Party Wall Agreements can be used where neighbours are in agreement with their Neighbour’s proposed building works.

A Party Wall Agreement is not the same document as a Party Wall Award; indeed the word ‘agreement’ does not appear in the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 in connection with the actual notifiable works and / or resolution of a dispute between two neighbours (Owners).

In some instances the Adjoining Owner is happy for the works to proceed and, under the Act, this amounts to consent and the procedures under the Act cease. You should note that if the Adjoining Owner dissents to the notice then this procedure cannot be followed – click here for further details.

However, often such Adjoining Owners want more protection than this and a Party Wall Agreement is one way to provide this.

We would be pleased to prepare a Party Wall Agreement for both the Building Owner (the Owner carrying out the notifiable building works) and the Adjoining Owner (the Owner of the land normally beside the Building Owner’s land) to sign. Each Owner would then be given a copy.

So What Might It Include?

The Party Wall Agreement would include the following sections:-

1. An introduction explaining who the Owners are, what the works consist of, when the Notice was served and the Adjoining Owner’s formal consent.
2. A Schedule of Condition of the Adjoining Owner’s property
3. The Building Owner’s Contractor’s insurance details.
4. An explanation of the procedures to be followed if there is damage to the Adjoining Owner’s property which can be attributed to the Building Owner’s works.
5. The Party Wall Agreement can be extended to include other sections and documents by agreement between the Building Owner and the Adjoining Owner.

We would normally expect the Building Owner to pay our professional fees to prepare the Party Wall Agreement and the Schedule of Condition but, in some instances, the Adjoining Owner wants to pay half of our fees so they feel that they have a contractual link to us. In any event we will act (impartially) in exactly the same way as if we had been appointed as a Party Wall Surveyor under the Party Wall etc Act 1996.

We would expect to issue the completed Party Wall Agreement for signing by the two parties within two weeks of receiving instructions to proceed and this would include an inspection of the Adjoining Owner’s property so that the Schedule of Condition can be produced.

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