Thank you for clicking on today’s Property Surveying blog post. In today’s Property Surveying blog post we are going to be looking at party wall surveying procedures and in particular the scenarios that can come into play when a building owner is planning on enclosing upon a party wall that their neighbour has built at some point in the past.
First and foremost it is worth noting that a building owner will have the legal right to make use and enclose upon a party wall. The right is very much governed by the specific section detailing and handling making use and enclosure.
However, while a building owner does gain the legal right, it is not free from legal requirement, one of which being that they will need to reimburse and compensate the adjoining owner for the use of the party wall they are enclosing upon.
The logic and premise behind this is that at some stage the existing adjoining owner or previous adjoining owner would have incurred the cost of constructing the party wall and even if it is not the actual owner who currently formally owns the property, when the existing owner purchased it, they would have paid an additional premium and value for the works that the historic owner had undertaken.
The Act therefore recognises this gain and benefit that a building owner can unknowingly benefit from and aims to regularise it by virtue of a party wall making use/enclosure cost or payment.
The making use and payment will be calculated and determined based off fixed variables and considerations.
Generally speaking these are going to include labour rates, material rates, location rates and of course take into account the metre extent of the planned enclosure.
Within the property profession there are a number of different ways that a building owner will be informed of the total cost of making use or enclosure. Generally speaking these are as follows:
- Contract or quotation
- BCIS construction rates
- Quantity surveyor costing
- SPONS or other construction rates
The ultimate aim here being that the party wall surveyor or party wall surveyors have a trusted cost source to rely upon when calculating and figuring out the sum of money that is due from the building owner to the adjoining owner as part of the planned construction works.
In many cases, the building owner and potentially even the adjoining owner are unlikely to be aware of the need for a making use or enclosure cost.
It is natural therefore for a building owner to look at this as a cost and expense.
This would be an inaccurate to approach this. First and foremost by paying an enclosure cost, the building owner is actually only paying for 50% of what it would cost to build that wall in today’s rates.
This would be compared to 100% of the wall’s cost if indeed the adjoining owner had not constructed one in its place.
There is therefore a distinct saving that a building owner benefits from, from a costs perspective. However, money isn’t the only saving that a building owner will make.
They will also benefit from an all important time saving as the contractor who is going to undertake their own planned works won’t need to go through the added construction time required for digging foundations, pouring concrete footings, allowing the concrete to cure and then building the wall upon that.
This is going to have a distinct and measurable cost saving to the building owner’s overall construction.
Here at Stokemont, we recognise that enclosure costs can often be a hot point of dispute for building owners and adjoining owners alike. We are incredibly proud to have introduced an industry first making use enclosure cost calculator.
Our informative and accurate calculator is based off current construction rates and is variable based off the type of wall that is being enclosure upon, along with the size of the planned enclosure. The simple to use and easy to understand making use calculator will provide you with an accurate and excellent indication and understanding of the type of enclosure costs that you can expect to incur through the course of your planned works.
Or alternatively, the type of costs you can expect to receive from your neighbouring owner through their planned construction works.
If you would like to discuss party wall surveying procedures with our team of experienced and qualified party wall surveyors, please feel free to give us a call today.
