The appraisers prepare the award, which is a legal document between the two owners. Surveyors usually meet on the property and create a state plan (although this is not a requirement of the law). The state plan helps all parties, as any damage that may be caused can be examined against it and compensation can be awarded if necessary. To put things in perspective, if the builder were to propose the demolition and reconstruction of a defective common garden wall, legally called a part fence wall, the costs for party wall surveyors would have to be divided between the two respective owners, since the work will benefit not only the owner of the building, but also to the adjacent owner, provided that: there are two respective wall surveyors on board acting on behalf of the building. Owner and adjacent owner. The first point to be agreed between the respective land surveyors should have been the consent of a third surveyor. Now, you may be wondering about the investigation fee for the wall of the party. According to article 1 of the law, if you want to build a new wall at the intersection line, you have the right to build only on your own land. The only advantage of appointing an agreed appraiser is one of the costs, because obviously only 1 fee is payable, usually by the builder, and not 2. Usually, the adjacent owner`s surveyor suggests an hourly rate, and it is up to your surveyor to accept or reject this rate. In addition, he will probably go through the timesheet of the adjacent owner to check if his fees are fair or inappropriate and send them to you.

Since each project is unique, there is no clear answer to what the timesheet of the surveyor`s adjacent owner looks like. This is also the reason why it is impossible and perhaps unfair to set a firm offer in advance for both investigation costs. (a)the use that the owners make or may make of the work or wall concerned; and again, the quantity and quality of information available to the adjacent owner`s surveyor plays an important role in determining reasonable fees for his or her service. The more resources they have, the less time it takes them to complete the task. To understand the exception, it is first necessary to briefly summarize the process by which land surveyors are appointed. The client or a surveyor on his behalf officially informs all adjacent owners concerned of the proposed work by giving notice. This notice offers the adjacent owner three options; agree to agree with the client on the appointment of an agreed surveyor or to appoint a separate surveyor of his or her choice. If the adjacent owner chooses Option 2, there is no doubt that the building owner is responsible for the agreed survey fee, but if he chooses Option 3, the situation has become more complicated. It is the builder who carries out the work and initiates the process of the party wall (by issuing opinions). It is therefore usually the builder who is responsible for paying the survey fees on both sides.

For an action for negligence to be successful, the plaintiff must prove that there is a duty of care, that the expert involved has breached that duty and that there is a causal link between the breach and the actual harm suffered by the plaintiff. . (b) Liability for the defect or lack of repair in question when several owners use the structure or wall in question. Like all of our real estate investigations, Barnes & Barnes Party Wall surveys are conducted by RICS licensed surveyors and provide independent and impartial service. If you have any doubts about this, you can ask the builder by notice to set aside a sum of money agreed between you or determined by the surveyors, such as a guarantee that would allow you to complete the work that concerns you. There are some details in Amir-Siddique v. Kowaliw which may be relevant to the liability of costs. The work was minor, a standard conversion of the attic, so the judge may have concluded that the agreed surveyor would likely not overlook any of the relevant factors – the situation may be different if the proposed work was riskier, such as . B a basement or basement extension. Also, the adjacent owner had done his own similar job a few years earlier and the questions were agreed upon without the contribution of the surveyors – I still think it must be quite annoying for an owner who accepted his neighbor`s work not to get this reciprocal answer, and the judge might have felt the same way. In the event that the two surveyors are unable to reach an agreement and set a negotiated price, a third surveyor may be involved. This designated surveyor acts as a neutral party and impartial arbitrator in deciding on equitable remuneration for the surveyors.

That being said, people generally don`t like to hire a third surveyor to keep costs to a minimum. Please note that the costs of the third surveyor may be shared between the two parties. The adjacent owner`s assessor can help comply with the fee if they are able to use the resources of a less experienced colleague at a lower hourly rate to perform some of the “footwork,” such as participating in on-site inspections and reviewing the schedule of status records. Incidentally, the same principle applies if a surveyor acting on behalf of the client submits a fee proposal. Until recently, it was a general rule that the owner who benefits from the work that is the subject of a party wall procedure paid the surveyors` fees, but a 2018 case highlighted a possible exception to this rule. .