This is what it involves:
1) We make an initial assessment of the work plans and an initial inspection to ascertain if the proposed work falls under the Party Wall Act.
2) We produce the Party Wall Award, the legal document that describes how the proposed works should be carried out. This includes:
3) We visit to carry out a Schedule of Condition Survey - a record of the condition of the adjoining property, supported by a set of photographs.
4) We create the package that includes the building plan(s) that show the details of the proposed works and deliver these to all parties in both hardcopy and digital formats.
5) We issue the party wall award and keep the records in our files indefinitely.
If we are acting as the Agreed Surveyor for both the Owner and Adjoining owners then the process is now complete.
If you intend to carry out work on your home that has a structural impact on a shared wall or floor or, in the case of house extensions, a wall within six metres of your excavations , then it notifiable and it is a legal requirement that you serve each of your affected neighbours with a party wall notice.
In some cases the neighbour will simply agree for the work to be carried out. In other cases they may ask for a Party Wall Survey to be carried out and a Party Wall Award to be issued.
Anyone can write and serve a party wall notice but it's very easy to get it wrong and unintentionally serve an invalid notice which exposes you to legal expenses in a civil court if there are any issues later. In order for the notice to be valid and incontestable later it makes sense to get an expert to carry this out for you.
If an Adjoining Surveyor has been appointed (or we are acting as an Adjoining Surveyor) then both surveyors will carry out a Schedule of Condition Survey and will work together on the Party Wall Award to ensure that all parties are in agreement and protected. As part of this process a third Party Wall Survey is named who can act an an arbitrator to resolve any disputes between the two Surveyors.
In the case of an issue during the construction or after completion we act to resolve this and stipulate the remediation required. This is done with the other Party Wall Surveyor if there is one.
So for example is a loft conversion has lead to cracks in the party wall and this is verified by a visit and the original Schedule of Condition Survey an award will be made to the Adjoining owner for the time and materials to remedy.