Hello and welcome to today’s property surveying blog post, in today’s topic we are going to be discussing Party Wall Surveying matters, taking a look at whether you should get a Party Wall Surveyor.
This would all depend on whether or not your planned works or your neighbours fell under the Party Wall etc Act 1996.
If this is the case, that your planned works do indeed fall under the Party Wall etc Act 1996, then you should definitely get a Party Wall Surveyor as you would have a statutory duty to serve your neighbour with a Party Wall Notice.
Owner Service Vs Party Wall Surveyor Service
You are capable of serving the Notice yourself if you do choose to, but there are certain requirements that the Party Wall Notice will have to meet for it to be considered valid.
So, it can be a good option to contact a Party Wall Surveyor as soon as you know that your planned works are notifiable under the Act, as they can draft the Party Wall Notice on your behalf.
This way you can rest assured that the Party Wall Notices will be drafted and served in a correct and valid manner, ensuring that no unnecessary delays are caused to your planned works.
If the Party Wall Notice is deemed to be invalid it would then need to be reserved which can cause months’ worth of delays to your planned works.
Party Wall Notice Timings
The Party Wall Surveyor will also be able to assist with planning the timings of the Party Wall Notice, as the Party Wall Notices are only valid for up to 12 months once served, so you never want to serve them too early.
The Party Wall Notices also require a minimum time to serve them before your planned works will be able to take the palace, and this will vary depending on what section of the Party Wall, etc Act 1996 your planned works fall under.
Even if you do serve the Party Wall Notices yourself depending on the way that your neighbours respond to the Notice you may need to employ a Party Wall Surveyor.
This will be the case if they were to choose any of the dissenting options being option 2 and 3, as option 2 states that they would be an agreed Party Wall Surveyor.
Whereas option 3 states that they will be independent Party Wall Surveyors that will Act on behalf of each party involved, who would also work together to implement Party Wall Surveying procedures.
The only time they will not be a Party Wall Surveyor is if your neighbors where choose to consent (option 1) to the works, as this would be the end of the Party Wall Surveying procedures and thus they would be no need for a Party Wall Surveyor, and if a dispute was to occur then this would need to be handled in a neighborly manner or by way of common law.
Although over the years we have found that people are more likely to choose a dissenting option as they want to protect what is generally their most valuable asset, their home and so want to take advantage of the protections that are afforded to them through the Party Wall etc Act 1996.
Thank you for taking the time to read today’s blog post, if you have any further questions in regards to today’s topic or any of the other services that we offer here at Stokemont.
Please do not hesitate to get in touch today, by either giving us a call or popping us over an email and one of our experienced Party Wall Surveyors will be happy to assist and advise.
