Taylor Mitchell Blog

Party wall procedures are built around a sequence laid down in the Act - the proposed work must one of the rights provided within the Act, those works must be formally notified to any affected adjoining owners and if the notices are dissented to, surveyors must be appointed to draw up an award authorising the works. Occasionally a building ... Read more >>

Section 10(12) of the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 confirms that an award may cover the ‘time and manner of executing any work’. As one of the key principles of the Act is to avoid adjoining owners suffering unnecessary inconvenience, it is logical that the appointed surveyor(s) should have this power. This is the relevant clause from the RICS ... Read more >>

In an ideal world the appointed surveyors would have all the information they require available and be in a position to cover all aspects of the work in detail in the award but there are situations where that is either not possible or pragmatic. We refer to these as ‘reserved matters’ i.e. a matter where some additional information is required ... Read more >>

When a party wall award has been agreed it should be served on the owners without delay, or ‘forthwith’ as the authors of the Act put it, but how does that happen in practice? Until section 15 of the Act was amended by the Electronic Communications Act in 2016, all awards were generally served either by post or in person. The typical ... Read more >>

The next step in the party wall process after surveyors (or an Agreed Surveyor) have been appointed is the recording of the condition of the adjoining owner’s property; referred to as a schedule of condition. This is not part of the formal process, as in it’s not referred to anywhere within the Act, but it is routinely done and could prove ... Read more >>

To understand the purpose of a party wall award it's necessary to take a step back and appreciate where it fits within the procedures set out in the Act. Where a party wall notice has been served and has not been consented to by the affected adjoining owner a dispute arises. Both the building owner and the adjoining owner must appoint a surveyor ... Read more >>

In recent years, the RICS have tried make life easier for homebuyers by insisting that members benchmark their survey reports. Every report must be allocated a Level between 1 and 3. The RICS have produced a set of templates but members are also free to use their own as long as it is clear to clients which level of report they are ... Read more >>