If you are planning works that may fall under the Party Wall etc Act 1996 you have a legal obligation to serve a formal Party Wall Notice on all parties that may be affected.
For works to a party wall you are required to give 2 months notice before works commence. For foundation or excavation works 1 months notice is required.
Whilst it is possible to serve a Party Wall Notice yourself to save money, it is crucial that the Notice document is valid with no errors. If a dispute arises and the Notice turns out to be invalid than a new Notice would have to be served and valuable time would be wasted. It is therefore advisable to employ a Party Wall Surveyor to draw this up.
The following is a summary of what happens:
- Prior to serving the Notice it is a good idea to speak to your neighbours to let them know of your construction plans and that they will also be receiving a Notice in the post.
- We will issue a Party Wall Notice to the neighbour / Adjoining Owner after assessing your building plans.
- On receipt of the Notice the Adjoining Owner will have the option to ‘Consent’ or ‘Dissent’. This means he either agrees for you to go ahead with works without any further ado or he would prefer to have a formal documented outline of the the works to be carried out, and a possible list of restrictions on how it is carried out. This is the Party Wall Award.
- In preparation of the Party Wall Award the Adjoining Owner will require a surveyor to act on his behalf and will have the option to either use your surveyor or to appoint his own Party Wall Surveyor at your expense.
- If the Adjoining Owner does not reply within 14 days of receiving the Party Wall Notice he will be deemed to have dissented and you would have to appoint a surveyor to act on his behalf.
- A Schedule of Condition Report of the affected parts of the Adjoining Owners’s property is often undertaken. This provides a record of the condition of the property before commencement of the works. If the Adjoining Owner has employed another surveyor then he or she will be present when this is carried out.
- A Party Wall Award document is then prepared and signed by the surveyor(s). This will detail any precautions that must be taken, any restrictions, access rights, the works to be undertaken and any other issues pertaining to the work. A copy of this is given to both the Building Owner and the Adjoining Owner.
- Construction proceeds.
- On completion of works the condition is checked.
- If there is no damage the matter is signed off.
- If there is any damage, this is listed and the Adjoining Owner can choose to either take compensation or have the repairs carried out by your contractor.