Hello and welcome to today’s property surveying blog post in today’s topic, I am going to be going to give an overview of the party wall procedures.
The initial point that is going to set off the Party Wall procedures is the serving of the Party Wall Notice.
This post will look though the Party Wall Procedures through the eyes of a Building Owner, or the property owner planning on completing the works.
What is a Party Wall Notice?
A Party Wall Notice is a letter that will be sent to any neighbours (adjoining owners under the Act) who are in close proximity of the planned works, as the planned works will have the potential to damage their property.
You would then have a statutory duty to serve a Party Wall Notice to your neighbours that will outline what notifiable works that are taking place and what sections of the Party Wall etc Act 1996 they fall under.
You would also have to ensure the correct contact details are on the Party Wall Notice for yourself or your Party Wall Surveyor. If they were the ones who had served the Notice.
What works are considered Notifiable?
What works are considered to be notifiable under the Party Wall etc Act 1996 are defined under sections 1,2 & 6.
Section 1 works are defined under the act as the construction of a new wall that is built astride or up to the line of junction.
Section 2 works under the Party Wall etc Act 1996 are those that are taking place along or too the Party Wall.
This can include cutting in or away from the party wall, exposing the Party Wall. Or, penetrating the wall to inject a damp-proof course.
Section 6 works relate to excavations that are taking place within close proximity to an adjoining owner’s property. The excavations would be considered notifiable if they were being done within a 3m or 6m distance from the adjoining owner’s property and were being dug to a lower depth than the adjoining owner’s foundations.
We’ll now look at the Party Wall Procedures through the eyes of the neighbour, the Adjoining Owner.
How can you respond?
When you receive a Party Wall Notice they are 1 of 3 ways that you are capable of responding to it.
The first response option is to consent to the Party Wall Notice. If you were to choose this response option then it would be the end of the Party Wall procedures, and if a dispute were to arise then this would have to be settled in a neighbourly manner or by way of common law.
The second response option is to dissent and appoint an agreed Party Wall Surveyor. So, if you were to choose this option, they would be one Party Wall surveyor who would act on behalf of all parties to the dispute.
They would be solely responsible for the implementation of Party Wall procedures and the draft and service of the Party Wall Award
The final response option is to dissent and appoint your own Party Wall Surveyor. This is similar to the second response option but there would be two Party Wall Surveyors who would work together to implement the Party Wall Surveying procedures and to draft and serve the Party Wall Award.
The Schedule of Condition
If you have chosen one of the dissenting options or chose to consent with a Schedule of Condition being undertaken, then the next step in Party Wall Procedures would be for the Party Wall Surveyor/s to undertake a Schedule of Condition (SOC) report.
The SOC report will be a snapshot of the condition of the property that it is in at the time of the inspection, preferably this would be undertaken before any planned works have been undertaken.
The Schedule of Condition, despite not being a requirement under the Party Wall etc Act 1996 has become an adopted part of the Party Wall procedures, as to ensure that there is a thorough record of the condition of the property in place before the planned works have taken place as if there is damage then the SOC can be an easy way to identify this.
The Party Wall Award
The Party Wall Award is the final aspect of Party Wall Surveying procedures and will outline the building owners’ rights to conduct their works and what protections will be put in place for the adjoining owner’s property.
An example of this is if the planned works involved the removal of a chimney breast, then this would be outlined within the party wall award along with clauses that would outline the way that the works would be carried out.
For a chimney breast removal common clauses that you are likely to find would be that any open vents or if the chimney stack is open on the adjoining owner’s side, then they would have to be adequately covered to stop any dust and debris from entering the neighboring property while the planned works are taking palace.
The Party Wall Award will also dictate the types of tools that the contractors are allowed to use while cutting into the Party Wall, this typically being not allowing precaution tools to limit the vibration and only allowing hand-held tools.
Thank you for reading today’s blog post, if you have any further questions or queries on today’s topic or any of the other services that we offer here at Stokemont, then please do not hesitate to get in touch today by either giving us a call or pop us over an email and one of our experienced Party Wall Surveyors will be happy to assist and advise.
