Thank you for clicking on today’s property surveying blog post topic. In this post, we are going to be looking at property surveying.
In particular, we are going to be taking a look at party wall surveying procedures, and the typical, normal protocols that occur when a building owner’s proposed construction works fall within the realm of the Party Wall Etc Act 1996.
Under the Party Wall Etc Act 1996, the building owner, who is the building owner undertaking the construction works has a legal duty to serve a Party Wall Notice upon the neighbouring owner in advance of the works taking place.
The neighbouring owner is referred to as the adjoining owner under the Party Wall Etc Act 1996.
The Party Wall Notice will not only notify the adjoining owner of the building owner’s forthcoming proposed construction works, it will also give them three legal rights of response. Ultimately, ensuring they are afforded the protections if they so choose that the Party Wall Act affords them.
In order for an adjoining owner to gain the protections of the Party Wall Etc Act 1996, they must dissent to the Party Wall Notice. At this stage, it will then be the building owner’s duty to ensure that the adjoining owner is afforded the Act’s necessary protections. These protections will include, however are not limited to:
Party Wall Protections
Party Wall Surveyor Review
Party wall surveyor review is the key starting point within the party wall surveying procedure. The surveyors review will not only ensure they are fully abreast of the forthcoming construction works, it will also ensure they have a full understanding of the necessary risks in respect of those works.
The party wall surveyor is likely to make information requests at this stage, whether this be further drawings, construction method statements, or requests for external advice in order to fully understand the extent of the proposals taking place.
This review will later form part of the party wall surveyor’s wording that forms part of the Party Wall Award.
Schedule of Condition Reports
The next step in the party wall process is the onsite element of the inspection. The party wall surveyor’s role will be to arrange a convenient date and time whereby they will carry out a thorough and robust inspection of the adjoining owner’s property.
This inspection is going to focus on all those areas which are at risk from the building owner’s proposed construction works. Importantly, these areas will be restricted to those rooms and parts of the property that are at risk of the party wall element of the construction works.
The logic behind this, being that the party wall surveyor will only have jurisdiction to deal with damages and issues resulting directly from the party wall works, as opposed to the wider works themselves. The inspection itself will last anywhere from half an hour, up to a couple of hours, with the surveyor undertaking hundreds or thousands of photographs throughout the adjoining owner’s property and thoroughly recording the condition of the property through a dictated record.
This record will later be typed up and be titled and referred to as a Schedule of Condition Report.
The Schedule of Condition Report will be provided to both respective owners, the building owner and the adjoining owner, and will later form part of the Party Wall Award itself.
With data protection being the way it is, the building owner may not always get to have a copy of the photographs, as ultimately these are photographs of the adjoining owner’s property. Nonetheless, they will be held on file by the party wall surveyor.
Party Wall Award Agreement
The final stage in the pre-works party wall surveyor procedures is for the party wall surveyor to draft and agree a Party Wall Award. The Party Wall Award is also commonly referred in the general public as a Party Wall Agreement.
The Party Wall Award will govern and set out in various different protections and protocols that the building owner and their contractor need to adhere to during the course of the works.
These protections will be designed to not only minimise the risk to the adjoining owner’s property, however also the short term nuisance associated with the proposed works.
Party Wall Awards are much like a contract and will have various different requirements that are to be honoured and adhered to. These requirements will include, however are not limited to:
- Party Wall Award contents
- Confirmation of the proposed works
- Working hours during the course of the construction work
- Working hours and timings during any proposed access onto the adjoining owner’s property
- Protocols to be adhered to in the event of issue or damage
- Procedures to be followed should be there be any deviation or change of plan with the works
- Copies of the structural pack and drawings
These are all the type of procedures and protocols that form part of the Party Wall Award and will ultimately place all the necessary information in one place, so if there is an issue, the building owner, adjoining owner, and party wall surveyor are able to quickly access all the facts so they can best manage and administer the process going forward.
Inherently, party wall procedures can get complicated. This is usually a result of changes in planned works, variation to the drawings (updates and amendments), issues arising through the administration of the Party Wall Etc Act 1996.
Here at Stokemont, our take on party wall procedures is that they are easy to overlook, and can often be poorly approached by both building owner and adjoining owner alike. It is key to bear in mind that the Party Wall Etc Act 1996 is the law’s attempt at offering an adjoining owner additional protections above and beyond common law. For this reason, it is important that a building owner fully honors and upholds the spirit of the Party Wall Etc Act 1996.
In the event that for whatever reason a building owner chooses to overlook the party wall procedures, whether this be convenient or otherwise, an adjoining owner can use the Act to obtain a party wall injunction.
A party wall injunction is going to significantly change the procedures on site, and ultimately means the building owner has to cease all works until the necessary party wall procedures are followed. You can imagine how significant this could be if the contractors are in full flow and suddenly have to ‘down tools’, likely for weeks or months while the party wall surveyor then has the opportunity to administer the Party Wall Etc Act 1996.
If you would like to discuss party wall surveying procedures with our team of qualified and experienced party wall surveyors, please feel free to give us a call today and we will be more than happy to assist and advise you.
