Are you a Building Owner?
The Building Owner is an owner who wishes to undertake building works, which involves exercising rights provided by the Party Wall etc. Act 1996. It is the Building Owner’s responsibility to serve a Notice, where necessary.
First Steps – Serving Notice(s):
The first step of the process is to serve a 14-day notice(s) to the neighbouring property as required based on the notifiable works as outlined within the Act. The notice(s) informs them of your intentions to complete works and detail each area of the act that would be applicable. Each section of the Act has a pacific notice period in which must be followed prior to building works commencing, works can commence before this time subject to agreeance.
We would always advise that the Building Owner serves notice in good time in advance of the intended start date of the proposed works. The Act stipulates a statuary notice period of either 1 or 2 months depending on the notifiable section.
Serving the notice last minute can be risky, as subject to the option selected by your neighbour, this could require further time being required for the agreed Schedule of Condition or obligated Party Wall Agreement/Award to be prepared by the Surveyor(s) and in place prior to any notifiable works commencing, resulting in possible delays to the intended program which could add further unnecessary stress and worry.
We would strongly recommend serving notices as soon as you have the structural drawings completed and in the process of selecting a contractor, this would then enable you to manage timings with your contractor and mitigate possible delays.
Having served the 14-day notices to the Adjoining Owner, your neighbour, they have three options in which they can select and reply in response:
– Option 1 – Agreement / Schedule of Condition:
The first option is that they may simply consent to the works; this allows the proposed works to go ahead as intended without the need to appoint a Party Wall Surveyor(s) and a Party Wall Award being agreed. In such instances, to further protect all parties, although not a requirement under the Act, we would further recommend that a Schedule of Condition is to be prepared, prior to the commencement of the works.
A Schedule of Condition Report involves a surveyor visiting an adjoining owner’s property prior to the building owner’s construction work commencing. A surveyor would then prepare a thorough report which fully confirms the condition of the property and all elements within it. This report then acts as a record of proof for the condition of the property in advance of the construction works commenced.
A Schedule of Condition Report is one of the key parts of the construction process and as a result, we recommend them in all cases. The Schedule of Condition Report not only adds clarity to a potential damage claim but also avoids a potential dispute between the respective property owners, thereby ensuring that no strain is put on the all-important neighbourly relationship.
All such costs for completion of a Schedule of Condition would be payable by the building owner proposing the works
– Option 2 – Dissent / Appointment of ‘Agreed’ Surveyor:
The second option is that they may dissent to the notice(s) and opt with you to appoint what is called the ‘Agreed Surveyor’, for example, we can be appointed in this instance. The Agreed Surveyor is an independent, third-party who acts for both parties. This response allows one surveyor to represent both owners’ interests thus keeping costs down expediting the process and avoiding any delays to your works. As the jointly appointed Agreed Surveyor, we have a duty under the Party Wall, etc. Act 1996 to act impartially to protect both owners’ interests.
This option does not prevent the proposed works from proceeding ahead but does require the obligation of a Party Wall Award/agreement to be prepared and agreed upon prior to any notifiable works commencing
I list below the service in which a surveyor would undertake (but not exclusively) under the Act:
- Review of the drawings in relation to the Act.
- Conduct HM Land Registry searches for each party.
- Serve any additional Party Wall notice to Adjoining Owner(s).
- Conduct the relevant schedule of condition survey/inspection of your Adjoining Owners property.
- Produce Party Wall awards and serve to each party.
- Conduct final inspection upon completion of the works to confirm no damage has occurred.
Upon completion of the notifiable works, it is often the case that the surveyor (s) will carry out a final inspection of the adjoining owner property/structure.
The final inspection will allow the party wall surveyor (s) to review the schedule of condition taken prior to works commencing against post-completion of the works, to assess any changes in the condition of your property/structure and any damage that may have occurred as a result of the notifiable works undertaken by the Building Owner.
In the unlikely event, damage has occurred to the Adjoining Owner property/structure as a result of the notifiable works executed by the Building Owner, then the surveyor (s) will determine the necessary steps required based on the required repairs. In such instances, repairs must be undertaken to the same standard of the existing condition or better.
The Adjoining owner can request that any damages are made good by the Building Owner’s contractor, or alternatively, they can request that payment is made in lieu to the adjoining owner so that they may appoint their own contractor to make good the damaged area (s).
The reasonable costs of the surveyor (s) would be included within the award and be payable by the building owner proposing the works
– Option 3 – Dissent / Individual Appointment of Surveyors:
The last option is that they may dissent to the notice(s) and opt to appoint their own Surveyor. In this instance, you would be required to have your own Surveyor appointed such as us, and your Adjoining Owner would also appoint their own Surveyor.
Both surveyors would act impartially working jointly in carrying out a schedule of condition survey and drafting and serving a party wall award; very much the same progress as outlined above in option b.
In addition, the selection of a third surveyor is also agreed upon by the two surveyors as part of this process in accordance with section 10(1)b of the Act. Either of the parties or either of the surveyors may call upon the Third Surveyor to determine any disputed matter.
Again, the reasonable costs of the surveyor (s) would be included within the award and be payable by the building owner proposing the works.
– No Reply – Adjoining Neighour has responded within the 14-days:
There is also the possibility that you may not receive a response to the notice served upon the adjoining owner once the 14-day notice period has lapsed, in such instances, as defined in Party Wall, etc. Act 1996, the Building Owner’s surveyor must serve a 10-day notice to the Adjoining Owner advising that under the Act, a dispute has deemed to have arisen, and therefore request that they appoint a surveyor within the next ten days or under Section 10(4)(b).
You would need to be mindful that the neighbour may have not responded as they were either away or simply caught up with day-to-day life, and providing they respond within the 10-day period, they still will have the option to respond and select any of the options as listed above.
In such cases where the Adjoining Owner is a company or local Authority, response times can vary and from our experience, things can be very last minute, or no response is received at all.
If the Adjoining neighbour fails to respond within the 10-day notice, the building owner’s surveyor will appoint a Surveyor on the Adjoining Owner’s behalf. In this instance, once the Adjoining Owner’s Surveyor has been appointed, the progress would revert back to option 3, and the Building Owner’s Surveyor would proceed to make the relevant Party Wall Award with the appointed Adjoining Owner’s Surveyor.