Menu
Looking for a party wall surveyor in Notting Hill? The team can help with any disputes or disagreements you have with your neighbours over the renovations and developments you are trying to accomplish. Our panel of party wall surveyors covers Notting Hill, London and the Home Counties (including Surrey).
Even if you think it might not be needed, it’s always beneficial to have a chat with any neighbouring property owners who could be affected by your proposed work. No matter how well you anticipate you’ll get along with the neighbours, it’s always best to maintain a friendly line of communication.
Inform them about the renovations you plan to undertake. They could either express their approval or voice concerns. In any event, you would need to “serve notice” on them.
Even when consensus is achieved, disagreements can still occur. That’s why both property owners should appoint a surveyor to assess, document, and verify the state of the respective structures. The work of the party wall surveyor—who will prepare photographs and a written report—can serve as a crucial point of reference for both parties in the event of a dispute that might arise in the future. If a disagreement does happen, despite good-faith efforts to comply with the Act, going to work with a party wall surveyor is by law the only option for resolution.
Appointing a Notting Hill party wall surveyor enables you to:
Most surveyors for party walls in Notting Hill provide a work-based estimate. This could take the form of an hourly rate for all the necessary work. You could pay anywhere from £150 to £300 an hour for the service, depending on how urgent it is and whom you ask.
All the work needed to serve a notice, schedule of condition, and ultimately reach an award is chargeable to you, the building owner. The average cost of a survey tends to fall somewhere around £1,000 to £1,500. The overall cost also depends on a variety of factors:
It is also important to understand that, if the adjoining owner selects a surveyor of their own, the building owner remains liable for that surveyor’s fees. The surveyor for the building owner will negotiate what amounts to a reasonable fee with the surveyor for the adjoining owner. Most of the time, the fee for the surveyor for the adjacent owner ends up being a lot more than what it would have cost if the building owner and adjoining owner had gone in together and hired a single “agreed” surveyor.
A Party Wall Surveyor is appointed under the statute law of the Party Wall etc. Act 1996. If you are:
If you are engaging in any construction that may affect your neighbour, you are required by law to notify them ahead of time. But even if your proposed work is “permitted development,” you may still need to comply with the Party Wall etc. Act, and, in any event, notifying neighbours before commencing works is generally considered to be a good idea.
In Notting Hill, our panel of Party Wall Surveyors will observe your project as it unfolds and guide you through the process. They prepare the required Service of Notices and will put together the Schedules of Condition for you.
If necessary, they will also produce the Party Wall Award and even help you with the Licence to Alter if you require consent from your landlord.
When is it necessary to serve a Party Wall Notice? This hinges on what the Act refers to as “notifiable works.” As a general rule, you must give notice in the following situations: if you plan to dig foundations and if you will be within 3 meters of your neighbour’s foundations; if you will build a wall up to or astride the boundary; or if you’ll be doing any work on the party wall itself.
It is most advisable to hire a surveyor for this job. The notice must include some very important information:
You can serve a notice, stating that you intend to do work on your side of the party wall, regardless of whether you have any planning permission in place. It must be a minimum of two months before any building work can start.
After you serve the adjoining owner the notice, they have 14 days to respond. If the notice is not disputed, then the work can progress. If they dispute the notice, or if they do not respond in a timely manner, your surveyor will need to get more involved as things could start to get a little complicated.
If you plan to undertake any work that falls under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996, you must notify your neighbours if the work is to a party wall they share or you do specific works which are close to their building.
After that, an agreement will be drawn up in accordance with the Act. If you’re the one carrying out the work, you might be tempted to say that the arrangement is really quite simple and straightforward. This can be the case with our panel of surveyors, who draw up party wall agreements that can be simple and straightforward if the nature of the dispute is as such.
The Full Building Survey report includes the following:
When it comes to the detail that the surveyor will go into concerning defects, repairs, and maintenance, the Homebuyer Survey is fairly standard. Full Building Surveys, however, are more refined and go into more detail about possible and likely defects. Repairs and maintenance are covered in more detail. The Survey cost depends on the age, size, and value of the property.
The analysis they undertake is a visual inspection. This means that, for the most part, the building components that can be seen will be looked at and assessed in accordance with the surveyor’s remit. The Home Survey Report will show you the visible defects and then go on to discuss the kinds of partially hidden or totally hidden defects that the surveyor thinks you should be aware of. It will also try to clarify what kinds of repair work need to be done and the nature of the repairs. The survey is effectively a way to consider “defects” and their potential impact on the building.
A Building Survey Report contains the most important information for understanding the condition of a property. The surveyors that undertake the work follow a set procedure. The first part of the report contains a general overview of the property and its surroundings. The second part details the major and minor problems with the property’s components, inside and out. These problems range from serious structural defects to issues with doors or windows that don’t close properly, and everything in between. The report is written in clear English, complemented by diagrams and photographs. If any of the problems found are what a surveyor might consider important, that’s what the report indicates—using clear and unambiguous language.
Surveyors usually use a tick box to indicate methods of repair when drafting a building survey report. They are also required to comment on the timescale of any repairs. A condition rating is typically included: what needs to be addressed immediately, what is in the process of deteriorating but is in reasonable condition, and what has not deteriorated at all.
A building surveyor is responsible for a variety of checks and tests during a building inspection. These could be checks or tests for damp and woodworm, or they could be visual inspections of the building’s structure. In building surveying, there are visual inspections of roofs – checking for tiles and slates (if applicable) and also checking for leadwork (if applicable) and looking at the junctions between roof and wall. If the wall structure has brick in it, the surveyor will visually check for any “spalling” (brick breaking apart visibly) and any bulging (brick failing to hold its place visibly), for example.
If defects need fixing immediately, then the options recommended for this survey specify what to repair and give some idea of how long the problem has existed. For the most part, this survey describes recommended repair approaches that are standard in the industry and that do not require excessive expenditure. Future maintenance is also discussed, including what to expect when the problem being surveyed is not repaired and what to expect with repairs that are made but with questionable methodology.
Your surveyor will explain some of the legal aspects of purchasing the building, covering—in as much or as little detail as you desire, and their implications, but this is subject to your solicitor verifying.
You might consider having a separate market valuation done to determine whether the property’s asking price is warranted. You’ll also need a reinstatement cost valuation for insurance reasons.
RICS’s industry guidelines suggest building surveys for properties that are large, very old, in some disrepair, or have unusual features. Building surveys are also recommended if you plan to do any significant renovations or extensions.
If you’re purchasing a relatively modern home that’s in decent shape and built to ordinary standards, then a Home Buyer Survey is an acceptable choice. If you want the assurance of an inspection and report that are pretty much guaranteed to turn up any issues that might be hidden or just hard to see, then you should go for a Full Building Survey instead.
The Full Building Survey is more detailed; it is more specifically tailored to the property your surveyor would be inspecting. It also comes with more advice on the visible defects found and on the potential hidden defects that they suspect may be present. Your surveyor will illustrate reports with photographs so that you can clearly see what has been discovered. Both the Home Buyer and Full Building Surveys describe the repairs needed, the order in which the repairs should be done, and the kind of “maintenance measures” that will be required to keep the property in good condition.
A HomeBuyer Report does include a market valuation as well as reinstatement costs. However, a Full Building Survey does not. The main reason for the differences in what is and isn’t included in the two types of reports is how focused the reports are on the condition of the property. The Full Building Survey is the most in-depth and comprehensive survey of a property that you can have done.
If you live in Notting Hill and are having a disagreement with a neighbour regarding a party wall, contact us for advice today. Your shared wall is, quite literally, a joint asset. You won’t be able to solve your disagreement without appointing a surveyor if there is a dispute, as it is required by the Party Wall Act 1996. The panel comprises Notting Hill party wall surveyors and we can help you understand this very important aspect of construction law.
Looking for a Chartered Surveyor? If you are buying a property, contact us for a building survey. Our panel of CIOB, RPSA and RICS surveyors will help you with the Level 2 or Level 3 property survey you need in Notting Hill. We can also assist you in Red Book Valuations, Party Wall Awards and other services. Reach out to us today for building surveyors, valuers and party wall surveyors in London!
