him (2nd in the terrace). They told him they were building a small extension and would be using his garden (as he has side-access) to bring blocks, digger, etc. in.

End-terrace owner didn't appreciate being TOLD and not asked, so decided that they could use his garden, so long as they signed an agreement stating that any damage to his garden would be fixed (his garden is in tatters so that wasn't really a concern) and he also charged them a €100 access charge for each day that they needed to use his garden. They weren't happy but builder still reckoned it was better than going through the house as it'd slow things down and cost more on labour anyway. I think end-terrace owner made about a grand out of it.
 
I'm starting to get a little concerned about @Janemurf57 ..........
Maybe more than the wall got knocked as it's over a week now since we heard from him/her..............
:eek::eek:
 
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