Latest blog posts

The Government has confirmed that building work may continue during the current lockdown so long as the temporary Site Operating Procedures (SOP) are complied with. I therefore thought it might be helpful for those at the various stages of planning a building project to consider the impact on party wall procedures.If your designer has already ... Read more >>

I've written in depth about party wall procedures over recent months and will continue to do so but I thought it was time to provide an overview of the party wall process. In my experience, owners find it easier to understand why a particular part of the process happens if they can understand how it fits into the overall statutory ... Read more >>

We're all having to adapt to a new way of working and we've been endeavouring to keep things ticking over while observing Government guidance. Surveyors are in a slightly unusual position in that much of our work, such as report writing etc., can easily be done from home whereas property inspections obviously cannot.We've been practising ... Read more >>

Here at Peter Barry, we have been very aware of our obligations to our clients, staff and the Country given that our job involves visiting people's homes and properties.Our Managing Director Justin Burns outlined our procedures and introduced Risk Management Plans for all work types on 16th March.  By the end of that week, we were able to ... Read more >>

Until recently it was a general rule of thumb that the owner benefiting from the works that are the subject of party wall procedures paid the surveyors' fees but a case from 2018 has highlighted a potential exception to that rule.To understand the exception it is first necessary to briefly recap the process by which surveyors are appointed. ... Read more >>

The next step in the party wall process after surveyors (or an Agreed Surveyor) have been appointed is the recording of the condition of the adjoining owner’s property; referred to as a schedule of condition. This is not part of the formal process, as in it’s not referred to anywhere within the Act, but it is routinely done and could prove ... Read more >>

Where an adjoining owner dissents to a party wall notice they have two choices; appoint a surveyor of their choice or concur with the building owner in the appointment of a single Agreed Surveyor.In terms of cost, the appointment of an agreed surveyor will generally be cheaper than having two separate surveyors (I say ‘generally’ as the ... Read more >>

It’s the response that most worries owners notifying their neighbours of works falling under the Party Wall Act - not only a dissent but the appointment of a separate surveyor. I know of a couple of examples where a building owner has simply cancelled their works as a result, which seems extreme, but the loss of control really does seem to ... Read more >>

Here at Peter Barry, we serve hundreds of notices in any given year. Once a neighbour receives a notice they are a range of response options. Whilst to us as Chartered Surveyors these seem straight forward and obvious, we take plenty of phone calls that suggest that to the majority of people it is in fact not.This article will look to unravel ... Read more >>

The desired outcome for any owner serving party wall notices is a consent - it allows them to take advantage of the benefits of the Act, such as the right of access, without having to stump up for surveyors’ fees. However, adjoining owners consenting to party wall notices is still a relatively rare thing, I’ve not run the numbers but my sense ... Read more >>