In this week’s property surveying blog post, we are going to be discussing party wall surveying procedures and in particular, the Party Wall Notice response whereby an adjoining owner consents.
Consenting to a Party Wall Notice effectively means the adjoining owner will be reserving the party wall procedures and the various protections that the procedures afford them, as per the Party Wall Etc Act 1996.
There are various different types of consents that an adjoining owner can select. Through this blog post, we are going to discuss those in a little bit more detail.
Consenting without a Schedule of Condition Report
If an adjoining owner consents without the request of a Schedule of Condition Report of their property, it effectively means that there will be no further partial procedure formalities followed, the building owner will then be free to commence their works at their leisure, and the party wall surveying procedures will ultimately come to a halt.
In the event that there is damage, the adjoining owner will still be able to dissent to the Party Wall Notice, however, amy find themselves liable for their party wall surveyor fees, as ultimately the protections afforded to a surveyor once a consent followed up by a dissent is recorded, are slightly lower so the party wall surveyor may want to take the additional coverage of requesting the adjoining owner settle their fees in advance of them taking on the work.
Consenting With a Schedule of Condition Report
If the adjoining owner consents with a Schedule of Condition Report being undertaken of their property, they will ultimately be requesting that a party wall surveyor visits their property prior to the building owner’s construction works commencing to undertake a full, recorded and photographic Schedule of Condition report which will ultimately form a record of proof of their property pre-works, so that if the building owner’s construction works do indeed cause damage, they will have a full record in place, which will ultimately form part of their protections.
In the event that damage is alleged, the first thing the party wall surveyors will always do is rely back on the Schedule of Condition report to ultimately ensure that they are able to establish if that damage is new, and then arrive at an opinion as to how likely it is to be a result of the building owner’s construction works.
Ensuring that there is a Schedule of Condition in place, it makes it a significantly easier task for a party wall surveyor to determine damage, as without this, they are very much looking at the age of cracks, which can often be bordering on professional ‘guestimation’.
If you’re considering consenting to your neighbour’s Party Wall Notice, we would always advise speaking to a party wall surveyor in advance of exercising that right, as you could find yourself in a less favourable position in the event of damage.
If you would like to discuss your party wall surveying procedures with our team of qualified and experienced surveyors here at Stokemont, give us a call today, and we will be more than happy to assist.
