In today's short blog post, we explain the two types of party walls that occur under the definition given by the Party Wall etc. Act 1996. We have come to the realisation that most people know of one type, (commonly referred to as Type A), but not many are of familiar with Type B. Diagrams are included in the explanations to provide a clearer image of each definition.
Section 20 of the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 defines a Party Wall to be:
(a) a wall which forms part of a building and stands on lands of different owners to a greater extent than the projection of any artificially formed support on which the wall rests; and
(b) so much of a wall not being a wall referred to in paragraph (a) above as separates buildings belonging to different owners
When someone thinks of a typical party wall, the type described in (a) would probably be imagined. The type described in (b) however, is slightly harder to visualise with the open description. Let’s delve into what each type looks like in more detail.
Party Wall Type A – The boundary line goes through the party wall, usually at the midpoint, with each half of the wall standing on the land of different owners.
This type is typically found in semi-detached and terraced houses that were built together, at the same time. Usually occurs when there is an intention from the beginning to join the two properties together in order to maximise the space each property gets.
Party Wall Type B – A wall entirely on the land of one owner becoming a party wall when then Adjoining Owner builds off of this existing wall. We commonly come across such cases with extensions. If we take the example from the diagram below, imagine House X building a full-width rear extension, then House Y later down the line builds an extension of their own using the extension side wall of House X (with their permission of course).
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