Hello and welcome to today’s property surveying blog post where we are going to be discussing Party Wall Surveying matters. In this blog post, we are going to be discussing whether you have to pay for a Party Wall Surveyor.
Quite simply if you are the one carrying out work then you will be the one who is responsible for the payment of a Party Wall Surveyor, if one is needed to oversee the Party Wall procedure and could end up paying for multiple Surveyors depending on how your neighbour responds to the Party Wall Notice.
When dealing with any planned works that fall under The Party Wall etc Act 1996 a notice must be served to the neighbours (Adjoining owners) in which they have 3 options available to them when it comes to responding to the Party Wall Notice.
Party wall Notice
Firstly let us come to grips with what a Party Wall Notice is and what it entails. The Notice itself is a letter that will be sent to the adjoining owners outlining what works are being carried out and also must include what section of the party wall act that they fall into.
There is no requirement in the act that states that a Notice must be served by a Party Wall Surveyor but here at Stokemont over the years we have seen case after case where a Building owner served notice themselves but the Notice was not valid due to inaccuracies within it, which ultimately lead to further delays to there planned works.
So there may be an initial cost if you do wish for a professional Party Wall Surveyor to serve notice on your behalf.
From there depending on the way that the adjoining owner responds to the Notice, could lead to further costs incurred for the Party Wall procedure.
The Party Wall etc Act 1996 gives you 3 ways that you are capable of responding to a Notice.
The first Response option
The first response option to a Party Wall Notice is to consent to the planned works if the
adjoining owners chose this option and consented to the planned works in doing so will agree that if any disputes were to arise as a result of the planned works then this will be resolved in a neighbourly manner.
So they would relinquish the rights and protections that The Party Aall etc Act 1996 affords them and they would be no need for the involvement of a Party Wall Surveyor beyond this point.
The second Response option
The second response option would be to dissent to the Party Wall works and agree to a joint Surveyor that would oversee the Part Wall Procedure.
In this case, it would be down to the building owner to pay for the cost of the Surveyor who will be overseeing the Party Wall Procedure.
Third Response Option
The third response option to a Party Wall Notice would be again to dissent but this time the adjoining owner requesting their own Surveyor.
This would be the most costly option for the Building owner as they would not be liable for the cost of two Surveyors but could also end up with a cost for a third Party Wall Surveyor
Where an adjoining owner may have to pay
Within the third response option, the two appointed Surveyors must choose a third Surveyor, who is capable of being called upon in case where there is a disagreement between the two parties, in relation to the Party Wall works that are not capable of being resolved amicably.
Although unlike with the other Party Wall Surveyors the cost of the third Surveyor does not always fall to the building owner but rather falls to the party that has initiated the use of the third Surveyor. So this will be one of the only situations within the Party Wall Procedure that an adjoining owner may be liable for cost.
I hope you have enjoyed today’s instalment of our property surveying blog post and have been able to gain further insight into the Party Wall Procedure. If you have any questions or queries in relation to Party Wall matters or any of the other services that we offer here at Stokemont, please do not hesitate to get in touch today or alternatively feel free to pop us an email and we would be more then happy to assist and advise you.
