Party Walls And Who Appoints The One, Two Or Three Surveyors
Which Party Appoints The Surveyor To Resolve A Dispute
Under the law, both parties must employ a surveyor if there is a dispute.
Section 10.1a and 10.1b of the Party Wall Act state that where disputes arise, both the Building Owner and the Adjacent Property Owner (the neighbour) must appoint a party wall surveyor. But confusingly, it can be either one shared surveyor or three surveyors. There are no two options!
Where your neighbours have responded to your notice with a dissent or disagreement with your proposed building works, they have two choices of surveyor.
An agreed surveyor. This is agreeing to use the Building Owners surveyor, referred to as “the agreed surveyor.” As professionals, they are impartial but are paid by the owner.
Their own appointed surveyor.
When your neighbours appoint their surveyor, a third surveyor is selected to mitigate any disputes.
Is the choice of Surveyors set in stone?
Largely yes. Once a dispute arises, both parties are required to appoint a surveyor. Once they agree on how they want to proceed and with one or three surveyors, this agreement is made in writing with a copy being served to both parties and cannot be reminded. The critical aspect here is that the appointment of a party wall surveyor is made under legal statute and cannot be removed or reserved. This covers both the single agreed surveyor AND the two appointment surveyors, and the third selected surveyor. See Section 10.2 of the Act.
What happens if something happens to our Surveyor. This would mean that the process has to begin again. This would only occur through illness (death) or if a surveyor cannot or refuses to act. This is not very common. There are sections in the Act that cover this.
The DIY Approach
Some Building Owners choose to act without professional advice. Should this occur, then the Adjacent Property Owner is free to choose a surveyor of their choice only after they have served a 10 working day notice letter requesting a surveyor be mutually agreed upon. This is also the case if your neighbour ignores your notice.
Who settles any disputes?
The surveyors are empowered through the Act to settle any disputes. The agreed surveyor reviews the proposed plans and consults with both parties, making them aware of which points to note and helping them gain and understand the site’s specific construction issues and any other concerns. They do this by ‘surveying both sides of the wall. They then prepare an Award which sets out how the work can then progress. The Award is signed, witnessed, and served to both parties. This can be contested.
