The party wall procedures and the process and timings that follow are very much going to be governed by both Statute and the response periods and timings to which the adjoining owner responds to the Party Wall Notice.
If you would like to learn a little more about Party Wall Notices, we would advise having a quick read of our other blog posts so you are fully abreast of these.
This blog post is going to focus on the general procedures that party wall processes follow and the timings associated with that.
First and foremost, the party wall procedures will formally commence upon the service of a building owners’ Party Wall Notice upon the adjoining owner. The Party Wall Notice not only formally starts the party wall procedures, it also kickstarts the timing and stopwatch in that regard.
The Party Wall Notice, once served, will have a 14 day statutory run period, while also allowing for 2 days postage allowance. This effectively means that an adjoining owner has 16 full calendar days to consider their Party Wall Notice response and hopefully, within that period, lodge their response.
No Response to Party Wall Notice
In the situation whereby the adjoining owner hasn’t responded to the Party Wall Notice after 16 calendar days having run their course and passed, at that stage, the building owner will be able to serve a further Party Wall Notice upon the adjoining owner.
Section 10.4 Party Wall Notice
The further Party Wall Notice is effectively a follow on, or reminder notice, referencing the original Party Wall Notice that the building owner would have served upon the adjoining owner. The Section 10.4 Notice as it is formally known and referred to, will give the adjoining owner a further 10 statutory days to respond, whilst also allowing a further 2 days for postage allowances.
This takes the total response for an adjoining owner to respond to a Section 10.4 (second Party Wall Notice) up to 12 calendar days.
Adding both of these timings together will ultimately result in around about a one month period for which an adjoining owner has to respond to both respective Party Wall Notices.
Party Wall Notice Response
Once a Party Wall Notice has been responded to, assuming the building owner has dissented and appointed a party wall surveyor, at that stage the timings will very much be borne and dictated by the information that the party wall surveyor has to hand.
If the information is well considered and contains all of the necessary details that the party wall surveyor will require, at that stage they will usually progress and move on to the property inspection process.
Property Schedule of Condition Reports
The next step in the party wall process is for the party wall surveyor to undertake a Schedule of Condition report.
You can read about Schedule of Condition reports on our website and dedicated and Schedule of Condition report page. However, in a nutshell, Schedule of Condition reports are the pre-works snapshot of the adjoining owner’s property that will be undertaken in advance of the building owner’s planned construction works commencing.
The Schedule of Condition report is going to include copious amounts of photographs, along with a thorough and robust recorded record of condition.
Once the Schedule of Condition report has been completed, the next step in the party wall procedures will commence.
Party Wall Award
The final step in the party wall process is for the Party Wall Award to be drafted and served.
A Party Wall Award is also commonly referred to as a Party Wall Agreement within the industry. The Party Wall Award will set out the building owner’s legal right to progress and crack on with the proposed works whilst also ultimately ensuring the adjoining owner has the necessary protections.
These protections will be above and beyond common law and will effectively govern the planned works that are taking place. Once the Party Wall Award has been agreed, the building owner will have the legal right to undertake and progress the party wall works without further delay. Obviously, there are a significant amount of moving pieces here, however, our take on this here at Stokemont is that party wall procedures, once Party Wall Notice responses have been received are relatively quick, straight forward jobs. However, equally, can be relatively slow if indeed there is a lack of information, drawings need to be prepared or amended, or additional input is required.
As a general rule of thumb, we would advise allowing anywhere from 2 weeks up to 12 weeks for party wall procedures to take their course.
Obviously, this is not going to be definitive and set in stone for each and every file and job that a party wall surveyor handles.
Ultimately, there are variables which are going to be outside of the party wall surveyor’s control, that will affect the party wall process and party wall procedure timings.
If you would like to discuss party wall procedures with us, you can give us a call today, or alternatively send us a quick email, and we will be happy to advise, and hopefully fill in any blanks that you have.
