We are pleased to have been appointed to by the owner of a residential property to agree a party wall award on their behalf. Our appointing owner,(the adjoining owner under the terms of the Party Wall etc Act 1996) had received a party wall notice from their neighbour (the building owner) setting out the building owners intention to undertake a loft conversion which had implications on the shared party wall between the two semi-detached houses.
The proposed loft conversion works included enclosing on a raised section of party wall which our appointing owner had built and paid for when they undertook a similar loft conversion 10 years ago. There were discussions held with the building owners surveyor over the cost of the wall and it was agreed the the party wall award would include a payment by the building owner to the adjoining owner for enclosing on the raised section of wall that the adjoining owner had previously paid for.
The party wall award is being prepared and will include a schedule of condition of the adjoining owners property, which clearly records the condition of the adjoining owners house before the works commence so in the event any damage is caused during the works, the damage is clearly identifiable. The schedule of condition was undertaken jointly by ourselves and the building owners’ surveyor. The draft party wall award is currently awaited and upon its agreement the party wall award will be published to the building and adjoining owners. In this instance, as is typically the case where the adjoining owner is gaining no benefit from the proposed works, our fees acting for the adjoining owner will be met by the building owner who is undertaking the works and who instigated the party wall process.
Once the party wall award is published each owner will have 14 days to raise any objections to the party wall award and once this period has expired the building owner will be at liberty to commence the works in line with the condition set out in the party wall award.
