Professional Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineers in Halesowen

FAILURE TO SERVE PARTY WALL NOTICES I would like to draw your attention to a recent court case (NUIT V PODGER Case No G20CL071) where the building owner started working without the service of Party Wall Notices'; as required under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996. Consequently, the building owner suffered a heavy fine £3,950.00 which consisted of. • A £450 fine in respect to physical damage to the adjoining neighbour's property. • A £750 fine in respect to wrongfully depriving the adjoining owners the protection of the 1996 Act and in respect to unlawful trespass. • A £500 fine in respect of nuisance. • A £2000 fine in respect to working outside of hours i.e. working beyond 1 PM on Saturday, Sundays and Bank holidays over a period of five months. • A £250 fine in respect to debris falling into the adjoining owner's property. Whilst this compensation appears to be a large amount it does not include the legal costs which the building owners were also requested to pay. These legal costs could quite easily exceed £20-£30,000. I was in a court case many years ago where the judge fined the building owners for not serving notice, the sum of £8000, and again this did not include any legal costs incurred by the party.