Thank you for clicking on today’s property surveying blog post. Today we are going to be looking at party wall surveying procedures.
This blog post will take a look at the benefits of an agreed party wall surveyor through the perspective of a party wall surveyor.
Whenever there is a Party Wall Notice served by a building owner upon an adjoining owner, with the adjoining owner electing to dissent to that Party Wall Notice, they will have two party wall surveyor appointment options available and open to them.
We are now going to take a closer look at these options, so that we can fully and formally advise you of them, in the hope that your Party Wall Notice response will not only be fully informed, but reflective of the option you want to select.
Agreed Party Wall Surveyor
An agreed party wall surveyor will act impartially for both the building owner and the adjoining owner.
The agreed party wall surveyor’s role will be to administer the Party Wall Etc Act 1996 on behalf of both respective owners, ensuring that the final outcome and party wall award is not only reflective of the building owner’s planned construction works, however also takes into account both positions and standpoints of the respective owners.
One of the most common questions we find ourselves asked here at Stokemont is whether an agreed surveyor can administer the Party Wall Etc Act 1996 and undertake their role impartially.
Our take on it here at Stokemont is that party wall surveyors, irrespective as to whether they are an agreed party wall surveyor or acting on behalf of the building owner and adjoining owner, will be duty bound to act impartially.
Furthermore, they will look at the works as a whole, properties and assess the risks that are likely to arise from those two respective points. They will then administer the Party Wall Etc Act 1996 to arrive at a mutual and impartial party wall award.
Two Party Wall Surveyor Appointments
The second type of appointment that a party wall surveyor can take on is the scenario whereby they will act on behalf of the building owner or adjoining owner respectively.
Much like an agreed party wall surveyor, the party wall surveyor will impartially administer the Party Wall Etc Act 1996 on behalf of their respective owner.
However, the key distinction in this scenario is that the party wall surveyor acts wholly on behalf of their appointing owner, as opposed to acting on behalf of both the building owner and adjoining owner.
The party wall surveyor will still be duty bound to act impartially, therefore cannot show favour towards their appointing owner.
However, are unlikely to have a great deal of discussion or any, with the other owner, as ultimately the other owner will have their own party wall surveyor in place to advise on the specifics of party wall matters.
Unlike an agreed party wall surveyor role, a two party wall surveyor role will also see a third surveyor selected.
The third party wall surveyor will not result in any additional cost to the building owner during the course of the works.
However the third surveyor is in place to ensure that should there be any dispute between the two party wall surveyors or building owner, or adjoining owner, that the parties have a vessel and go-to, to ensure the dispute can be resolved and sorted.
Thereby avoiding a scenario whereby there is a professional stalemate or difference in legal opinion, ultimately thwarting, delaying, stalling or stopping the building owners planned party wall construction works.
Building owners and adjoining owners will often be caught off-guard and nervous when a third party wall surveyor is selected.
We would advise looking at it as the third point of a tribunal, with both parties being able to approach that person in the event of issues.
However, equally, parties are very unlikely to need to approach that third party as ultimately, the nature and appointment of a party wall surveyor is to resolve disputes.
Party wall surveyors are therefore, likely to ensure they aim to achieve that at the very first instance.
Benefits of an Agreed Party Wall Surveyor
Benefits of an agreed party wall surveyor will mean that the building owner not only bears the cost of a single party wall surveyor, they will also likely have a party wall award agreed in a far more time effective manner.
The main reason behind this is that the two surveyor role can often see delay as a result of two party wall surveyors professional diaries not always aligning.
Equally, matters such as annual leave, statutory sick leave, covid leave, and other delay can all result in short term time barriers to the agreement of the building owner’s party wall award.
Disadvantages of an Agreed Party Wall Surveyor
The main issue, or disadvantage is that the building owner and adjoining owner are not given a third party wall surveyor referral procedure. This is a result of the third party wall surveyor never being formally selected or appointed, as ultimately the Party Wall Etc Act 1996 does not allow that when an agreed party wall surveyor is in situ. This very much means that the building owner and adjoining owner alike are unlikely to have any form of dispute resolution mechanism in place outside of the Party Wall Etc Act 1996’s appeal period as per Section 10(17) as follows:
Either of the parties to the dispute may, within the period of fourteen days beginning with the day on which an award made under this section is served on him, appeal to the county court against the award and the county court may—
(a) rescind the award or modify it in such manner as the court thinks fit; and
(b )make such order as to costs as the court thinks fit.
If you would like to discuss party wall surveying procedures, our team of experienced and qualified party wall surveyors here at Stokemont, you are very welcome to give us a call. Alternatively, you can pop us an email, we will be more than happy to assist and advise.
