What Happens Upon Completion of Party Wall Works?

I’ve said many times during this series of posts covering party wall procedures that the Award is the document that resolves the dispute which arose when the notice(s) were dissented to so, as far as the surveyors are concerned, should that not be the end of the matter? Not always.

Section 10 of the Act, the Section that deals with the resolution of disputes, confirms that the surveyors may undertake, and charge for, “reasonable inspections of work to which the award relates”. It has been argued that the reference relates to inspections required to produce an award but, if that were the case, would it not have said to which the “notice(s)” rather than the “award” relates?

There are some scenarios where the surveyors have a formal role to complete following service of the award. An example would be where the adjoining owner has requested security and, having been either agreed between the owners or determined by the surveyors, it is placed in an Escrow type account only to be released on the signature of the surveyors.

However, the more contentious further involvement relates to the necessity of an inspection upon completion of the works. The Act does not include any formal procedure at the end of the works so when someone refers to the works being “signed off” or similar, they are referring to a tradition rather than the statutory procedure.

The award may make provision for a further inspection of the adjoining owner’s property to check for damage if the surveyors feel that such is justified. In most cases, there will not have been any damage, so the inspection is undertaken by the surveyor who was appointed by the adjoining owner on their own to save costs. The question is, when will such an inspection be justified?

The surveyors will normally agree that a final inspection is necessary where the works have been extensive (and therefore more likely to cause damage) such as a basement extension with underpinning to the party wall or where the works have included a significant intrusion upon the adjoining owner’s land such as where access has been required to construct a wall at the boundary. Conversely, where the work authorised by the award consists solely of moderate excavation well back from any structure on the adjoining owner’s land, a final inspection should not be necessary.

A final inspection is essentially a review of the schedule of condition that was prepared prior to the works commencing to check whether there have been any changes or if the building owner has not completed any of their obligations relating to the adjoining owner’s property. Such obligations will generally relate to a requirement to reinstate.

Where there are outstanding issues, the surveyor(s) should update the owners and then step back to give them time to resolve the matter rather than assuming that there is a dispute and running up additional costs that may make any such dispute more difficult to resolve.

If you live in the Cambridgeshire of north Essex area and require advice on final inspections, or any other party wall matter, you are welcome to contact the author of this post on 01799 543532 or via email.