Thank you for your clicking on today’s property surveying blog post. This week’s instalment of our property surveying blog, we are going to look at Party Wall surveying procedures.
In particular we are going to be looking at these scenarios that come into play when a building owner has served a Party Wall Notice upon an adjoining owner.
Party Wall Notices are required if the building owner, who is the person is undertaking planned construction works. Intends to undertake works to their property, with those works falling within the realm of The Party Wall etc Act 1996.
The Party Wall Notice needs to be served upon the adjoining owner a minimum period of one month, or two months prior to the planned works commencing on site.
The adjoining owner is the neighbour who borders, or joins the building owner’s property.
Party Wall Notices will formally invoke The Party Wall etc Act 1996 upon the adjoining owner, importantly by serving the Notice, the building owner will be giving the adjoining owner the legal right to respond to the Party Wall Notice with a response option of their choosing.
We are now going to be taking a closer look at these response options so that you are fully informed of the procedures and scenarios surrounding.
Consenting to the party wall notice
The first possible response option that the adjoining owner has at their disposal is to consent to the Party Wall Notice.
Consenting to the Party Wall Notice if compared to a traffic light will be a green light, effectively giving the building owner the legal right to progress their planned works without any further party wall surveying procedure or involvement.
It’s important to note that if the adjoining owner does consent to the party wall notice they will be reserving the protections The Party Wall etc Act 1996 affords them, in particular the input and review of a party wall surveyor.
In our experience here at Stokemont, Party Wall consents tend to be relatively rare. In most circumstances adjoining owners will want to have the benefits and protections of The Party Wall Act etc 1996 and procedures, we tend to find more adjoining owners dissent then consent.
Dissenting to the Party Wall Notice and appointing their own party wall Surveyor
The second response option open to an adjoining owner upon resit of a Party Wall Notice is to dissent.
In dissenting to the Party Wall Notice the adjoining owner will be given the legal right to appoint a Party Wall Surveyor on their behalf and administrate The Party Wall etc Act 1996.
A Party Wall Surveyor’s role and duty will be one of statute whereby they have to ensure they bring the protections to the adjoining owners to the highest possible level.
These protections are achieved by way of surveyor review, Party Wall Surveying procedure and ultimately the agreement of a Party Wall Award in advance of the planned works commencing.
The Party Wall Award is the legal document the governess the building owners planned works and gives the adjoining owner all of the necessary protections above and beyond common law.
Dissenting to the Party Wall Notice and appointing an agreed Party Wall surveyor
The final Party Wall 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 will undertake all the same activities and roles that two surveyors would. The key distinction and difference is that they act impartially on behalf of the building owner and adjoining owner.
This is in comparison to a building owner appointing their own Party Wall Surveyor, with likewise the adjoining owner selecting the same option.
Agreed Party Wall Surveyors have the benefit of cost and time efficiencies for both building owner and adjoining owner alike.
And in most cases whereby a building owner will respect the fact that an adjoining owner has dissent, they will then aim for the appointment of an agreed surveyor.
Coming back to the title of this blog post, deciding on whether to dissent to a Party Wall Notice is very much a position that an adjoining owner will want to consider.
Ultimately here at Stokemont we would advise that they carefully consider the planned works and any concerns that they have in respect to those works. We would also advise that they attempt to discuss the planned works with the building owner in an attempt to alleviate any concerns that they may have. If indeed discussion enables clarification and understanding on any issues, then in most circumstances adjoining owners are likely to consent to Party Wall Notices with the Request of a schedule of condition report forming part of that consent.
A schedule of condition report is the preworks record and condition survey that the Party Wall Surveyor will undertake in advance of the building owners planned works commencing.
Convention tends to be that adjoining owners will dissent and appoint a Party Wall Surveyor, whether that is their own Party Wall Surveyor or an agreed party wall surveyor.
Overall, the works that building owners are undertaking due involve risk and in most cases adjoining owners will want to cover and protect themselves from this risk.
The Party Wall Surveyor Act is the vessel for the adjoining owner to gain this protection, importantly that protection being above common law.
Party Wall Surveying notices are likely to stir up concen with adjoining owners, for any building owner out there we would advise always discussing planned works with your neighbour in advance of serving them notice, this is likely to go a long way to reduce concern and may ultimately bode well for a positive Party Wall Notice response.
For building owners who need to serve a Party Wall Notice, here at Stokemont we always advise expecting and budget for a Party Wall Notice dissent. Party Wall Notice dissents tend to be far more prevalent then Party Wall Notice consents.
If you would like to discuss your Party Wall Surveying procedures with our team of experienced and qualified RICS building surveyors, please feel free to call today and we will be more than happy to assist and advise you.
