Party Wall Act - Extortionate fees and ruins relations with neighbours

es5595

Surely if you had a great relationship with your neighbours before all this, and kept them abreast of your plans at every stage, they’d be onboard? 

I’m in a terrace, and when the first I heard that the neighbour had put in planning permission to divide the house into two and build a third in the garden was when I got the notice from the council through, I didn’t hesitate when I got a letter from someone offering their services as an impartial party wall surveyor. 

mug2007

Yes we had several meetings and answered all their questions, plus it was openly discussed at various neighbours gatherings in a relaxed social setting.  One neighbour agreed over email twice (Covid delay) and the other neighbour verbally 3 times.  Problem was I had totally underestimated the persuasive powers of the surveyors.  I understand they spoke to several and surprisingly enough they all wanted our money and they successfully convinced them to change their minds.  So the Act that is meant to prevent disputes seemed to cause the dispute.
It all seems a little unfair when you know people who haven't sent the notice who have spent absolutely nothing on party wall surveyor fees and people with more agreeable neighbours who have spent far less.  
Given that we were doing simple works and were trying to do the right thing by serving the notice, it was disappointing that both neighbours disputed.  

TELLIT01

AskAsk said:

mug2007 said:

Yes, you can and it is a good idea if you speak to your neighbour before serving the notice to see if they will agree with the same/agreed surveyor.  I asked my neighbour if they would like to choose the party wall surveyor but turned out they felt their views wouldn’t be considered unless they had their own.  They have to be impartial anyway and ours had many years experience. So apart from paying double fees and adding even more indirectness to the whole situation, not sure if anything is gained.  Obviously no cost to neighbour so they choose whatever they want.

i wasn't the one doing the work.  i instructed my own surveyor, i didn't trust their surveyor.

That's the underlying problem isn't it.  Rightly or wrongly there is a concern that an 'expert' paid for by the other party will be supportive of their opinion / requirements.  I also thing that in the majority of cases that concern is unfounded.

mug2007

Yes agree.  The neighbour did say they wanted their own surveyor as I am paying for my one and I pointed out I am paying for both!  Next time (I hope there isn’t a next time as I want to stay well clear) I will say far earlier to them about the cost if they dissent and appoint another surveyor.  My neighbour thought it wouldn’t cost a lot and was shocked when I told them how much, it didn’t change their minds though  .

ARH_2

I'll soon be serving party wall notices once I've finalised the plans. 

If the either of the neighbors look like they're going to dissent, couldn't one just give them a chunk of cash? From the person doing work's point of view, it costs less than wasting loads on surveyors; from the neighbors point of view, the cash is in their pocket rather than a surveyors'. Thoughts?

mug2007

Our builders have cleared the gutters of both the neighbours and done some minor repairs one of their roofs while the scaffold is up, things the neighbours had been meaning to do for ages.  Plus our neighbour is getting a lovely new fence at our expense, it belonged to her and was on it’s last legs, plus she’s also extending it to improve her patio area.  So there can be plus points for neighbours.

AskAsk

mug2007 said:

Yes agree.  The neighbour did say they wanted their own surveyor as I am paying for my one and I pointed out I am paying for both!  Next time (I hope there isn’t a next time as I want to stay well clear) I will say far earlier to them about the cost if they dissent and appoint another surveyor.  My neighbour thought it wouldn’t cost a lot and was shocked when I told them how much, it didn’t change their minds though  .

was it not possible for you to use the same surveyor that they had chosen?

mug2007

They decided they wanted a different surveyor to represent them when we had already appointed our surveyor and had sent out the notices.  I believe the notices our surveyor sent out offered the neighbour the option of consent, dissent using our surveyor, or dissent naming their chosen surveyor.  Having already spent lots of money with our own surveyor switching to the other one (assuming it is possible), would lead to surveyor fees from both surveyors anyway.

AskAsk

mug2007 said:

They decided they wanted a different surveyor to represent them when we had already appointed our surveyor and had sent out the notices.  I believe the notices our surveyor sent out offered the neighbour the option of consent, dissent using our surveyor, or dissent naming their chosen surveyor.  Having already spent lots of money with our own surveyor switching to the other one (assuming it is possible), would lead to surveyor fees from both surveyors anyway.

our surveyor billed the neighbour so we didn't know how much it came to.  does sound quite a lot if you are saying nearly 4k.

mug2007

Yes we paid 2k per surveyor.  In fact the appointed surveyor charged slightly more 2300 v 2100 for our surveyor.  Guess that is because we got a few quotes before choosing our surveyor so they needed to be competitive, where as the appointed surveyor is required to charge a reasonable fee.  Pretty sure they did far less work than our surveyor as our surveyor sent out the notices and carried out the record of condition.