In this week’s blog post, we are going to be discussing agreed surveyor appointments and whether a third surveyor appointment is applicable.
This is a very common question that is asked by either a building owner, or an adjoining owner as they often want to know who the third surveyor is and if they can call upon one in the event of any issue or dispute.
A third surveyor is a surveyor that is selected by the building owner’s party wall surveyor and the adjoining owner’s party wall surveyor. The third surveyor’s role will be to determine any dispute between either the respective party wall surveyors, or the respective owners.
Therefore if there isn’t a combination of a building owner’s surveyor and adjoining owner’s surveyor, then by virtue a third surveyor cannot be selected. This means that there is only ever a third surveyor in place when there are two different party wall surveyors acting on behalf of the building owner and adjoining owner.
So what does it mean if there is a dispute between the owners or between the owner or owners and party wall surveyor when that surveyor is acting as an agreed surveyor?
Well this is a fairly common position as there can be situations whereby one owner is not happy with the other owner’s proposals, or whereby the owners are simply unhappy with the determination or awarding that the agreed party wall surveyor has put in place.
Unlike a two surveyor appointment, the owners will be unable to go to a third surveyor for assistance and determination, therefore they will only have the remedy of the court to assist.
If the owners believe that the agreed party wall surveyor has agreed an award invalidly, or has acted improperly, they can effectively take the party wall award to the court and either appeal it, or suggest that it is invalid at which point the process would need to go through the correct procedures with a valid party wall award being served.
Party wall awards and court appeals are a fairly difficult area of law, therefore while an owner does have the legal right to do this themselves, here at Stokemont we would highly recommend seeking legal advice before doing this or at the very least having a solicitor do it on your behalf.
This will ensure that the procedures are dealt with correctly and limiting the costs and frustrations involved in appealing an award or having an award set aside as invalid. Party wall surveying procedures can often be a complicated matter, and we therefore always advise getting advice from an experienced party wall surveyor.
Here at Stokemont, we regularly offer 60 minutes free advice to any party wall surveying caller or enquirer therefore if you would like to speak to one of our experienced surveyors now please give us a call and we will be more than happy to assist you.
