Q. We live in a traditional 3-bed home situated on a road with a gradual bend. Consequently, some houses benefit from slightly wider front gardens than their immediate neighbours. The side of our garage wall is built entirely on our land but goes right up to the boundary’s edge. My neighbour doesn’t have a garage on his side but wants to build one. The central thrust of my query is that the space between his house wall and our boundary is not as wide as it is on my side, certainly not enough for a car-sized garage. The only feasible way that he could make it work is to incorporate my garage wall into his plans, effectively making my garage wall a shared commodity. Can he do this and will my garage wall then automatically become a party wall?

A. If your outer garage wall stands on your property, it is yours alone and not a party wall at all. To be a party wall, it would have to “straddle” both properties. Your neighbour therefore has no right to attach anything to it, nor incorporate it into his proposed building plans. This said, so long as the neighbour’s design is sound and the issue of rain egress is properly addressed, and so long as your neighbour has no plans to extend upwards from his new garage in the future which may, if it were attached or part of it, affect the structural integrity of your property, it might foster good neighbourly relations to allow him use of your wall so that he can properly park his car within a decent width garage. For peace of mind and before a brick is laid, insist that he instructs a surveyor’s report at his cost to put your mind at rest.

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