Thank you for clicking on today’s property surveying blog post. Today we are going to be
looking at party wall surveying matters.
Party Wall Awards are one of the most easily misunderstood and confusing parts of the party wall surveying procedures.
A Party Wall Award will also be commonly referred to as a Party Wall Agreement within the general public and industry as a whole.
It is worth noting that there is no difference between a Party Wall Award and a Party Wall Agreement, and it is simply the referral that the surveyor may use to describe the document.
What is a Party Wall Award?
A Party Wall Award is the conclusive legal document that will be agreed by the agreed party wall surveyor, or two party wall surveyors.
The Party Wall Award is the final piece of the puzzle that is the party wall surveying procedure. The Award itself will set out the building owner’s legal right to progress their planned construction works. Further, the Award will put in place provisions and protections to safeguard the adjoining owner in the event of any issue, amendment to the works, or damage.
Who pays for the Party Wall Award?
From a legal perspective, in normal circumstances, the building owner will be responsible for the fees associated with agreement of the Party Wall Award. These fees will include both the building owner’s party wall surveyor and adjoining owner’s party wall surveyor.
As the Award ultimately regularises the building owner’s planned works, the Act’s standing is that it wouldn’t be reasonable for an adjoining owner to have to bear the burden of the cost in agreeing a Party Wall Award.
Is the adjoining owner ever liable for the Party Wall Award costs?
From a legal perspective, yes. An adjoining owner can be held responsible for the associated costs with the Party Wall Award’s agreement. However, It is worth noting that it is incredibly rare that an adjoining owner would bear the burden of professional fees associated in agreeing the Party Wall Award. Instead, as set out above, as the Award’s main purpose is to regularise the building owner’s planned works, in all normal circumstances, the building owner will bear the cost of these.
In fact, here at Stokemont, we have never had the scenario whereby an adjoining owner was responsible for the fees and costs associated in agreeing the Party Wall Award.
Can I review the Party Wall Award?
Generally speaking, no. Owners are not given the legal right to review Party Wall Awards prior to their agreement. This is the convention when it comes to agreeing the legal document. Ultimately, in appointing party wall surveyors to act on their behalf, the building owner and adjoining owner will be giving that party wall surveyor or party wall surveyors, the authority to agree the Award.
The agreement of that Award needs to be neutral and impartial. From a practical perspective, giving an owner the opportunity to review a Party Wall Award prior to its agreement will not only make it impossible for the document to be agreed impartially, it would also prejudice Section 10 (17) of the Party Wall Etc Act 1996.
Section 10 (17) of the Act is set out 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.
In layman’s terms, simply put, this means that the respective owners, the building owner and the adjoining owner will be given the legal right to appeal a Party Wall Award within 14 days of its receipt.
What is in the Party Wall Award?
As set out above, the Party Wall Award is the conclusive document that will give the building owner the legal right to progress the works. Typical and common inclusions into a Party Wall Award are generally as follows:
- References to whom the legal owners are.
- Confirmation of when Party Wall Notices were served.
- Confirmation of who the agreed party wall surveyor or two party wall surveyors are.
- Confirmation of who the third party wall surveyor is (this is only applicable where there are two party wall surveyors appointed).
- Confirmation of the works that are going to be taking place.
- Confirmation of when those works are deemed permitted from a working hours perspective.
- Confirmation of the protective clauses in place to safeguard an adjoining owner in the event of any issue.
- Regularising any legally permitted access into an adjoining owner’s land or airspace.
- Confirmation of procedures in place should there be damage.
- Confirmation of party wall surveying fees and costs.
- Schedule of Condition report.
- Project drawings.
- Structural Calculations (these are not always necessarily included).
All of these documents will form part of the Party Wall Award’s content, ultimately giving the building owner a neat and succinct document that they can then provide and present to their contractor and working team. The aim being that they can then implement all of the necessary party wall surveyor inclusions to reduce the risks and issues that are likely to come by way of the planned construction works.
Can you have a Party Wall Award without a Party Wall Notice?
Definitively, the answer to this question is no. A Party Wall Award can only come into play when a building owner has served a Party Wall Notice upon the adjoining owner.
The premise behind this is that the Party Wall Notice commences the party wall surveying procedures. Therefore, if a Party Wall Notice was not served prior to the planned works commencing, the Party Wall Etc Act 1996 has never been formally invoked. This means that the procedures and protocols, one of which is the agreement of a Party Wall Award, would not be possible or permissible from a legal perspective.
What if a Party Wall Award cannot be agreed?
In a scenario whereby the Party Wall Award’s agreement is stalling, or having issue in being agreed, from a legal perspective, if there are two party wall surveyors involved, one being the adjoining owner’s party wall surveyor, one being the building owner’s party wall surveyor, as set out above, a third surveyor will be referenced and would have been selected at the very start of the party wall surveying procedure. This third surveyor can then step in, in place of one of the owners, to agree the Party Wall Award on behalf of the party wall surveyor who is not responding, failing to respond, or has taken some form of issue with the content or lead up to the Party Wall Award’s agreement itself.
We hope this blog has been a helpful insight into what a Party Wall Award is, what to expect within it, and the type of typical inclusions that will form part of it.
If you are planning on undertaking construction works and would like to speak with our team of experienced and qualified building surveyors and party wall surveyors, or, if your neighbour is planning undertaking construction works and you’d like to discuss this with our team here at Stokemont, please feel free to pop us an email or give us a call. Our surveyors will be more than happy to assist and advise you.
We also have a handy, and industry first, video FAQ on our website which goes into deeper detail into some of the more typical party wall surveying questions that we find ourselves asked here at Stokemont on a daily basis. Why not take a look at these today!
