The Defendant demolished it’s building, exposing a previously enclosed party wall, without first serving a party structure notice. The Claimant brought a claim for damages for, among other matters:

• an alleged breach of statutory duty in that, by undertaking the works without first service a party structure notice, the Claimant has been deprived of the ability to serve a counter-notice under section 4.

• A breach of statutory duty in that under section 7(1) in that the Defendant demolished their building without avoiding unnecessary inconvenience to the Claimant.

The Defendant applied to strike out those parts of the claim as disclosing no reasonable cause of action, or in the alternative for summary judgment as that claim has no reasonable prospect of success.

Held:

(1) There was no claim for breach of statutory duty for depriving an adjoining owner of a right to serve a counter-notice [paragraph 18].

(2) Section 7(1) operates as a restriction on the right to undertake works, but does not give rise to a positive statutory duty [paragraph 25].

Full Report: