THE REMIT OF THE ADJOINING OWNER’S SURVEYOR

The role of the adjoining owner’s surveyor is no different from the role of the building owner’s surveyor.

This means they should work together to make an award allowing lawful work to proceed (quickly) under (reasonable) conditions that mitigate unnecessary inconvenience for the adjoining owner.

It is not uncommon for dishonest and/or fee driven adjoining owner surveyors to try their luck with (weaker, inexperienced or overly polite) building owner surveyors in an attempt to increase their role. 

Building owner surveyors should be well versed with the limitations of the role of an appointed surveyor to help prevent them from carrying out unnecessary work and trying to bump up fees. More details below:

Design

In their capacity as appointed surveyors, surveyors have no direct role in the design of the proposals.

The building owner cannot be compelled to change the design so long as it is lawful i.e. not exceeding rights granted by the Act.

Where the question arises, the adjoining owner’s surveyor must make it clear to their appointing owner that they cannot force the design to be change to meet their appointing owner’s requirements.

Where such efforts are made it should be pointed out that the surveyor may be creating a conflict of interest when mixing agency and statutory (party wall Act related) roles and that the building owner cannot be held  responsible for time spent on such matters.​​

Structural adequacy

In their capacity as appointed surveyors, surveyors have no direct role in the structural adequacy of the proposals.

Where an adjoining owner's surveyor seeks to change the structural design, they should first expressly accept liability for the negative consequences of such changes, having taken on the role of de facto designer. Even then, the building owner cannot be compelled to change the structural design.

Engineer's can often solve structural problems in multiple ways. It is not a party wall matter to determine that only the adjoining owner's surveyor's preferred design is acceptable.

Building regulations and Planning compliance

In their capacity as appointed surveyors, surveyors have no direct role in the building regulation specifications or planning requirements.

Where the adjoining owner’s surveyor challenges specifications of anything that is the responsibility of the Building Control Officer or the Planning Authority it should be pointed out that the surveyor may be creating a conflict of interest when mixing agency and statutory (party wall Act related) roles and that the building owner cannot be held responsible for time spent on such matters.  

Section 7(5)(a) of the Party Wall Act requires compliance with statutory requirements. This includes Building Control approval and Planning approval.

The surveyors need to do nothing more than require the work to meet statutory requirements in the award.

Summary

An adjoining owner’s surveyor who seeks to operate outside their remit should be denied that opportunity. If he is allowed, the award that follows will include matters outside the scope of the Act and will therefore be open to challenge.

In doing so, not only might he be seeking to inflate his fee, he may well be creating a conflict by mixing roles whilst acting as a dispute resolver. 

Every building owner surveyor should be well versed with the limitations of the role.