Agreed Party Wall Surveyor

Section 10 (1) (a) of the states:

Where a dispute arises or is deemed to have arisen between a building owner and an adjoining owner in respect of any matter connected with any work to which this Act relates either—

(a)both parties shall concur in the appointment of one surveyor (in this section referred to as an “agreed surveyor”); or

(b)each party shall appoint a surveyor and the two surveyors so appointed shall forthwith select a third surveyor (all of whom are in this section referred to as “the three surveyors”).

If an agreed surveyor is appointed by both parties they stand in place of the two surveyors and the third surveyor is not required.

What is notable is that section (a) comes before section (b) when the legislature could of course put (b) requiring two surveyors first. Bruce is reminded of the settling of construction disputes in the courts; here the judge will require one expert witness to advise them, if the two parties can not agree the courts will then allow two expert witnesses and the court will make any necessary determination if the two experts are in dispute; the similarity is of course the Third Surveyor settling disputes between the surveyors.

Therefore Bruce would strongly recommend that if the Building Owner appoints a Chartered Building Consultancy with a Master’s degree in Building Surveying the adjoining owner should accept them as the agreed surveyor or if the adjoining owner appoints a Chartered Building Consultancy with a Master’s degree in Building Surveying and the Building Owner has appointed a lesser/inadequate person the Building Owner should ask their surveyor to stand down.