Help!! Neighbour who strongly objects to our work has appointed a friend as the party wall surveyor

[Paul Miller]

Hi,

We submitted some plans and our neighbour(who is a structual engineer) went to town using objection letters from him and his wife(using different names to give the impression of multiple objections). They objected to about 10 different points, all of which were rebuffed by the planning officer and planning permission was granted. Great we thought, lets proceed with the build. He originally told me that we could use an agreed party wall surveyor, however now he is saying that his friend doesn not want to act for both parties(given this is his work he knows exaclty how this will cost us more money). I'm really concerned that his friend is going to delay the project, as well as over charge us because it's become clear that they are going to try and do everything they can to try and block the build. I would appreciate any insight into if a party wall surveyor can act in such a way to block any building work? This is a massive 9 month build that we want to start in a couple of months and are currently securing accomodation to live in whilst the work is being done. So now we are concerned that they might try to delay the work for several months just purely to be petty and hopefully make us not do it. The sadest part is this people used to be our friends and we didn't even ask for a party wall when they did an extension.

 

[mrrusty]

One way to deal with this sort of situation is to fight fire with fire. You could tell them to fill their boots, make life awkward for you, but tell them, rest assured, you'll keep your powder dry and the second they wish to sell their house you will be registering boundary disputes and any other inconvenience you can think of which will make their future sale mega hassle. OK, may be bluster, but on the other hand might make them think twice.

 

[^woody^]

Have you served a party wall notice?

 

[Notch7]

Why does the project need a party wall?

the problem is party wall disputes can run into huge delay and end up costing tens of thousands - which clearly the tw@ts next door know.

party wall surveyors - Mmm it’s a cowboy industry, so you need to really do your research and find an honest surveyor who acts in your favour, not in the favour of making money.


If it’s a straight forward project and there can be no genuine disputes your neighbours surveyor can find, it should be fine.

 

[wessex101]

I had this situation with a client last year. I advised the client to have a shallow raft foundation designed by a structural engineer so the new foundations would not be deeper than the adjoining building foundations thereby taking the work outside the remit of the party wall act.
The cost of the structural engineer and the extra work in the raft foundation were cheaper than the potential costs of the prolonged party wall dispute as the neighbour was out to cause as much inconvenience and cost as possible.
I think the client was most pleased that he could just stick two fingers up to the neighbour. Mind you I lost a party wall fee.

There is also recent case law that the neighbour cannot refuse to use an agreed surveyor just to bump up the costs for the building owner. If you put forward an independent qualified party wall surveyor as agreed surveyor the court can cap the fee that you have to pay the adjoining owners surveyor and the adjoining owner has to make up the difference from their own pocket. At least I think that's how it worked out.

 

[stevenway]

Steve the party wall surveyor here.
1. Your neighbour csn appoint his friend (not very ethical but he can) but, it is a statutory appointment not a client / agent appointment.
2. They cannot stop you exercising the rigts offered by the party wall act (effectively they cannot stop you doing the work)
3. They can make your life difficult - get yourslef a robust independent party wall surveryor who knows his way round the Act - dont buy on price buy on experience. I suggest a cahrtered surveyor who is also a member of the pyramus and thisbe club. (The PW surveyors association). Faculty of Party wall Surveyors memebrs can be good, but many are not very effective

"There is also recent case law that the neighbour cannot refuse to use an agreed surveyor just to bump up the costs for the building owner. If you put forward an independent qualified party wall surveyor as agreed surveyor the court can cap the fee that you have to pay the adjoining owners surveyor and the adjoining owner has to make up the difference from their own pocket. At least I think that's how it worked out."

That advice is wrong, its not how it worked out. The key word is agreed, that means you and your neigbour have to agree on the surveyor - if you don't you cannot use one. The case related to a loft conversion and a falling out between neighbours one of who had previsuly consented to the others loft conversion.

And, where there is a proper dispute between neighbours the agreed surveyor route is very problematic and not one i would recommend.

Steve

 

[wessex101]

Steve the party wall surveyor here.
3. They can make your life difficult - get yourslef a robust independent party wall surveryor who knows his way round the Act - dont buy on price buy on experience. I suggest a cahrtered surveyor who is also a member of the pyramus and thisbe club. (The PW surveyors association). Faculty of Party wall Surveyors memebrs can be good, but many are not very effective

You can tell he's a party wall surveyor. His advice is ...... use a party wall surveyor and don't use a cheap one. Jobs for the boys.

 

[^woody^]

Woody the party planner here.

My advice would be to arrange a nice soiree with the neighbours and choose a quality person who knows how to partay.

Meanwhile, get the builders to dig and fill the trench.