Canterbury & Kent

Party Wall Cost

What a party wall surveyor costs in Canterbury and Kent: notice fees, award fees, who pays, and how to keep the bill down on a loft or extension project.

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Notices for Party Walls

The expenses related to party wall are determined when the party wall job is completed. Once notices are served and the adjoining owners have had time to respond, you will have a much clearer picture of whether or not this will be a simple process or if it will require dealing with quite a number of adjacent owners (and their respective surveyors).

Notices to be served include a number of different kinds that relate to different situations:

• structures shared with others
• structures going up to the boundary line
• and deep excavations near your neighbours' foundations.

The kind of notice that is served will likely give you some indication of the party wall fees.

Process of the Party Wall Surveyor at Canterbury

If you are planning to change the party wall around your property during a renovation or construction project, you must comply with the Party Wall Act of 1996. This requires you to notify the owners of any adjacent buildings about your plans. They need to know so they can take any precautions necessary to protect their own property.

Depending on your specific project and what kind of work you're doing, the law requires that you give the neighbours either one month's notice or two months' notice before the work begins. Once they receive your notice, the adjacent property owners have three options. They can:

1. Consent to the work: if they choose this option, then no further action is needed for the adjacent property owners or for you.

2. Dissent to the notice but agree to have a single Agreed Surveyor assess the situation.

3. Dissent to the notice and hire their own surveyor (i.e. Two Surveyors for two owners)

Disagreements are not uncommon among surveyors; because of this, a Third Surveyor is chosen before starting any work. If two surveyors can not agree, the Third Surveyor makes the decision that determines which way the plumb line hangs. The choice of a Third Surveyor must be a carefully considered decision. If the Two Surveyors disagree with one another, the Third Surveyor settles the dispute and the costs awarded against either the Building Owner or Adjoining Owner, depending on which surveyor was at fault.

Schedule of Condition Cost

The building owner's surveyor typically carries out the condition survey.

They inspect the property in question and ascertain the condition of parts of the building(s) and/or structure nearby to the proposed works. Their findings are documented usually in a tabular form. The report consists of a written description of relevant elements of the building and is often accompanied by photographic evidence.

This report serves as evidence if there is an issue regarding damage to the adjoining owner’s property.

Inspections take, on average, 2-3 hours to complete with time to travel back to the office to generate the report. The average cost of the report is around £500.

Negotiating Party Wall Fees in Canterbury

If you want to build next to someone and your plans might affect their property, you have to hire a surveyor to negotiate with the other property owner’s surveyor.

Both these surveyors check to make sure your plans are safe, reasonable, and not going to cause any problems for the other property owner. Having two surveyors is a bit like having two lawyers and it can obviously get quite expensive. But if you and your neighbours want to maintain good relations and if you want to do anything close to a property line that might affect the other property, it's wise to have the necessary negotiations and assurances carried out.

What is the Cost of the Adjoining Owner's Surveyor?

While the Building Owner's Surveyor attempts to negotiate a reasonable fee for the Adjoining Owner's Surveyor, several factors might justify a higher fee. These include:

(1) distance and travel time to the site;

(2) the quality of the input, which could pertain to the Party Wall Award, the Schedule of Condition, or both; and

(3) the degree to which the surveyor and building owner had to communicate to resolve complex issues.

With these factors in mind, the hourly fee should probably reflect a "going rate." If the building owner's surveyor doesn't agree to this rate, then the Third Surveyor, if needed, could be tasked with determining a reasonable fee. The timesheet for the Adjoining Owner's Surveyor would likely reflect these typical components of an award:

(1) review of notices and drawings;

(2) exchanging letters of appointment;

(3) assistance in creating a schedule of condition;

(4) various communications, including emails and phone calls; and

(5) editing the Party Wall Award.