What Is An Ex Parte Surveyor?
If you as a building owner submit a party wall notice and the neighbour disagrees, they can choose how to proceed. They can use your surveyor as an agreed surveyor, or they have the right to choose and appoint their own surveyor to act in their interests. If this happens, then the two surveyors will get together to select a third surveyor to ensure everything is fair. This is known as the three-surveyor tribunal.
Unfortunately, we have seen some cases where the surveyor fails to act, or refuses to, which can lead to delays in the building owner’s construction work. To prevent this from happening and causing unreasonable delays, one of the surveyors can act alone to make and serve a party wall award in the capacity of an agreed surveyor. In these cases, they’re known as an ex parte wall surveyor.
So What Does The Party Wall Act Say?
Under The Party Wall etc Act 1996 in section 10(6):
‘If a surveyor […] refuses to act effectively, the surveyor of the other party may proceed to act ex parte and anything done so by him shall be as effectual as if he has been an agreed surveyor’.
If you use this route to acting ex parte as a surveyor, it means that the other surveyor has refused to act. But it’s split into a couple of elements. While section 10(6) allows a surveyor to act ex parte immediately, the refusal of the other surveyor should be made in writing and thoroughly documented within the Award.
When we move on to section 10(7), we find the following:
If a surveyor […] neglects to act effectively for a period of ten days beginning with the day on which either party or the surveyor of the other party serves a request on him, the surveyors of the other party may proceed to act ex parte in respect of the subject matter of the request and anything so done by him shall be as effectual as if he had been an agreed surveyor’.
That’s a bit of a mouthful! But essentially this comes into play after the surveyor or one of the parties involved contacts the other surveyor, but receives no response. The Act itself is often described as an enabling act, and it’s important that party wall surveyors are aware of the provisions of Section 10(6) and section 10(7). The building owner’s planned construction shouldn’t be impeded or delayed due to a surveyor’s action, or inaction.
Is It Common for Surveyors To Act Ex Parte?
We’re going to be honest, an ex parte surveyor serving an award is very rare. In fact, as of the day of writing, none of the surveyors at Harrison Clarke have needed to act in this way. In our experience surveyors within the party wall surveying community generally want to work together and resolve disputes fairly and effectively – they don’t want to further any conflict. But that doesn’t mean it’s unheard of. If a surveyor doesn’t engage or respond to requests, ex parte Awards are a viable option provided by the Act. However, surveyors should approach this issue with caution, and carefully consider if it’s appropriate.
If you’re feeling a bit confused by ex parte surveyors, or you need advice on your party wall matters, then have no fear! Our team of experienced party wall surveyors are on hand to provide support. Just give us a call on 023 8155 0051 and one of them will be happy to help.
We also have a range of videos talking through various aspects of the Party Wall process. You can access them via our website or our YouTube channel.
At the time of writing, we have a total of 95 reviews across Trustpilot and Google. We are proud to say that they are all 5 star ratings across the board.
