How do I bathroom / kitchen / extension? etc.

should I be requesting a party wall agreement?

Yes. My understanding is, and I'm not a lawyer, is that a party wall agreement should be in place before any works starts and they are in breach of the law if they haven't done that.

Edit: I'd take photos of your walls in bedrooms as a bare minimum now, so if there is damage you have evidence of what the wall looked like.

Absolutely there should be a party wall agreement in place and you can/ should stop the works until it is in place. Would be worth checking if there is planning consent in place, if you have just bought the place I am surprised this did not appear in an searches. A PWA does not give you the power to stop the works, if anything the opposite but it does clearly set out how any problems which arise are dealt with. If they do not have one you neighbour has laid themselves wide open to being sued by you.

Call the council ask if a pwa was agreed with the previous owners (really they should have disclosed it) if not make sure the council intervenes on your behalf due to lack of adhering to the law.

Thanks - there was planning permission granted - did see that on the Searches so it wasn't a huge surprise (but had expected the neighbour to mention it before starting).

@Grumpy_Git - will the Council know about a PWA? I assumed it was just a bilateral agreement.

Thanks for confirming that I need to ask for one asap.

will the Council know about a PWA

I doubt it.

It depends what they are doing as to whether they need PWA. As for the parapet wall they could say that it fell down as they were working near it and are simply rebuilding it and trying not to worry you. If of course could be a lie.
But I certainly wouldn’t be letting them work off my roof.

They won't. And they won't give a fuck whether there is one or not. Which is fair enough, because it really is nothing to do with them.

The builders said that the mortar was crumbling so it needed fixing up - no reason to doubt that given what I know of the rest of the building.

Somewhat reassured by the builders 10/10 rating on Checkatrade but I'll be asking for a PWA asap

Question is: should I be requesting a party wall agreement?

Depends if they're doing any works to the party wall. Obviously, they're doing some work to the party wall if they're rebuilding the shared parapet, but if it's just minor repair works then a full-blown PWA would seem excessive. However, if Ugly Box is built up from the party wall then yes, you definitely should.

Belatedly, but something selfish that doesn't seem to have been mentioned, assuming it's not detached, absolutely press on them the importance of a survey/structural engineer/building control.

The last thing you want is for him to fiddle with the boundary walls and mess up your property

Ask yourself this

Are they attaching anything new into the party wall?

Are they making holes in the party wall and fixing structural stuff via the party wall?

Are they adding additional load to the party wall?

Then yes, probably.

If they are making a repair / remedial to an existing party wall and keeping it within its exiting design and materials, then no.

(didn't initially grok that it was your neighbour who were doing the works - you should talk to them to better understand their plans so you can answer the questions ^ )

See Ugly Box attached to parapet and roof.

Edit: wild that a dormer that size is apparently PD!

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Yeah, you need a PWA award. And fuck me that's ugly. You weren't wrong there.

What council are you under? I thought PD had a limit of 40 cubic metres of additional roof space, so that must be right on the limit of that.

Looks semi-detached, so will be 50m3. That also looks like a single dormer, so likely well under that.

Its ironic that something as ugly as that (and ive got one but i had to make an effort to make it look nice as im in a conservation area) probably would get a hard time being passed under a normal planning application but it can be done no questions asked under pd.

A neighbour of ours applied for full planning to build a beautiful, considered loft conversion with zinc cladding, discreet glazing, brise-soleil passive shading etc and was denied twice for being ‘too big and gaudy’… so ended up just building a bog standard shed-on-roof almost twice the size under PD, no questions asked.

RAL 7002 - Gastropub Green

Copied the colour of the glazing at Cardinal Pole Catholic School in Hackney. Got slight buyer’s remorse; should probably have gone for a ‘sand stone’ similar to that of the pointing, but it’s almost done now.

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What did you have to do to appease conservation area rules?

The roof had to be a certain level down from the ridge and the box had to be stepped in a metre. Conservation rooflights, black rainwater goods. That sort of thing.

I think that's great especially with the matching windows.

What are conservation roof lights? Never heard of them. I do find their stipulations odd.

They don't protrude above the roof by very much, in face they're often set flush with the tiles and have details like glazing bars.

Thanks! The old shit windows are just getting painted for now, and will be replaced when we can save up enough cash…

Will prob replace them with triple glazed Velfac, single-sash (no transoms/mullions) for maximum glass area. Cost is basically the same as traditional timber sliding sash units from Poland, with much better seals and U-values.

Ahhhh cheers for the info. Such an odd stipulation. The size and black rainwater stuff makes sense, but feel as bit half arsed, like why allow anything but wood windows?