Section 46 - Rights of owners of adjoining lands where junction line built

Section 46 – Rights of owners of adjoining lands where junction line built on

London Building Act (Amendment) Act 1939

(1) Where lands of different owners adjoin and at the line of junction the said lands are built on or a boundary wall being a party fence wall or the lands where junction external wall of a building has been erected the building owner shall have the following rights:

(a) A right to make good underpin thicken or repair or demolish and rebuild a party structure or party fence wall in any case where such work is necessary on account of defect or want of repair of the party structure or party fence wall;

(b) A right to demolish a timber or other partition which separates buildings belonging to different owners but is not in conformity with the London Building Acts or any byelaws made in pursuance of those Acts and to build instead a party wall in conformity therewith;

(c) A right in relation to a building having rooms or storeys belonging to different owners intermixed to demolish such of those rooms or storeys or any part thereof as are not in conformity with the London Building Acts or any byelaws made in pursuance of those Acts and to rebuild them in conformity therewith;

(d) A right (where buildings are connected by arches or structures over public ways or over passages belonging to other persons) to demolish such of those buildings arches or structures or such parts thereof as are not in conformity with the London Building Acts or any byelaws made in pursuance of those Acts and to rebuild them in conformity therewith;

(e) A right to underpin thicken or raise any party structure or party fence wall permitted by this Act to be underpinned thickened or raised or any external wall built against such a party structure or party fence wall subject to:

(i) making good all damage occasioned thereby to the adjoining premises or to the internal finishings and decorations thereof; and

(ii) carrying up to such height and in such materials as may be agreed between the building owner and the adjoining owner or in the event of difference determined in the manner provided in this Part of this Act all flues and chimney stacks belonging to the adjoining owner on or against the party structure or external wall;

(f) A right to demolish a party structure which is of insufficient strength or height for the purposes of any intended building of the building owner and to rebuild it of sufficient strength or height for the said purposes subject to:

(i) making good all damage occasioned thereby to the adjoining premises or to the internal, finishings and decorations thereof; and

(g) A right to cut into a party structure subject to making good all damage occasioned thereby to the adjoining premises or to the internal finishings and decorations thereof;

(h) A right to cut away any footing or any projecting chimney breast jamb or flue or other projection on or over the land of the building owner from a party wall party fence wall external wall or boundary wall in order to erect raise or underpin an external wall against such party wall party fence wall external wall or boundary wall or for any other purpose subject to making good all damage occasioned thereby to the adjoining premises or to the internal finishings and decorations thereof;

(i) A right to cut away or demolish such parts of any wall or building of an adjoining owner overhanging the land of the building owner as may be necessary to enable a vertical wall to be erected against that wall or building subject to making good any damage occasioned thereby to the wall or building or to the internal finishings and decorations of the adjoining premises;

(j) A right to execute any other necessary works incidental to the connection of a party structure with the premises adjoining it;

(k) A right to raise a party fence wall to raise and use as a party wall a party fence wall or to demolish a party fence wall and rebuild it as a party fence wall or as a party wall.

(2) For the purposes of this section a building or structure which was erected before the commencement of this Act shall be deemed to be in conformity with the London Building Acts and any byelaws made in pursuance of those Acts if it is in conformity with the Acts and any byelaws made in pursuance of the Acts which regulated buildings or structures in London at the date at which it was erected.

(3) Nothing in this section shall authorise the building Owner to place special foundations on land of the adjoining owner without his previous consent in writing.