Party wall surveyor services

We undertake all professional party wall surveyor work under The Party Wall etc Act 1996 including:

• Party Wall surveyor appointments from building owners and adjoining owners
  
• Schedules of condition on buildings
• Section 8 rights of access under the Party Wall etc Act 1996

Professional Party Wall surveyor services

Your duty as the owner proposing works

If you are the owner proposing to have the works carried out you must find out whether the works are governed by the Act. If so, you must:

• Serve statutory notice (one or two months depending upon the works) on the adjoining owners
• Get agreement from the adjoining owners in relation to the works, before you start

We can prepare and serve the notices for you.

What is covered by The Party Wall Act

The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 applies throughout England and Wales.

The Act covers:

• New Building works at or astride the boundary between two properties
• Structural work affecting an existing shared/party wall, including repairs, alterations, extending or reducing the wall, cutting into the wall and underpinning
• Excavating, or constructing foundations within three metres of a neighbour’s building where the new foundations will go deeper than the neighbour’s foundations
• Excavating, or constructing foundations within six metres of a neighbour’s building where the new foundations will cut into a line drawn downwards at 45 degrees from the bottom of the neighbour’s foundations

If you do not get agreement from the adjoining owners you must employ a party wall surveyor to agree a party wall award. He/she will either act as an Agreed Surveyor or agree the award with an appointed Surveyor acting for the adjoining owner.

We can act for building owners, adjoining owners and act jointly in certain cases.

If you need the services of a party wall surveyor, please contact us today.

Schedule of condition

If you have been served with a Party Wall notice, NJC Services can provide you with a schedule of condition or agree a schedule of condition with another surveyor. This is a record of the exact condition of your property before work commenced. We take photos as well as surveying the relevant aspects of your property.

Most Party Wall matters end up with Party Wall Awards being prepared and with schedules of conditions being drawn up which are appended to the Awards.

If you need the services of a party wall surveyor, please contact us today.

Section 8 rights of access

Section 8 of the Party Wall Act will need to be considered if the right of access onto the neighbouring land is required for works covered by the Act. This is a separate Act to the Access to Neighbouring Land Act 1992 which covers basic repair works and/ or maintenance works to the applicants property. This legal right can be very useful for carrying out certain works, for example:

If a notice is served under Section 1 to construct a new wall along a boundary (either as a Party Wall or as a wall built wholly on the owner’s side of the boundary) or if a notice is served under Section 2 to raise /rebuild a Party Wall there is a right of access onto the neighbouring land to build and finish the wall. This includes the placement of scaffolding if this is necessary. Section 1 of the Act permits walls built on a boundary but excludes boundaries that are already built on (i.e. where a wall exists unless that is just a garden wall).

If you need the services of a party wall surveyor, please contact us today.

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