What are my rights under the Act if I want to do work on an existing party wall ?
The Act provides a building owner, who wishes to carry out various sorts of work to an existing party wall, with additional rights to do so. These go beyond ordinary common law rights. Section 2 of the Act lists what work can be done. The most commonly used rights are: to cut into a wall to take the bearing of a beam (for example for a loft conversion), or to insert a damp proof course all the way through the wall to raise the whole party wall and, if necessary, cut off any projections which prevent you from doing so to demolish and rebuild the party wall to underpin the whole wall to protect two adjoining walls by putting a flashing from the higher over the lower. 5) What are my duties under the Act? If you intend to carry out any of the works mentioned in paragraph 4, you must inform all adjoining owners – see paragraphs 7 and 8. You must not even cut into your own half of the wall without telling the next door neighbour of your intentions – see paragraph 6. The Act contains no enfor
