Thank you for clicking on today’s Property Surveying blog post, today we are going to be talking about party wall surveying procedures.
In particular, we are going to be looking at the scenario that can come into play when a building owner serves a Party Wall Notice upon their neighbour, the adjoining owner.
Building Owner
Under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 the formal and legal referral for the person undertaking the planned construction works is the building owner.
Adjoining Owner
Under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996, the formal and legal referral for the person or party to whom adjoins those planned construction works and the building owner’s property, is referred to as the adjoining owner.
Party Wall Notice
In accordance with Section 1, 2, or 6 of the Party Wall etc. Act 1996, a building owner will need to serve a Party Wall Notice upon an adjoining owner a minimum of one month, or two months prior to their planned construction works commencing.
The Party Wall Notice is a legal requirement and one that a building owner cannot overlook.
In response to the Party Wall Notice, the adjoining owner will have three different Party Wall Notice response options.
Party Wall Notice Response Options
Party Wall Notice Consent
The first Party Wall Notice response option that an adjoining owner has open to them is to consent to the Party Wall Notice.
Consenting to the Party Wall Notice means that they are effectively going to be reserving, or waiving, their legal protections as afforded to them by the Party Wall etc. Act 1996.
This will simply mean that the scenarios and protocols that the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 requires of the building owner will not be administered.
The building owner will then be free to commence their planned construction works without any further formality, delay, or cost.
Party Wall Notice Dissent Agreed Party Wall Surveyor
The second Party Wall Notice response option that an adjoining owner has open to them is to dissent to the Party Wall Notice and appoint a party wall surveyor.
Furthermore, they will be willing and allowing the building owner to use that same party wall surveyor to act on their behalf.
This effectively means that a single party wall surveyor acts impartially for both building owner and adjoining owner alike.
Party Wall Notice Dissent, Own Party Wall Surveyor Appointment
The final Party Wall Notice response option that an adjoining owner has at their disposal is to dissent to the Party Wall Notice and appoint their own party wall surveyor.
Unlike an agreed party wall surveyor appointment, the adjoining owner would be unwilling or not agreeable to the building owner sharing that party wall surveyor’s appointment.
This will mean that the building owner also needs to appoint their own party wall surveyor, with those two respective party wall surveyors then liaising, engaging and ultimately concluding the Party Wall etc. Act 1996’s dispute by way of Party Wall Award agreement.
Party Wall Surveying Procedures
If the adjoining owner opts to dissent to the Party Wall Notice, irrespective as to whether they go with their own party wall surveyor’s appointment or an agreed party wall surveyor appointment, the party wall surveyor or party wall surveyors is likely to go through the same procedures and protocols.
We are now going to touch on these in a little bit more detail, albeit briefly, to give you a little bit more information about what these are;
Party Wall Surveyor Review
The party wall surveyor will review the planned construction works from the perspective of the adjoining owner’s property.
This is going to include looking at what the short term risks are, along with the long term risks.
Furthermore, the surveyor will be ultimately administering the Act and introducing protection protocols to attempt to reduce those risks.
Schedule of Condition Report
Schedule of Condition reports are the all important pre-works inspection that party wall surveyors will undertake of the adjoining owner’s property.
While the purpose of the Schedule of Condition is to capture a snapshot of the adjoining owner’s property condition.
That snapshot then later acting as a record of proof should there be any claim of damage, actual or alleged.
However, the party wall surveyor, or party wall surveyors will also use the inspection as a fantastic opportunity to cross-refer the on-site property scenario with the drawings.
While the surveyors are not necessarily going to be looking for drawing and accuracy, they are going to be looking at certain points that the architect or engineer may have not considered and that the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 will require clarification on.
Party Wall Award Agreement
Party Wall Award agreement is the Act’s formal conclusion of the party wall surveying procedures.
From a legal perspective once the Award has been agreed and served the dispute that exists under the Act has been resolved and solved.
Upon service of a Party Wall Award, the building owner will have the legal right to progress the planned works and in many cases this is likely to quickly follow post Party Wall Award serviced.
So jumping back to the title of this blog, when, or more importantly should an adjoining owner consent to the Party Wall Notice.
Ultimately this will really come down to the adjoining owner’s perspective on the works.
It is worth noting however that consents are a relatively rare giving.
In many cases the adjoining owners will want nothing more than to legally protect their property against any issue of damage, while also ensuring that a necessary qualified and experienced property professional review the work from the perspective of their property.
The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 provides a framework for an adjoining owner to achieve these objectives.
Ultimately with that party wall surveyor agreeing the Award which we have touched on above.
Party Wall Notice Timings
In terms of the timings that can come with the all important Party Wall Notice consent, generally speaking the sooner the adjoining owner does this the better.
Until an adjoining owner has responded to the Party Wall Notice the Party Wall Notice is effectively live and the building owner will be unable to plan or progress proposed work start dates without that information to hand.
Here at Stokemont, we would advise that Party Wall Notices are responded to as quickly as possible.
Ultimately some adjoining owners will take the view that the longer they hold off responding, the more likely the building owner may abandon, delay or withdraw from the works.
There can often be an ill informed belief that not responding will cause some kind of hurdle or barrier to the planned works.
We can categorically confirm this is not the case.
The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 by its very nature is a facilitating one. In place to ensure that building owners are given the necessary legal rights to progress the works, while adjoining owners are given the necessary legal protections.
Party wall surveying procedures are easily confused and altogether misunderstood by both property professionals and the general public alike.
If you would like to discuss party wall surveying procedures with our team of experienced qualified party wall surveyors here at Stokemont, please feel free to give us a call today and we will be more than happy to assist and advise you.
