How to find out if your boundaries are Party Walls.
You will need access to your HM Land Registry office copies, the register and filed plan, plus any historic Conveyance or Transfer Deed mentioned in these documents. These are your deeds. The office copies are a précis of historic deeds and documents. Most deeds are extracted and set out within the office copies but sometimes they are referred to as filed as there are too many entries to set out. You will need these too to review all relevant paragraphs.
You can order these online from HM Land Registry for £5 per document. Deeds are available to the public and anyone can order copies and download them. See my article on ordering deeds:
You should not rely on old copies of office copies as they may be out of date. New entries may have been added. You will need to read through the office copies and filed documents or pass to your Conveyancer. Conveyancers are highly trained professionals and will be able to explain what the entries mean. They are often complex and may be difficult to understand.
Filed plans will show boundary lines edged in red and these are drawn to scale.
If a Transfer Deed (TR1, Conveyance or TP1) does not specifically state who is responsible for a boundary then they are Party Walls and jointly maintainable by the party either side.
Developers will often mark the boundary you are to maintain with an inwards “T” on the plan and make reference to the same in the Transfer clauses and definitions.
However, if there are no “T” marks, and no specific reference to who maintains a boundary, then they must be Party Walls.
See below weblink for more information published by UK Government regarding Party Walls.
Biography:
I am a Conveyancer anr property solicitor and act for people Buying, Selling and Remortgaging residential property in Wales and England. I have worked throughout South Wales in both large and small law firms for the last 25 years. I am regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority and my firm are members of the Law Society Conveyancing Quality Scheme. We are Help to Buy accredited for both England and Wales. We are recommended on Trustpilot and Reviews Solicitors and you can see my personal service reviews on Trustpilot, Review Solicitors and Yell.com
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