Neighbour's Party Wall surveyor has billed me... for nothing

[marcofoo]

You are not giving full details.

Did you serve a party wall notice.Was it valid.Who is your party wall surveyor and did you get a reply from the neighbor.If they dissent as you say, you should have a letter from them appointing this so called Jim as their surveyor.

Confirm this and I can tell you exactly how to get this guy off your back forever....

Hi Bouba,

I served a party wall notice, the neighbour dissented and they "proposed" Jim in the following format:

I am not content for the works set out in your notice to go ahead as proposed and appoint the surveyor detailed below:

Surveyor's name:
Surveyor's contact details:

 

[TonyW2]

If you served a party wall notice, how could the neighbour be expected to know that you would not proceed as stated and having taken your notice at face value and instructed a surveyor, why should that surveyor be out of pocket because you changed your mind?
Whether his charge is reasonable is a different matter.

 

[limerockconstruction]

If you served a party wall notice, how could the neighbour be expected to know that you would not proceed as stated and having taken your notice at face value and instructed a surveyor, why should that surveyor be out of pocket because you changed your mind?
Whether his charge is reasonable is a different matter.

+1

At dissent you don;t get to choose the surveyor, they do, and you become liable for their fees, as TonyW2 says weather they are reasonable is another mater.

If there is further dissent the 2 party wall surveyors prior to working on the case agree the name of a 3rd surveyor in case of dissent. This person can also bill you, so in worse case scenario's you could have 3 fee's to pay!

In this case i'm afraid that you are liable. But I would imagine only a couple of hundred quids/

 

[jeds]

The adjoining owners surveyor acted on your notice in good faith so is due a fee. The legality of the charge is determined by the act so questions of contracts between you and the surveyor are irrelevant. As others have said the amount of the fee is a different matter. I would go with the advice above to offer a lower amount. I would argue that the fee should cover a small amount of initial admin. Thereafter they should have waited for you to provide details. Any chasing by them was unnecessary and therefore not chargeable under the act. Offer them £75.00 + VAT for 30 minutes admin.

 

[Bouba]

You are not giving full details.

Did you serve a party wall notice.Was it valid.Who is your party wall surveyor and did you get a reply from the neighbor.If they dissent as you say, you should have a letter from them appointing this so called Jim as their surveyor.

Confirm this and I can tell you exactly how to get this guy off your back forever....

Hi Bouba,

I served a party wall notice, the neighbour dissented and they "proposed" Jim in the following format:

I am not content for the works set out in your notice to go ahead as proposed and appoint the surveyor detailed below:

Surveyor's name:
Surveyor's contact details:

Hang on a second...You served party wall notice.Agreed.

Did you not write your surveyors name on it.What section was it.I do not remember seeing any party wall notice which does not specify the surveyors name.Did you not read the party wall act booklet.It is pretty clear on what needs doing.

Again, not full details are here to give an exact answer.

Jeds advice is also good.You can offer him £75+vat which is normally the standard rate for serving notice/admin costs,if you did not proceed with works.