As the party planning the works, you will have complete control over whom the surveyor you appoint and what they charge. You will either agree a fixed fee or an hourly rate. The same cannot be said of your neighbour’s surveyor (if you cannot agree on an Agreed Surveyor) as he is chosen by your neighbour and is not required to state his fee until just before the award is published. If you or your surveyor consider the fee demanded to be unreasonable, it should be referred to the ‘Third Surveyor’ for review although this will incur a further fee and take another couple of weeks. The Third Surveyor is selected by the two appointed surveyors at the start of the process to resolve disputes.
Party wall issues? Here are a few advices: In most cases, if the adjoining does not respond within 14 days then a deemed dispute is said to have occurred and the person carrying out the work must appoint a surveyor to act on the adjoining owners behalf. If adjoining owners provide written consent to the works as set out within the notices, then there is no dispute to resolve and no further need for party wall surveyors or, indeed, the Party Wall Act. Assuming work proceeds as detailed within the notice and no damage is caused, then no further involvement is necessary. Resolving Disputes: If adjoining owners dissent to the works (or if no response is received and a deemed dissent has arisen) then a dispute has occurred which must be resolved under the requirements of Section 10 of The Act. It is worth reiterating that the Act is one of enablement, it is not there to prevent works from taking place and it offers a route to end disputes at every stage. Where written agreement is not given, the solution the Act provides is for both parties to appoint an ‘agreed surveyor’ who will act impartially or for each owner to appoint a surveyor who in turn appoint a third surveyor. The surveyors then work together to agree the terms under which work may proceed. The surveyor(s) will review the plans, notices and structural details of the works and, after considering the impact of the works, will draw up an agreement which sets out the terms under which work can be carried out (the Award).
If you have items lying around or blocking spaces or areas of the property where problems have arisen in the past, it is important that you expose these areas so that the surveyor can assess the area and potentially come up with a solution to the problem. You should avoid looking to hide any problem areas and instead focus on decluttering your property.
Likewise your property may be scouted by buy-to-let investors who are looking for a quick sale without too much trouble, or who are looking for a ‘ready’ home that they can move tenants into straight away. Try to put yourself in the shoes of your next potential buyer. Ask yourself these questions; can I move in here straight away? Will it cost me to make immediate repairs? Are these issues easily fixed? Am I willing to conduct any DIY or have repairs made by a technician?
In addition to the suite of RICS branded HomeBuyer Reports, we are able to offer the excellent jargon-free Home Condition Survey by SAVA. With its simple 1 -3 rating system which is also colour coded to indicate the risk level and the individual items rating it allows you to quickly determine the levels and not get held back by surveyor talk. In addition to this, it comes with helpful fact sheets on electrics, gas and asbestos as required. Find more details on Party Wall Surveyor Herne Bay.
The Party wall act, the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 act to give its full name is a piece of legislation that was mainly transferred from Part VI of London Building Acts (amendment) Act 1939, it applies in England and Wales. The main purpose of the act is to provide a framework for amicably preventing and resolving disputes between neighbours in relation to Party Walls, boundary Walls and Excavations near neighbouring buildings. Building owners are given statutory rights that did not exist in existing common law, when undertaking certain types of construction as defined by the Act. As well as these rights it obliges Building owners to give appropriate notice and for the relevant notice period if they intend on carrying out the defined work.
The most frequent question we get asked is, but we’ve had a survey the bank arranged it while it true that you can have a Level 2 or 3 survey through your mortgage provider. It is more likely a valuation report that has been commissioned and these are there purely to make sure the bank has the ability to get back from the property in resale what you’ve asked it to lend you. It doesn’t report on lots of things and in most cases, you never get to see it. A HomeBuyer Report with survey: Includes all the features of the RICS Condition Report and advice on defects that may affect the property. A HomeBuyer Report with survey and valuation: Includes all the features of the RICS Condition Report, plus a market valuation and insurance rebuild costs. As one of the most comprehensive surveys available, more often than not a building survey will be requested by potential buyers of your property. It is a wide range inspection of the entirety of a property done in more specific depth than a Homebuyers Report or a Mortgage Valuation. A Building Survey’s purpose is to give a detailed report of the condition of the property in question.
Home and building survey tips and tricks : Is your Home Cracking Up? Many cracks that appear in houses, new or old aren’t a major problem, just something that happens as properties settle on the ground they are built on. Some properties though suffer severe cracks which are structural problems, many of which can be easily fixed. Any cracks that take a 10p piece fitted in sideways, to should be checked by a local independent property surveyor. Check walls for damp! Walls get damp for many reasons, and they can always be fixed, often for a few thousand pounds. Check the bottom of your walls for any damp patches, especially after a few days of rain. Then get a free ‘timber and damp’ check. See extra details at home-heroes.co.uk.