Expert party wall surveyor in Manchester & Cheshire
Call us NOW on 0333 577 3050 for an initial *free assessment to see if the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 applies to you.
When do I need a Party Wall Surveyor or a Party Wall Agreement?
You need to appoint a Party Wall Surveyor if your neighbour does not consent to the Party Wall Notice that you serve on them, at which point there will be a dispute that requires surveyors to make an Award. Most people will engage a surveyor to serve the initial notice for them but you can do this part yourself.
Do I need to serve a party wall notice?
You need to serve a party wall notice if you are excavating close to an adjoining owner’s building or structure or doing work to an existing party wall. You also need to serve notice if you want to build on the boundary line. The 3 sections of the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 that detail notifiable work are as follows:
If you are proposing work under any of these sections of the Act then you are required to serve a party wall notice.
Whilst you can serve these initial notices yourself without using a party wall surveyor, if you make mistakes, you could find that the process is invalid later down the line and you may need to start again from scratch. If you are unsure what is required then you should use the services of a party wall surveyor. Most errors are made by downloading templates off the internet and not completing them correctly.
We can draft and serve the correct notices on your behalf for a nominal cost. This will prevent wasted time and possibly increased costs of the adjoining owner’s surveyor dealing with an incorrect notice.
Do I need to include drawings when I serve a party wall notice?
Drawings are compulsory if you are serving a section 6 notice. However, any notice should really be served with the drawings you have had prepared for the work so that the adjoining owner can see exactly what it is you intend to do and then make an informed decision about consenting to the notice or not.
What happens after a notice is served?
When you serve a notice on an adjoining owner, they should respond within the first 14 days. If they respond by consenting to the notice then you can commence works without further communication as long as they have also waived the statutory notice period of 1 or 2 months depending on the type of notice.
If they respond stating they are not consenting to the works or alternatively they do not respond at all, there is deemed to be a dispute which requires both parties to appoint either an agreed surveyor or a surveyor each who will then go on to make a Party Wall Award.
What can I do when the adjoining owner ignores the notice?
If the adjoining owner ignores the notice, there is automatically a deemed dispute after 14 days. You should then write to them again requesting that they appoint a party wall surveyor within 10 days or you will appoint a surveyor for them. If they ignore this 10 day request notice, you can then appoint a party wall surveyor on their behalf.
You should note that this must be a separate surveyor than your own, in other words it cannot be one agreed surveyor. An agreed surveyor can only be appointed if both parties agree in writing to using an agreed surveyor.
Can I insist on using an agreed surveyor?
In the event of a dispute, it is down to the adjoining owner to agree to use an ‘agreed’ surveyor or decide that they want to appoint their own separate party wall surveyor. On larger works it is normal practice for the owners to appoint a separate surveyor each as this hopefully ensures that the procedure is followed properly and both parties interests are catered for. On small minor works it is appropriate for both parties to agree to appoint an agreed surveyor.
I cannot recommend Richard and his team highly enough. We found Richard while we were undertaking a complex party wall application. We had a number of problems, including changed plans and a really high number of delays.
Richard not only dealt with these calmly and high professionally, but he charged us an *extremely* fair price for the amount of (unexpected) work that ended up being involved. I would not think twice about recommending him to someone else who was in a similar situation.
Kate Hardy- Extension & piling works, Didsbury
Why should you choose partywall.expert?
You should choose me, Richard Johnson of partywall.expert, because I am a full time party wall surveyor based in Cheshire covering Manchester and all of the North West. You will receive an unrivalled service of pragmatic advice and help, throughout the process. You will be able to speak directly with me and if I am temporarily unavailable when you call, I will always call you back as soon as possible to attend to your query. You can also read my 5* reviews on Google here.
For more information about the different types of notices and how we can help you:
*Please note that this is only to assess if your work is governed by The Party Wall etc. Act 1996.