The party wall surveyor

The Appointment of Surveyors

In a dispute situation it is very important to choose your surveyor wisely.  Once the surveyor is appointed the Act does not allow you to remove him and appoint someone else.

The Surveyor’s appointment is a statutory appointment, and must be made in writing.  Their duty is to settle the dispute between the parties in accordance with the Act.  They are not ‘employed’ as such by either party and nor does he generally act as their ‘agent’.

Both parties may wish to appoint a single surveyor, and of course this should save costs.  In this case both parties must give a letter of appointment requesting the surveyor to act as an ‘Agreed Surveyor’.

An important point to note in appointing an Agreed Surveyor is that there will be on ‘Third Surveyor’ in place.  This means that if wither of the owners becomes unhappy with the Agreed Surveyor, they will have no one to call upon to assist them act, unlike the situation when two Surveyors are appointed by each owner, in which situation a Third Surveyor would also be in place.

After checking all the paperwork is correct, one of the actions taken before the commencement of works will be to record the Schedule of Condition of the Adjoining Owner’s property.  This is not part of the Act and is therefore not a legal requirement, however it is most prudent to do so, as such a record may avoid any future disagreement in the event that damage is alleged to have occurred.

Party Wall Surveyors are appointed to resolve disputes between the owners and this is why an Award is made by the Surveyor(s).

The Third Surveyor

If each party appoints a surveyor then those two surveyors must select another surveyor called the ‘Third Surveyor’.   This is the first of their duties and MUST be done. 

The third surveyor is in place to act as a referee to resolve disputes between the two surveyors, or to generally assist in matters.  He may also be contacted by any of the owners on any matter relating to the dispute. 

The Surveyors (or the Third Surveyor as the case may be) resolve the dispute between the parties by making an Award.