Party Wall etc. Act 1996

20 Interpretation

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, the following expressions have the meanings hereby respectively assigned to them—

• “adjoining owner” and “adjoining occupier” respectively mean any owner and any occupier of land, buildings, storeys or rooms adjoining those of the building owner and for the purposes only of section 6 within the distances specified in that section;

• “appointing officer” means the person appointed under this Act by the local authority to make such appointments as are required under section 10(8);

• “building owner” means an owner of land who is desirous of exercising rights under this Act;

• “foundation”, in relation to a wall, means the solid ground or artificially formed support resting on solid ground on which the wall rests;

• “owner” includes—

  (a)

  a person in receipt of, or entitled to receive, the whole or part of the rents or profits of land;

  (b)

  a person in possession of land, otherwise than as a mortgagee or as a tenant from year to year or for a lesser term or as a tenant at will;

  (c)

  a purchaser of an interest in land under a contract for purchase or under an agreement for a lease, otherwise than under an agreement for a tenancy from year to year or for a lesser term;

• “party fence wall” means a wall (not being part of a building) which stands on lands of different owners and is used or constructed to be used for separating such adjoining lands, but does not include a wall constructed on the land of one owner the artificially formed support of which projects into the land of another owner;

• “party structure” means a party wall and also a floor partition or other structure separating buildings or parts of buildings approached solely by separate staircases or separate entrances;

• “party wall” means—

  (a)

  a wall which forms part of a building and stands on lands of different owners to a greater extent than the projection of any artificially formed support on which the wall rests; and

  (b)

  so much of a wall not being a wall referred to in paragraph (a) above as separates buildings belonging to different owners;

• “special foundations” means foundations in which an assemblage of beams or rods is employed for the purpose of distributing any load; and

• “surveyor” means any person not being a party to the matter appointed or selected under section 10 to determine disputes in accordance with the procedures set out in this Act.