Thank you, for clicking on today’s Property Surveying blogpost, today we are going to be looking at party wall surveying, and in particular what a party wall surveyor is.
There are four different types of party wall surveyors that will be applicable. We will now look at these in greater detail to help clarify and fully inform you.
Building Owner’s Party Wall Surveyor
A building owner’s party wall surveyor will be acting wholly on behalf of the building owner.
Under the wording of the Party Wall etc Act 1996, the building owner is the person or persons whom is undertaking the construction work.
The building owner’s party wall surveyor will conventionally undertake and complete the following duties, roles and responsibilities:
- Serve Party Wall Notice upon the adjoining owner
- Undertake a Schedule of Condition Report of the adjoining owner’s property
- Communicate and liaise with the building owner’s design team, architect or engineer
- Draft the Party Wall Award and send to the adjoining owner’s party wall surveyor for their review
- Communicate and liaise with the building owner
- Serve the Party Wall Award upon the building owner
- Undertake a post work Schedule of Condition inspection of the adjoining owner’s property
The building owner’s party wall surveyor is pivotal to the agreement of the Party Wall Award, and in many cases will not only dictate the pace at which the party wall process and Award is agreed. They will also implement strategies and procedures to ensuring the Party Wall Surveying process is as smooth, time and cost-effective as possible.
Adjoining Owner’s Party Wall Surveyor
The adjoining owner’s party wall surveyor, much like the building owner’s party wall surveyor, will act wholly on behalf of the adjoining owner.
The adjoining owner’s party wall surveyor’s role will be to look at the building owner’s planned construction works from the perspective of the adjoining owner’s property.
In fulfilling their statutory duty and acting as the party wall surveyor, they will be implementing procedures and protocols to ensure that the adjoining owner and adjoining owner’s property are carefully considered both in advance, during and post-building owner’s construction work.
These duties will include:
- Accompanying the building owner’s party wall surveyor during the Schedule of Condition inspection of the adjoining owner’s property.
- Reviewing all of the documentation sent over by the building owner’s party wall surveyor, thereby ensuring that the final outcome and agreed Party Wall Award is not only neutral, but also befitting of the protections that the Party Wall etc Act 1996 would conventionally require.
- Agreeing the Party Wall Award with the building owner’s party wall surveyor
- Communicate and liaise with the adjoining owner
Under the convention and norms of the Party Wall etc Act 1996, the building owner will usually be responsible for the adjoining owner’s party wall surveyor’s fee.
Agreed Party Wall Surveyor
An agreed party wall surveyor is unlike either the building owner’s party wall surveyor, or adjoining owner’s party wall surveyor.
The agreed party wall surveyor will act impartially and mutually on behalf of both the building owner and adjoining owner alike.
One of the most typical questions and queries that we find ourselves asked here at Stokemont, is whether an agreed party wall surveyor can act impartially.
The best way that we describe this, is that the agreed party wall surveyor will act on behalf of the properties as opposed to the owners.
This will very much mean that they look at the works from the perspective of the adjoining owner’s property, thereby ensuring that the risks associated with the building owner’s planned works are at the lowest possible level they can be.
Agreed party wall surveyors can find themselves in tricky situations, especially when there is a hands-on building owner or adjoining owner.
An experienced and qualified party wall surveyor should be able to easily navigate this procedure, ultimately ensuring that the final outcome is a smoothly and neutrally agreed Party Wall Award.
A Party Wall Award, is also commonly referred to as a Party Wall Agreement.
Third Party Wall Surveyor
The final type of party wall surveyor is a third party wall surveyor.
Unlike a building owner’s party wall surveyor, adjoining owner’s party wall surveyor, or agreed party wall surveyor, a third party wall surveyor does not act on behalf of either the building owner or the adjoining owner.
Instead, the third surveyor will act as a vessel and resolution point, should there be any form of dispute between the two respective owners, or two respective party wall surveyors.
The third surveyor is very much in place to ensure that should such professional disputes arise, there is no form of stalemate, which would effectively thwart and halt the party wall procedures in their tracks.
For a building owner, this would not only mean that they are unable to crack on with the works, but could also mean that they are placed in a position where they are unable to resolve the dispute at hand.
Third surveyor referrals are a relatively rare occurrence, however it is important to note that the right to refer to a third surveyor is open to all parties at all times.
In terms of third surveyor costs, generally speaking it will be the losing referrer who bears the cost of these.
In layman’s terms, this means that if one of the parties opts to refer a matter to the third surveyor, with that referral being unsuccessful, they will usually cover the professional cost and fees involved.
Who can act as a Party Wall Surveyor?
One of the peculiarities of the Party Wall etc Act 1996 is that the term “party wall surveyor” is actually very open, set out formally as below:
“surveyor” means any person not being a party to the matter appointed or selected under section 10 to determine disputes in accordance with the procedures set out in this Act.
In practice this means that anyone aside from the building owner and adjoining owner can act as the party wall surveyor.
However, it also means that there is an incredibly wide range of expertise and property understanding from party wall surveyors offering their services.
Here at Stokemont, we’d advise that the bear minimum should be a Surveyor whom is a member of one of the leading property governing bodies such as the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyor (The RICS) or the Chartered Institute of Building (The CIOB).
If you would like to discuss party wall surveying procedures and protocols with our team of experienced and qualified party wall surveyors here at Stokemont, please feel free to give us a call today, or pop us an email,and we will be more than happy to assist and advise you.
