Thank you, for clicking on today’s Property Surveying blogpost. In this week’s instalment of our informative surveying blog, we are going to be discussing party wall surveying procedures.
Party wall surveying procedures are applicable when a building owner is planning on undertaking construction works to their property. In order for the Party Wall etc Act 1996 to apply, the planned construction works must fall within the realm and scope of the Party Wall etc Act 1996.
The Party Wall etc Act 1996 is quite specific in the types of work that fall within its remit. Here at Stokemont, we have a number of other blogposts which discuss the type of typical and conventional construction works that indeed fall within the realm of the Act.
If you are unsure of these, we would advise having a quick read of those, so that you are fully informed in that regard.
One of the most typical questions we are asked by building owners, is when should they serve Party Wall Notices.
In order to answer this question, we are going to take a brief look at some of the considerations that need to be taken into account.
Party Wall Notice Timings
Party Wall Notice timings will play a pivotal role in the timing of the Party Wall Notice itself.
Under Sections 1, 2 and 6 of the Party Wall etc Act 1996, Party Wall Notices have a statutory Notice period.
In layman’s terms, this means that the Party Wall Notice will need to be served a minimum of one month, or two months in advance of the planned works commencing on site.
This is an all-important timing, as effectively the adjoining owner can, if they so choose, ask the building owner to hold off undertaking the works until the party wall statutory Notice has run its course.
Party Wall Notice Response Times
The next point to take into account is Party Wall Notice response times.
The Party Wall Notice will initially have a 14-day statutory Notice period. These 14 days are aided by a further two days to allow for postage.
This effectively means that the adjoining owner has a total of 16 days to respond to the Party Wall Notice that the building owner serves upon them.
In the event that the adjoining owner has not responded within that period of time, the Act enables a building owner to serve a further Party Wall Notice upon the adjoining owner.
This further Party Wall Notice, formerly referred to as a Section 10(4) Notice, gives an adjoining owner a further 10 calendar days to respond to the Party Wall Notice, supported by two postage days as well.
This effectively takes the further Party Wall Notice response time up to 12 days.
Looking at both respective Party Wall Notices together, the adjoining owner will effectively have a full calendar month to review Party Wall Notices, consider their response options, make enquiries with party wall surveyors and ultimately respond.
This is again a pivotal point to take into account for building owners when planning on Party Wall Notice service timing.
Party Wall Construction Information
Another point that the building owner should consider is the construction information. If indeed, the Party Wall Notice is dissented to by the adjoining owner, with the adjoining owner appointing a party wall surveyor, that party wall surveyor is going to want to have as much information about the planned works as possible.
This is likely to include, but is not limited to:
- A full-pack of drawings.
- Structural details.
- Structural calculations.
- Contractor Method Statement.
- Access Statements.
- Any other matters.
All of these points are likely to come into play in some shape or form through the party wall surveyor’s review, input and ultimate of the Party Wall Award.
It is therefore key that the building owner allows sufficient time for this information to be prepared.
In many cases, the information is unlikely to be readily available at the time of the party wall surveyor’s enquiry, meaning that the building owner will need to arrange for their design and construction team to prepare these.
Again, this can result in added timings, which should be taken into account in the Party Wall Notice service considerations.
Schedule of Condition Inspections
As part of the party wall surveying procedures, the party wall surveyor, or party wall surveyors, are going to want to undertake a pre-works Schedule of Condition report of the adjoining owner’s property.
This Schedule of Condition report will set out a benchmark of the pre-works condition, thereby safeguarding the building owner against any invalid, or improper claims of damaged.
While also equally safeguarding the adjoining owner in the event of genuine and bona fide damage.
In many cases, with work timeframes and the adjoining owner having to book time off work, or out of the office, in order to accommodate such inspection, there can often be a short delay in the party wall surveyor’s gaining access to the adjoining owner’s property.
This is again another timing consideration to take into account.
Overall, Party Wall Notices, in our opinion here at Stokemont, should be served as soon as possible. We would advise that this is done as soon as the building owner has confirmed that they are able to progress with the works.
We do appreciate, that some building owners will want to wait until they have Planning Permission in place before servicing such Notice. While this is a fair and reasonable stance to take, we would also advise discussing the overall plans with the architect, if indeed the proposals that have been submitted to Planning are conventional and likely to gain Planning Approval. We would also recommend that Party Wall Notices are served during the Planning Application Procedure itself.
This will ensure that there is not a frustrating delay post-Planning Permission, whereby the building owner is effectively having to wait for the party wall surveying procedures to be completed before they can crack on into works.
In any event, we would fully advise that contractors are not booked in to start, until the Party Wall Award is in place, there have been many scenarios whereby contractors have been booked, for party wall surveyors and party wall surveying procedures to be a long way off completion.
If you would like to discuss party wall surveying procedures with our team of qualified and experienced party wall surveyors here at Stokemont, please feel free to give us a call today, or alternatively pop us over an email, and we will be more than happy to assist and advise.
