In today’s Property Surveying blogpost, we are going to be looking at party wall surveying procedures.
Party wall surveying is one of the most typical and common types of services that our party wall surveyors here at Stokemont undertake on a daily basis.
In order to best answer this question, we first need to look at if any Party Wall Agreement is applicable.
Party Wall Agreements, also commonly referred to as Party Wall Awards within the general public, are required when an adjoining owner dissents to a Party Wall Notice.
Party Wall Notice
Party Wall Notices not only commence the party wall surveying procedures, but they formally invoke the Party Wall etc Act 1996 upon an adjoining owner.
Party Wall Notices can be served by building owners, or agents, such as party wall surveyors, on behalf of building owners.
In response to a Party Wall Notice, an adjoining owner has three Party Wall Notice response options.
Party Wall Notice Response Options
Consenting to the Party Wall Notice:
Consenting to the Party Wall Notice effectively means that the adjoining owner will be waiving the protections that the Party Wall etc Act 1996 affords them.
The building owner will then be free to commence their planned construction works without any further formalities being administered or adhered to.
Dissenting to the Party Wall Notice and Appointing an Agreed Surveyor:
Dissenting to the Party Wall Notice and appointing an agreed party wall surveyor will mean that the adjoining owner has opted for the Party Wall etc Act 1996’s protection.
The protections will include the input of a party wall surveyor who will ultimately assess the planned construction works from the perspective of the adjoining owner’s property.
Furthermore, the party wall surveyor will administer the Party Wall etc Act 1996 to ensure that the risks associated with the works are at their lowest possible level.
The culmination of the party wall surveying procedures will be an agreement of a Party Wall Award.
Dissenting to the Party Wall Notice and Appointing their own Party Wall Surveyor:
Dissenting to the Party Wall Notice and appointing their own party wall surveyor, means that the adjoining owner has opted to rely on the input of a party wall surveyor.
That party wall surveyor will solely advise them, and will act on their behalf exclusively.
Should this be applicable, the building owner will also be legally responsible to appoint a party wall surveyor.
Those two party wall surveyors undertaking all of the same procedures and protocols as option two, above, the only difference being that there are two of them as opposed to one.
Party Wall Award:
As confirmed above, a Party Wall Award or Party Wall Agreement can only be in place when an adjoining owner dissents to the Party Wall Notice.
The premise of the Party Wall etc Act 1996, is that it sets out a protocol and procedure that manages and handles the disputes as per Section 10 of the Act as follows:
Where a dispute arises or is deemed to have arisen between a building owner and an adjoining owner in respect of any matter connected with any work to which this Act relates either—
(a) both parties shall concur in the appointment of one surveyor (in this section referred to as an “agreed surveyor”); or
(b )each party shall appoint a surveyor and the two surveyors so appointed shall forthwith select a third surveyor (all of whom are in this section referred to as “the three surveyors”).
In essence, this means that if an adjoining owner opts to dissent to the Party Wall Notice, from a legal perspective, or at the very least through the eyes of the Act, a dispute has arisen.
The Party Wall Award, or Party Wall Agreement, is the vessel that ultimately resolves and regularises that dispute.
The Party Wall Award will set out conventional legal protections that will best assist the building owner and adjoining owner in respect of any issue arising from the planned party wall construction works.
Party Wall Award Content:
The content of the Party Wall Award is generally speaking going to be uniform across the board.
However, there are obviously going to be specific clauses that not only relate to the planned works taking place, but also the property to which they are taking place, while also taking into account the adjoining owner’s property.
Conventional provisions and inclusions within the Party Wall Award will include:
- Stipulations on the working hours of the party wall works
- Any agreed access in order to undertake the party wall works
- Party wall surveyor fees and costs
- Method statement and sequence of planned party wall works
- Scenarios should dispute arise
- Scenarios and protocols should damage arise
- Scenarios and protocols should there be any change in work or variation to the proposals
Jumping back now to the title of this blogpost, a Party Wall Agreement can only be in place following an adjoining owner’s dissent to a Party Wall Notice.
The very premise of a dissent is to then ensure that the Act’s dispute is regularised by way of a Party Wall Award.
Party Wall Awards and Agreements are commonplace and here at Stokemont, whenever we serve a Party Wall Notice, we always advise that the building owner prepare themselves for a Party Wall Notice dissent.
This is not an uncommon response and tends to be the conventional Party Wall Notice response that we have seen over the years.
This is important for a building owner to bear in mind and remember that it is simply the adjoining owner wanting the law and Party Wall etc Act 1996 protections to ensure that their property is well safeguarded against the planned construction works.
If you would like to discuss your Party Wall Surveying procedures with our team of experienced and qualified party wall surveyors, please feel free to give us a call today, and we will be more than happy to assist and advise you.We also have a free party wall surveying advice page, where you can not only e-mail us in any specific queries, you can also give us a call to discuss how our free advice service can be of best assistance to you.
