Lead flashing and party walls

[Moo]

Our little garden (40' long x 14' wide) backs on to the side wall of a house in the next street and since we moved in I've been lusting after some sort of studio across the end. Nothing fancy - rendered breeze-block side walls, folding glass doors + a wooden door to the front, and a nearly-flat roof to drain rainwater away from our neighbour's wall.
We asked the neighbour if he'd mind us putting lead flashing along the top of the roof and he was perfectly happy. Until someone told him about Party Wall Agreements, and the dreadful trouble there could be if he sold the house, and we'd need to pay a solicitor and a surveyor in order to draw up an agreement that would cover all eventualities (damage to one building if the other one moved in any way was mentioned)
Is he right? In my innocence I'd assumed that what we were proposing would be better for his house than building a freestanding structure up against, but not touching, his wall.
As far as I can make out, he was perfectly happy until someone put the wind up him, and I can see his point about resale complications, but solicitor + surveyor for a simple strip of flashing seems reminiscent of sledgehammers and nuts.
Or would it be simpler to use some sort of glue-on flashing?

 

[skier-hughes]

Unfortunately as far as I know, and what I know isn't much, he is right to protect himself. Whether it is sledgehammer and nut or not, he has the right.
Your three options are, not attach to his property, comply with his request or try to negotiate a settlement somewhere between what you originally had and his new request, maybe some form of insurance indemnity?

 

[Moo]

Hmm, thanks for that depressing info. I'm inclined to tell my builder to go ahead and build it an inch away from his wall, or simply buy some climbing plants (I gather that drilling holes in the wall doesn't require anyone's permission) and abandon the whole little dream.
Is there a rule about how close one can build next to someone else's wall?

 

[Zebra]

No no, you can make Party Wall Agreements without a solicitor. There's a booklet which explains all about it, with example agreements, and you can draw up your own agreement and get your neighbour to sign it. You'd only need a surveyor or solicitor involved if you couldn't agree.
I had to demolish and rebuild part of a boundary wall where we don't know which one of us owns it, and I drew up all my own agreements.
Where's the link......

The Party Wall etc Act 1996: explanatory booklet - Gov.uk
https://www.gov.uk/.../Party_Wall_etc__Act_1996_-_Explanatory_Booklet

Can't get it to work as a link but if you Google Party Wall Explanatory Booklet and then click on the PDF link which comes from http://www.gov.uk, it's a 50 page booklet which explains all about it.

 

[Lime]

https://www.gov.uk/party-wall-etc-act-1996-guidance

Several suggested letters in the link.

The Act can apply if you intend to build within 3 metres of a party wall or 6 metres if certain conditions apply.
The party wall does not have to be part of a building so it could be just the garden wall for one of the parties.

Its important to remember the Party Wall Act is designed to facilitate building, not to prevent it.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Do you need planning consent for your proposal Moo? We are planning a studio/come office/ garden shed type structure . Our garden is about the same size as yours, but without the party wall problem that you have encountered--we own the fence at the bottom of the garden where we will be putting it. I sort of thought something around 8ftx8ft would be ok. Interested in your construction materials, as I was wondering what options there would be--pine cladding is one.

 

[PeterI]

On my old flat we did a party wall agreement when next door wanted to extend out to the same depth as our extension.

From memory the cost for next door was £4K for using our wall (plus fees again from memory circa £500). One issue we had was that we made the agreement with the developer who went bust during the process so we only got the first initial payment of 50% and legal advice was chasing him for the remainder was unlikely to produce the extra funds. As it was owed to the management company for the flat it's decided to leave it until next door decided to sell again. (We thought the new buyer was cash so suspect their solicitor wasn't super fussy)

I assume that reusing the party wall would be cheaper than building a new wall.