We are going to be looking at the procedures owners have open to them if there is a difference in opinion with Party Wall Surveyors.
Many Surveyors will attest that there are scenarios where differences in opinions, disputes or other issues can arise with appointing owners.
Mistakenly, many owners will take the view that they could just simply fire or sack their Party Wall Surveyor. However, this is far from the case.
In accordance with the Party Wall etc Act 1996 section 10 (2) sets out:
“All appointments and selections made under this section shall be in writing and shall not be rescinded by either party.”
This sets out that once a Surveyor’s appointment has been made in writing, it cannot be rescinded. In other words, they cannot be fired.
Therefore, if you have a disagreement, you are going to have to work with that Party Wall Surveyor to resolve the matter.
However, if that fails, owners can ask the Surveyor to make the declaration that they are “incapable of acting”.
What is incapable?
There is no set criteria defined under the Party Wall etc Act 1996 that the Surveyor would have to meet in order to deem themselves incapable of acting.
Instead, is left at the discretion of the Party Wall Surveyor.
In short this means that for new Party Wall Surveyor to come on board, the previous one must be prepared to step aside making the above declaration to their appointing owner.
Don’t panic, most Surveyors are prepared to make the declaration. However, do be sure to discuss the issues and work together with them for the post appropriate outcome.
Party Wall Award Problems
For owners to dispute the Party Wall Award, the process is a more conventional one.
Awards can be disputed through the courts by filing an N161 form along with the appropriate fee which is around £250.00 (at the time of writing this article).
Importantly for owners, this needs to be within 14 days of the Award’s date once it has been served by the Surveyor upon them.
With any legal procedures, it’s important to note that a Party Wall Award appeal does run the risk of cost for the owner making the appeal.
However, as with any legal matter, that owner could potentially recover some, or all of, their costs if are successful in claim.
We would advise that legal advice is obtained from legal advisors well versed in the Party Wall etc Act 1996 before considering appealing an Award.