Building Owner Information

Remember, the Party Wall Act is a facilitative law, intended to enable you to do the work you want, not to prevent it the works fro being undertaken.

Once we have reviewed your plans we would try to identify any possible problems. Once we have confirmed the fee to you and you have formally appointed us by letter, the process starts.

It is key that the Notices served to your neighbour are valid. Firstly land registry checks are made on the adjoining property to ensure that the correct owners names are obtained for the Notices. We recommend you speak to your neighbour early on to let them know that notices are being processed.

Once the Notices have been served, they should appoint their surveyor. In due course a record of the condition of their property is taken so that any damage caused can be easily identified.

A Party Wall Award document is then prepared, detailing the works, any precautions that must be taken and any other issues relating to the work.
The works proceed and the condition is then checked upon completion. 

Providing all is well, the matter is signed off, if there is any damage, this is listed and neighbour has the choice of having the repairs carried out by your contractor or taking compensation in lieu.

You can send us drawings on our enquiry form and we'll email you back as soon as we can.

As a Building Owner, it may seem a rather expensive inconvenience to have to deal with Party Wall matters when you just want to get on with your project. 

We try to keep things as straightforward and cost effective as possible for our clients.

Adjoining Owner Information

The Party Wall Act obliges property owners to serve formal Notice on their neighbours of building works that might affect the party structure between their properties.

If you haven't had a Notice and works have started, then knock on their door and ask what is happening, it may be that the building works don't require a Notice. If you are not certain, contact a surveyor to find our more.

Typically, you will have been sent a Notice which may underline either 'consent' or 'dissent' to the works. This sounds like you can prevent works going ahead - but it doesn't. If you 'consent' then the work will proceed without any checks under the Act.

We always recommend that adjoining owners dissent to the Notices as this will ensure you will have the protection of the Party Wall Act rather than relying on a personal claim if things go wrong.

When you dissent you need to appoint a surveyor to help you along the way in this process. This can be the same surveyor, since the surveyor has to be impartial under the Act, effectively working for the best interests of the wall - something that may not be easy if the surveyor is also the designer. Your neighbour is required to pay all of the surveyor's reasonable costs so it should cost you nothing.

After this, your property will be inspected by the surveyor(s) and its condition recorded. Then a Party Wall Award document is issued detailing the works and also any precautions that might need to be taken to protect your property.

The works then go ahead and your property is inspected on completion to check for any damage. If there is damage, then you have the choice of letting their contractor put it right or taking compensation instead.

You can contact us easily using the form below and we'll get back to you as soon as we can