In today’s instalment of our Property Surveying blog, we are going to be discussing party wall surveying procedures. Notably, we are going to be looking at the scenarios and responses that come into play when an adjoining owner has been served a Party Wall Notice by their neighbour, the building owner.
Party wall procedures come into play when the building owner, who is the owner planning on undertaking works to their property, intends to undertake construction works that fall within the realm of the Party Wall etc Act 1996.
The adjoining owner, is the owner to which adjoins the building owner’s property, and under the Party Wall etc Act 1996 is affected by the planned works.
We have a couple of other blogposts on the specifics surrounding procedures, definitions as to what type of works fall within the scope of the Party Wall Act. If you are unclear of these, I would advise that you take a read of those, as this blog will specifically look at Party Wall Notices, and whether a Party Wall Consent is the correct and right option for the adjoining owner.
From a legal perspective, a Party Wall Notice Consent is the most favourable Notice response that an adjoining owner can have. The response itself will mean that the building owner is free to progress their planned works, without having to go through any of the formalities as set out by the procedures within the Party Wall etc Act 1996.
However, it should be worth noting that an adjoining owner who does consent, will effectively be reserving some of the protections that they are afforded by the Party Wall etc Act itself.
Commonly, these protections will include:
Party Wall Surveyor Review
If the adjoining owner opts to dissent to the Party Wall Notice, the first thing they are going to do is to get in touch with a party wall surveyor. That party wall surveyor’s role is going to be to review the planned works from the perspective of the adjoining owner’s property.
At that stage, the surveyor will be looking for potential issues that could potentially arise and result in risk to the adjoining owner’s property.
The party wall surveyor’s role will then be to ensure that those risks are as low as they can be.
Schedule of Condition Reports
The next step after undertaking a desktop assessment that the party wall surveyor will undertake is a Schedule of Condition Report.
A Schedule of Condition Report is a comprehensive, robust and thorough record of the adjoining owner’s property and land in advance of the building owner’s works commencing.
The record will see the party wall surveyor visit sites, to not only accommodate themselves of the lay of the land, but also to record a thorough record of condition.
This record of condition will then be logged and registered with both building owner and adjoining owner alike, acting as a record of proof in the event of any potential allegation of damage.
In the event of issue, the starting point for any party wall surveyor is to refer back to the Schedule of Condition Report, to ensure that they are fully abreast of the issue being alleged, ultimately being able to confirm whether that damage appears to be new, or was a pre-existing pre-works issue.
Schedule of Condition Reports will result in hundreds, potentially thousands of photographs being taken of the adjoining owner’s property, as well as a full recorded and written record of the condition.
Party Wall Award Agreement
The final stage that a party wall surveyor will go through, is to agree a Party Wall Award. A Party Wall Award, is also commonly referred to as a Party Wall Agreement within the general public.
The Party Wall Award itself will not only regularise and give the building owner the legal right to undertake their planned works, it will also set out provisions and protocols for the building owner to follow and adhere to in the event of any issue or damage.
Importantly for an adjoining owner, and in our opinion one of the key reasons adjoining owners opt for dissent to Party Wall Notices, is the requirement for the building owner to make good damage.
This requirement comes above and beyond common law, and for that reason, here at Stokemont we believe it to be one of the most common reasons adjoining owners consider Party Wall Notice dissents in place of a Party Wall Notice consent.
The Party Wall Award is effectively a contract between the building owner and the adjoining owner, agreed, signed and served by the party wall surveyor, or party wall surveyor who acted on behalf of the respective owner (building owner, or adjoining owner).
If an adjoining owner consents, all of these protections will be reserved, and in many cases the building owner will swiftly and proactively progress their planned works in response and receipt of the adjoining owner’s Party Wall Notice consent.
Here at Stokemont, our advice tends to be that consents are reserved for very few scenarios, and mainly when the works are of incredibly low risk, or alternatively if the adjoining owner is planning on undertaking their own works in the very near future, as they too would then ask the building owner to consent once they serve their own Notice for their own planned works.
If you would like to discuss party wall surveying procedures with our team of experienced party wall surveyors and RICS building surveyors, please feel free to give us a call today, and we would be more than happy to discuss and help with your issue.
