The Act enables a building owner to undertake work within the scope of the Act and unless an adjoining owner consents to the works, the act sets out an operation whereby the problem is referred to surveyors for determination by Award. The Party Wall Act 1996 is supposed to provide a framework for preventing and resolving disputes with regards to party walls, boundary walls and excavations near neighbouring buildings.
The Act offers a fair solution to the issues that are frequently encountered when building on or adjacent boundaries or in confined areas. The Act also covers "party structures" which include walls, floors or other partitions between elements of a building in separate ownership.
Does the Act affect the ownership of a celebration Wall? No, but in many cases the Act will prevent disputes arising to begin with.
The Party Wall Act provides a building owner, who wishes to handle various sorts of work to a preexisting party wall, with additional rights going beyond ordinary common law rights. The Act also provides that a building owner must not cause unnecessary inconvenience. Although the Act contains no enforcement procedures, starting work without serving a notice could mean your neighbour could seek a court injunction or other legal redress. An adjoining owner cannot stop someone from exercising their rights directed at them by the Act, but may be able to influence how and at what times work is undertaken. Adjoining owners should remember that the primary purpose of the Act would be to facilitate development.
Beneath the Act, notice should be served and if agreement can't be reached, surveyors could be appointed.
If agreement cannot be reached between neighbouring parties, the process is really as follows: A Surveyor or Surveyors is/are appointed to find out a good and impartial Award, either: An 'Agreed Surveyor' (someone acceptable to all parties), or two surveyors representing both home owners. The two surveyors will nominate a third surveyor who be called in mere if both surveyors cannot agree. In all cases, surveyors appointed beneath the dispute resolution procedure of the Act to draft an award must behave impartially and consider the interests of both neighbours.
The surveyor (or surveyors) will prepare an "award" (often known as a "party wall award"). https://mikkelsen-barton.technetbloggers.de/what-you-need-to-find-out-about-party-walls-1712715417 is a document which: sets out the work that will be completed, says when and how the work is usually to be carried out (for example, not at weekends if the buildings are domestic properties), records the health of next door before the work begins (so that any damage could be properly attributed and made good), allows access for the surveyors to inspect the works while they are going on (to note that they are in accordance with the award). Party Wall Surveys Sundridge (or surveyors) will decide who pays the fees for drawing up the award and for checking that the work has been carried out relative to the award.
The owner undertaking the construction is manufactured legally in charge of putting right any damage due to undertaking the works, even though the damage is due to his contractor. Although minor works on a party wall are usually regarded as too trivial ahead beneath the remit of the Act, the key point to be looked at is whether any planned work will have consequences for the structural strength and support functions of the party wall.