ABSTRACT
The building owner’s surveyor was an elderly gentleman and a chartered engineer. He knew he was right and nothing would move him. He wrote long rambling letters quoting from Part VI of the London Building Acts 1939. This had never applied in the outer London boroughs and has been superseded by the Party Wall Act 1996. The roof extension was to be carried out under permitted development and would extend to half the thickness of the party wall. If the extension was inset away from the party wall, then the only reason a party wall notice had to be served was to insert steels into the party wall. The reason the building owners wished to insert their wall was because they believed that under the rules for permitted development, they could only build to the extent of their boundary, which was shown on the title documents as being the centre line of the party wall on each side.
