Has anyone ever "sold" half their party wall to their neighbour?

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WHD said:
The house next door to me has come up for sale which was owned by an old woman and the asking price is fairly low. I thought about buying it with a view to doing it up and selling, as it could be extended easily by building on to the gable end of my extension (which is a party wall), but when I viewed it I decided too much needed doing to the existing house before an extension could be considered.

So now whoever buys it could build themselves a cheap two storey extension by utilising my wall (it is the party wall, but wholly on my land) and after looking into the party wall act it appears that I would be within my rights to ask for half of the (current) build cost of the wall in this scenario.

Has anyone ever done this?
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Look at me I have enough cash to even think of buying the house next door .........pathetic. worth a punt
 


WHD said:
The house next door to me has come up for sale which was owned by an old woman and the asking price is fairly low. I thought about buying it with a view to doing it up and selling, as it could be extended easily by building on to the gable end of my extension (which is a party wall), but when I viewed it I decided too much needed doing to the existing house before an extension could be considered.
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Gable end? The side of your extension surely.
 
Our house has an extension on the border line with our neighbour, but inset by an inch or two. When the neighbours decided to build a mirror image extension, they built a few inches their side of the border, meaning there is now a small gap between the extensions. We expected them to tie on to ours. The air gap gives a sound barrier, though I don’t know if it could cause a maintenance issue in the future.
 
WHD said:
The house next door to me has come up for sale which was owned by an old woman and the asking price is fairly low. I thought about buying it with a view to doing it up and selling, as it could be extended easily by building on to the gable end of my extension (which is a party wall), but when I viewed it I decided too much needed doing to the existing house before an extension could be considered.

So now whoever buys it could build themselves a cheap two storey extension by utilising my wall (it is the party wall, but wholly on my land) and after looking into the party wall act it appears that I would be within my rights to ask for half of the (current) build cost of the wall in this scenario.

Has anyone ever done this?
Click to expand...
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WHD said:
The house next door to me has come up for sale which was owned by an old woman and the asking price is fairly low. I thought about buying it with a view to doing it up and selling, as it could be extended easily by building on to the gable end of my extension (which is a party wall), but when I viewed it I decided too much needed doing to the existing house before an extension could be considered.

So now whoever buys it could build themselves a cheap two storey extension by utilising my wall (it is the party wall, but wholly on my land) and after looking into the party wall act it appears that I would be within my rights to ask for half of the (current) build cost of the wall in this scenario.

Has anyone ever done this?
Click to expand...

To be honest if my new next door neighbour came round asking for money for building an xtension using the party wall I would tell him to go swivel and figure out a way tobuild the extension without touching his house. It would probably be a lot cheaper to just have my own wall.
 
WHD said:
The house next door to me has come up for sale which was owned by an old woman and the asking price is fairly low. I thought about buying it with a view to doing it up and selling, as it could be extended easily by building on to the gable end of my extension (which is a party wall), but when I viewed it I decided too much needed doing to the existing house before an extension could be considered.

So now whoever buys it could build themselves a cheap two storey extension by utilising my wall (it is the party wall, but wholly on my land) and after looking into the party wall act it appears that I would be within my rights to ask for half of the (current) build cost of the wall in this scenario.

Has anyone ever done this?
Click to expand...
If your party wall is wholly on your side, how could they then use your wall? Surely their build would then be encroaching over your boundary line?
 
They can't build on your wall as it's on your property. It's not a party wall.

You could sell the land to make it a party wall, but that would cost about £1500 in legal fees (to buy and to sell). And then, as you point out, you'd want something in return for giving them a fully built wall and it's foundations. More likely, they'll just build their own wall and leave an air gap between the 2.
 
WHD said:
Aye, that sounds like the type of person who would spend thousands extra building their own wall "just to piss me off"

They could build a wall abutting mine, but it would cost them loads more and be rather pointless.

Only if they use my wall, which will save them a lot of money.

No, I'm in the mindset that it would be an easy development, hence my initial interest in doing it myself. I decided I just couldn't afford it considering what needs done with the existing house, but someone will get themselves a bargain, especially if they utilise my wall.
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How much have you assessed the build costs would be if they built their own wall rather than use yours?

What value do you place in them using your wall?

Have you had the foundations assessed for additional loadings?

Are you certain a buyer would wish to extend?
 
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Kevj said:
How much have you assessed the build costs would be if they built their own wall rather than use yours?
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I reckon a new wall would cost around £10k
Kevj said:
What value do you place in them using your
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About £5k

Kevj said:
Have you have the foundations assessed for additional loadings?
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The foundations are adequate
Kevj said:
Are you certain a buyer would wish to extend?
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No
Vindaloo Man said:
That being the case, personally I'd just be happy that I got to extend first & was able to build right to the boundary line with no fuss.
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All the houses on the estate are extended like that.
 
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WHD said:
It wouldn't.
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Are you sure? Think about it, the neighbour still would need a skin of bricks to form his side of the wall and tie it in to the original wall. Plus he needs to give half the cost of the new wall to the neighbour and pay for any legal stuff that needs doing. It makes far more sense to just stick to his own land and build his own wall. Bricks are cheap enough.
 
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