In today’s Property Surveying blogpost, we are going to be taking a look at party wall surveying procedures.
In particular, we are going to be looking at Party Wall Notices. Party Wall Notices are legally required to be served by a building owner upon an adjoining owner pre-construction works.
Much like Planning Permission Applications, Permitted Development Applications, or Building Regulations Applications, Party Wall Notices are indeed a statutory requirement.
This statutory requirement is set out by Sections 1, 2 and 6 of the Party Wall etc Act 1996.
First and foremost, it is important to note that under the wording and referrals of the Party Wall etc Act 1996, commonly referred to as the Act, the building owner is the person undertaking the construction works.
The adjoining owner is the person who borders or adjoins the proposed construction works.
The intent and aim of the Party Wall Notice is to inform the adjoining owner of the planned works, while also giving them the legal right to formally respond to the Party Wall Notice setting out their intended Party Wall Notice response.
Under the terms of the Party Wall etc Act 1996, an adjoining owner will have three Party Wall Notice responses open to them.
Consenting to the Party Wall Notice
First and foremost, consenting to the Party Wall Notice is the most favourable Party Wall Notice response that an adjoining owner can give to a building owner.
A legal consent, means that the adjoining owner will be reserving the protections that the Party Wall etc Act 1996 affords them, whilst also giving the building owner the legal right to progress their planned works without any of the Act’s formalities being administered or implemented at that stage forward.
If you were to look at this in respect of the other two Party Wall Notice response options that we will now cover, this is very much the best outcome that a building owner can obtain from an adjoining owner.
Dissenting to the Party Wall Notice their own Party Wall Surveyor
The second option that an adjoining owner has at their disposal, is to dissent to the Party Wall Notice and appoint their own party wall surveyor.
A party wall surveyor’s appointment is dealt with under Section 10 of the Party Wall etc Act 1996 as follows:
Where a dispute arises or is deemed to have arisen between a building owner and an adjoining owner in respect of any matter connected with any work to which this Act relates either—
(a) both parties shall concur in the appointment of one surveyor (in this section referred to as an “agreed surveyor”); or
(b) each party shall appoint a surveyor and the two surveyors so appointed shall forthwith select a third surveyor (all of whom are in this section referred to as “the three surveyors”).
In layman’s terms, what this means is that if the adjoining owner has any form of disagreement or dispute with the planned works, then they have the legal right under the Act to appoint a party wall surveyor who will then look at this dispute from the perspective of their property.
The party wall surveyor’s role is first and foremost to administer the Party Wall etc Act and ensure the adjoining owner is afforded its protection.
However, they are also in place to ensure that the adjoining owner’s property is considered from the perspective of the building owner’s planned works.
If an adjoining owner opts to dissent to a Party Wall Notice with this Party Wall Notice response, under the requirements of the Act, the building owner will also be formally required to appoint their own party wall surveyor, with that party wall surveyor acting wholly on their behalf, thereby agreeing a Party Wall Award with the adjoining owner’s surveyor that has been appointed.
Dissenting to the Party Wall Notice and Appointing an Agreed Surveyor
The third, and final, Party Wall Notice response option that an adjoining owner has at their disposal, is to dissent to the Party Wall Notice and appoint an agreed party wall surveyor.
An agreed party wall surveyor is almost like-for-like when compared to the Party Wall Notice response option above, however the distinct difference is that a single party wall surveyor will act on behalf of both the building owner and an adjoining owner respectively.
This effectively means that rather than there being two different party wall surveyors, one acting on behalf of each owner, a single agreed surveyor will take on that role and impartially administer the Act’s procedures.
Party Wall Notice Timings
Party Wall Notices do bear with them statutory timings. These timings are in place to ensure that an adjoining owner has sufficient time to consider how they intend to choose to respond to the Party Wall Notice that has been served upon them.
Firstly, the initial Party Wall Notice that a building owner serves upon an adjoining owner carries with it a 14-day statutory Notice period.
This means that the adjoining owner has 14 calendar days to consider the Party Wall Notice response they want to select, and then inform the building owner of this.
If indeed, the adjoining owner has not responded within that period of time, the building owner can serve a second or further Party Wall Notice on the adjoining owner.
Section 10(4) of the Act sets out as follows:
If either party to the dispute
(a) refuses to appoint a surveyor under subsection (1)(b), or
(b) neglects to appoint a surveyor under subsection (1)(b) for a period of ten days beginning with the day on which the other party serves a request on him,
In layman’s terms, what this means is that the adjoining owner will have a final 10 days to respond to the Party Wall Notice.
On both of these restrictive Notice periods, you must always add two days’ postage for each, which overall will take the Party Wall Notice timings and response requirements to circa one calendar month or thereabouts.
Non-Party Wall Notice Response
In the scenario whereby an adjoining owner does not respond to the Party Wall Notice, the building owner can rely upon the wording of Section 10(4) of the Act as set out above.
This effectively means that they are given the right to appoint a party wall surveyor upon the non-responsive adjoining owner.
The premise and logic behind this is that an owner who does not respond, cannot stop or prevent the building owner from progressing the party wall surveying procedures by virtue of their non-response.
Section 10(4) party wall surveyor appointments are actually an incredibly normal procedure, with the vast majority of party wall surveyors obtaining details for legal service from the Land Registry. It is not uncommon for the Land Registry to be out-of-date or not updated by owners.
This will place a party wall surveyor in a position where they may not be able to obtain the up-to-date information as they have no point of call to do so.
Party Wall Notices are inherently complicated, the simplest of error can render the entire service and procedure that follows invalid.
It is therefore imperative that a building owner carefully follows party wall surveying procedures, and in particular the specific requirements that come with the service of Party Wall Notices.
If you would like to discuss party wall surveying procedures with our team of experienced and qualified party wall surveyors, please feel free to give us a call today, or pop us an email, We will be more than happy to assist and advise you.
