Hello and welcome to today’s property surveying blog post in which we are going to be discussing Party Wall Surveying matters, specifically looking into, what is a Party Wall Survey? Where I will consider all the different elements that it will contain.
Firstly in order to do so I feel it is important to give an overview of The Party Wall etc Act 1996 as this is the piece of legislation that governs Party Wall Surveying procedures.
The Act came into full effect in 1997 with its intention to prevent disputes between neighbors when planned works work being undertaken along a party wall/structure or in the case of excavations taking place within close proximity to a neihbouring property as these do have some likelihood to cause damage to the neighboring property
Access can also be an issue as in order to complete certain works access may be needed on an adjoining owners side, such as in case where a new party fence wall is being built at the line of junction, where access would be needed to the neighboring property in order to complete the construction of the wall.
Before the Party Wall etc Act 1996 the only way one could be granted access on to a neighbor’s property for proposed works was either through the neighbor themselves which they were capable of restricting if they chose to or through the Access to Neighbouring Land Act 1992, which was far more limiting then the Party Wall etc Act 1996 and access would generally only be granted if the works were deemed necessary.
This is unlike the Party Wall etc Act 1996 where by virtue of the Act a building owner had the right to undertake a number of planned works that are defined within it and can not be restricted by prevented by your neighbors from doing so as long as the act is followed accordingly.
Party Wall Surveying Procedure
The first part of the Party Wall procedure is the serving of a Party Wall Notice, this is where the building owner will inform any adjoining owners of works that there are going to be taking place that fall under the Party Wall etc Act 1996.
The Party Wall Notice needs to be written correctly including the sections of the Act that the planned works fall under, Names and contact of the building owner and/or their surveyor if they have one at this stage, and generally will be accompanied by drawings which are mandatory under section 6 of the Act.
Once the Party Wall Notice has been served there are 3 distinct response options that one is capable of giving once Notice when it has been received.
The first is to consent to the Notice and by doing so you would be giving up the protections that the Party Wall etc Act 1996 affords you as you would be stating that you consent to the works and if there were any issues as a result of the planned works then this would be dealt with in a neighborly manner or by way of common law.
The second is to dissent to the Party Wall Notice and have an agreed surveyor. So there would be one surveyor who would act impartially on behalf of all parties involved acting impartially and doing what is within their power to uphold the Party Wall etc Act 1996.
Finally, the third response option is to dissent and appoint your own surveyor. So there would be a surveyor for each party involved who would work together to implement Party Wall Surveying procedures.
If an adjoining owner choses to dissent then the next steps would be to conduct a schedule of condition report or SOC on to the adjoining owners property.
This is a type of inspection that will take place before the planned works are going to take place, This is not something that is a requirement of the Party Wall etc Act 1996 but is an adapted practice of the industry.
The reason for the SOC is to ensure we have a snapshot of the condition of the adjoining owner’s property pre works, this will see the surveyor go room to room and note any defects that they find and compile a report that will be accompanied by hundreds if not thousands of photographs, so if there is a case of damage as a result of the planned works then there will be a thorough evidence of this.
The cumulation of the Party Wall Surveying procedure is the Party Wall Award, this is a legally binding document that will outline the works that are taking place that fall under the Party Wall etc Act 1996 and what protections are being put in place for the adjoining owner.
Such as with cases of enclosing onto a party wall for a roof renewal, the wall that is being enclosed upon must be protected and waterproofed while it is exposed in order to limit or negate entirely the damage that the planned works could potentially cause.
The award may also include access right for different planned works such as a loft conversion or building a wall on the line of junction as access will generally be needed to the adjoining owner’s property in order to complete the planned works in a safe and timely manner. So in cases such as this, the award will stipule the length of access and may even involve provisions of rent for the length of time that access is required.
I hope this gives you further insight into Party Wall Surveying matters and procedures, if you have any further questions in regards to Party Wall Surveying 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 alternatively popping us over an email and one of our team of experienced Surveyors will be happy to assist and advise you.
