Today, in this week’s Property Surveying blog post, we are going to be looking at party wall surveying procedures.
Particularly, our party wall surveyors are going to be looking at Party Wall Notices and the legal requirements that come into play when they are served.
Party Wall Notices
Party Wall Notices can be served directly by building owners, or alternatively can be served by agents and professionals acting on behalf of the building owner.
For clarity, the building owner is the legal owner who is undertaking the planned construction works.
The adjoining owner is the legal owner who borders, neighbours, or adjoins the planned construction works.
Party Wall Notice Requirements
First and foremost, a Party Wall Notice while often being served in letter format, is indeed a legal document.
The document therefore needs to be served in writing and cannot be verbal.
The intention of the Party Wall Notice is to give the adjoining owner the opportunity to consider how they wish to respond to the Party Wall Notice.
Ultimately, once they have made their decision on their Party Wall Notice response, they will then likewise provide that in writing to the building owner, or building owner’s agent.
Party Wall Notice Confusion
This question often comes about when a building owner looks at the party wall procedures from an informal perspective, in the hope that they can discuss and deal with the party wall matters informally in a neighbourly manner.
They will often then verbally inform the adjoining owner of the planned works, usually in an over the fence discussion, or by knocking on the neighbour’s door.
Here at Stokemont, while we recommend that a building owner does informally approach the adjoining owner prior to the Notice service, from a legal perspective the Party Wall Notice has to be correctly served.
Party Wall Notice Service
In order for a Party Wall Notice to be correctly served, it must be in writing.
This gives the building owner a couple of different options when it comes to the Party Wall Notice’s service.
Electronic Party Wall Notice Service
If indeed the adjoining owner is agreeable to receiving the Party Wall Notice in an electronic format, conventionally email, the building owner can indeed serve the Party Wall Notice by that means.
However, it is important to note that without the adjoining owner having first confirmed their acceptance to electronic Party Wall Notice service, the building owner will be unable to validly serve the Party Wall Notice in that format.
The building owner will therefore need to discuss the planned Party Wall Notice service with the adjoining owner in advance of serving it in electronic format upon them.
Royal Mail Postage
The conventional way that a building owner can serve the Party Wall Notice upon the adjoining owner is via Royal Mail postage.
Importantly, the post must be sent in a conventional format for it to be deemed served.
Many building owners will make the assumption that they need to serve it by Recorded Delivery, Signed Delivery, or Signed For.
This is an oversight and incorrect.
The premise behind this, is that if the Royal Mail or mail handler is unable to serve the Party Wall Notice directly on the recipient then from a legal perspective the Notice will not have been deemed served and received.
Party Wall Notices once served via Royal Mail through a postbox, are deemed to be served two days after they are sent.
Party Wall Notice In Person
The building owner can also serve a Party Wall Notice in person directly to the adjoining owner.
In order to do this, they will need to physically hand the Party Wall Notice to the owner for it to have been deemed legally served.
Again, simply hand posting it through the letterbox isn’t deemed legal service.
It is important for building owners to bear that in mind, as often their best intentions could lead to Party Wall Notice service invalidity.
Party Wall Notice Conspicuous Service
The final option that a building owner has is to serve the Party Wall Notice upon the adjoining owner by fixing it to a conspicuous part of their property.
This method of service tends to be reserved when a building owner is not sure, or is unable to confirm, who the adjoining owner is.
They would then conventionally address the Party Wall Notice to the owner, and fix it to the front door of the property, the front gate of the property, a window, or any other conspicuous part where it can clearly be seen.
The aim and intention here, is that unregistered property, or property whereby owners are not listed, are still afforded the legal rights of the Party Wall etc. Act 1996.
If you would like to read more about Party Wall Notice responses, we would advise taking a look at some of our other blog posts, in particular searching Party Wall Notice Answers in the menu tab of our website.
We have written a number of blog posts on how adjoining owners can respond to Party Wall Notices, the timings they have, and importantly what needs to be done in order to inform the building owner of their Party Wall Notice response.
If you would like to discuss party wall surveying procedures with our team of experienced and qualified party wall surveyors here at Stokemont, feel free to give us a call today, or pop us an email, we will be more than happy to assist and advise you.
