Cases - Leadbetter v Marylebone Corporation
Record details
- Name
- Leadbetter v Marylebone Corporation
- Date
- [1904]; [1905]
- Citation
- 2 KB 893; 1 KB 661
- Legislation
- Keywords
- Party walls - London Building Act 1894 - 6 month time period
- Summary
-
The defendant building owners served notice of intended works on the plaintiffs. Disputes arose and were referred to the surveyors to make an award. The relevant Act was the London Building Act 1894 in which the time limit was 6 months.
Before the surveyors had made their award, the 6 month period expired. The plaintiffs claimed that the defendant could not proceed with the works and would have to serve a new notice. The Court of Appeal considered that the 6 month time period was intended to apply to works in relation to which no dispute arose. It did not apply where surveyors had been appointed to make an award. The defendant was therefore entitled to proceed with the works.
In addition, the surveyors in their award also gave the defendant the right to raise the wall at any time in the future. Some time later the defendant decided that it wanted to raise the wall and tried to do so without serving a further party structure notice, on the basis that it was entitled to do so by the terms of the award. The Court of Appeal decided that the surveyors only had jurisdiction to determine matters within the notice in respect of which they were appointed. They did not have jurisdiction over every dispute which might arise between the parties. The part of their award which permitted the defendant to raise the wall at any time in the future was therefore made without jurisdiction and was invalid.