Thank you for clicking on today’s property surveying blogpost; today we are going to be looking at party wall surveying procedures.
This blog will take a look at party wall matters through the perspective and eyes of a Party Wall Surveyor.
Party Wall Notices are a legal document that commence the party wall surveying procedures as per the legal requirement of the Party Wall etc Act 1996.
A Party Wall Notice’s purpose is to give the building owner the legal right to eventually commence the proposed construction works, those construction works falling within the realm of the Party Wall etc Act 1996.
We have a number of different blogposts available on our informative surveying blog which goes into greater detail on the conventional types of party wall works that that fall within the realm of the Act, we would advise taking a look at those if you are unclear.
We also have a dedicated webpage on our website which will further confirm which types of construction works do indeed fall within the realm of the Act.
One of the most typical questions we find ourselves asked here at Stokemont is, whether a Party Wall Notice can be withdrawn.
As confirmed above, a Party Wall Notice is indeed a legal document, and with any legal document the building owner will have the right to withdraw, rescind, or cancel the Notice if indeed they decide that they do not want to progress with the planned works.
It is important to note, however, that a Party Wall Notice can only be withdrawn if indeed the building owner relies on the single point whereby works aren’t going to be progressing or commencing on site within a period of one year from the Party Wall Notice service date.
If the building owner is simply unhappy with the response that they have received from the adjoining owner and therefore do not want to incur the cost of the party wall procedures, that is not considered legal grounds or fair ground for a Party Wall Notice to be withdrawn.
The logic behind this being that the adjoining owner would have rightfully considered the party wall surveying procedures, Party Wall Notice content and made an informed decision on how they intend to proceed and respond to that Party Wall Notice based off their assessment, enquiries and ultimate legal position.
If indeed an adjoining owner has responded to the Party Wall Notice with a dissent, it should also be worth noting that the building owner could find themselves liable for one to two hours of low level fees that the adjoining owner’s Party Wall Surveyor may then opt to charge as a result of the adjoining owner’s response and the Party Wall Surveyor having needed to set up a file, incur communication and ultimately discuss the matter with their appointing owner.
Party wall surveying procedures are in place to ensure that building owners are given the legal right to commence the work, however, are also in place to ensure that adjoining owners are given proper and full protection.
One of those protections is to dissent to the Party Wall Notice and if they so choose to, appoint a Party Wall Surveyor on their behalf.
If you would like to discuss party wall surveying procedures with our team of experienced and qualified Party Wall Surveyors here at Stokemont, please feel free to give us a call today and we would be more than happy to assist and advise you.
