Thank you for clicking on today’s property surveying blog post. Today we are going to be looking at party wall surveying procedures.
Party wall surveying procedures come into play when a building owner is undertaking construction works to their property.
Those construction works will need to be legally considered as notifiable under the Party Wall Etc Act 1996.
For party wall works to be considered notifiable, they must meet the Act’s definition for party wall works.
Party Wall Works
Generally speaking, party wall works will be far and wide, although the Act has been designed to incorporate a wide variety of construction works to houses, commercial properties and flats. To summarise these, these are works that include excavations within 6m of an adjoining property, works directly to a party wall, works directly to a party wall structure (floor or ceiling within a flat), and works to a party fence wall (garden wall).
Party Wall Notice Service
The starting point of the party wall surveying procedures is always to serve a Party Wall Notice.
In response to that Party Wall Notice, the adjoining owner will have 14 calendar days, plus 2 calendar days allowing for postage. If the adjoining owner hasn’t responded to the Party Wall Notice within those 16 calendar days, the building owner will then have the legal right to serve a further and follow on Party Wall Notice upon that adjoining owner. The further follow on notice, formally referred to as a Section 10 (4) notice gives the adjoining owner a definitive and final 10 calendar days to respond. As above, a further 2 calendar days will be added to allow for postage. This takes the total response period for the Section 10 (4) notice to 12 days.
Taking into account both of those respective notice periods, at any given point, an adjoining owner will have circa one month to reply to Party Wall Notices from the date of their first service.
Adjoining Owner Non-Response
In the scenario whereby an adjoining owner hasn’t, or doesn’t respond to the Party Wall Notice, at that stage, the building owner will then need to ultimately appoint a party wall surveyor on behalf of the non-responsive adjoining owner. The legal premise behind this is that the building owner must still be given the legal right that the Party Wall Etc Act 1996 affords them. This legal right will come by way of party wall surveyor input and ultimately a definitive agreement of a Party Wall Award.
What is a Party Wall Award?
A Party Wall Award is the conclusive document that two different and respective party wall surveyors will agree when an adjoining owner dissents to the Party Wall Notice, or, in this scenario, whereby a deemed dissent has arisen, by virtue of the building owner serving a Party Wall Notice and the adjoining owner having not responded to that.
The Award will set out the building owner’s legal right to undertake the planned construction works and ultimately, will include various protective provisions that not only regularise the planned construction works, they will also ensure the adjoining owner is properly and legally protected against those works.
These protections encompass the risk associated with the work, the timing and manner in which the works are undertaken, and the damage associated with those planned construction.
Can an Adjoining Owner refuse a Party Wall Award?
No. Once a Party Wall Award has been served, the only legal option that an adjoining owner has open at their disposal is to appeal the Party Wall Award.
Party Wall Award appeals are dealt with under Section 10 (17) of the Party Wall Etc Act 1996 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.
The appeal period for which an adjoining owner can legally pursue the Award through the courts is specific and is a total duration of 14 calendar days.
Can I start my works upon receipt of the Party Wall Award?
Yes. Once a Party Wall Award has been served, the building owner has fulfilled their legal duties as set out by the Party Wall Etc Act 1996.
This will ultimately mean that they then have the legal right to progress their planned works without any further formality or delay.
Building owners and adjoining owners alike will often mistakenly believe that an owner has to hold off commencing the works until the 14 day appeal period has passed. This is definitively not the case once a Party Wall Award has been agreed. Owners no longer need to hold off and are free to commence works without further delay.
If you would like to discuss party wall surveying matters and Party Wall Notices with our team of experienced and qualified party wall surveyors here at Stokemont, please feel free to get in touch with us today. We will be more than happy to assist and advise you.
