Appointing a Party Wall Surveyor
Who can be appointed, the three routes under the Act, and what happens between the notice going out and an award being served
Appointing a party wall surveyor is the step that happens once a party wall notice has been served and the adjoining owner has not consented to the works. The Act provides three ways to get there: both owners concur in the appointment of one agreed surveyor; each owner appoints their own surveyor and those two select a third; or, where an owner refuses or neglects to appoint, the appointment is made by the local authority's appointing officer.
Appointment is a procedural step with a statutory shape, not a commercial one. The Act's own definition of a surveyor is a person not being a party to the matter, appointed or selected under section 10 to determine the dispute — which is why a building owner's architect or builder cannot act, whatever their qualifications. What separates a party wall case that runs smoothly from one that stalls three months in is usually how early the appointment was made, not which structure was chosen.
This page is about the mechanics of appointment itself — who may be appointed, how the structures differ, and how the sequence runs. If you are looking for what we do and what it costs, our party wall surveyor page and our published fee schedule cover that. If you want the document the case is aiming at, it is the award.
Who may be appointed as a party wall surveyor
The Act does not reserve the title. Section 20 defines a surveyor as “any person not being a party to the matter appointed or selected under section 10 to determine disputes in accordance with the procedures set out in this Act”. Two consequences follow, and both catch people out.
The first is that the definition has nothing to do with professional qualification. There is no statutory requirement to be a chartered surveyor, and no register. The second is the exclusion: because a surveyor must not be a party to the matter, the building owner cannot act as their own surveyor, and neither can the adjoining owner. Nor can the architect who designed the scheme, nor the builder who will carry it out — both have a direct interest in the works proceeding as planned, which is exactly the interest the award process exists to mediate.
In practice a surveyor is chosen for familiarity with construction and with party wall procedure, and most are members of RICS or the Faculty of Party Wall Surveyors — our page on the surveyor's role covers what membership does and does not give you. That matters less as a badge than as evidence of method: the work is describing existing conditions precisely, describing proposed works precisely enough to be built to, and drafting an award that a contractor can work from without coming back to argue about it.
The three routes to an appointment
1. The agreed surveyor
Section 10(1)(a) allows both owners to concur in the appointment of one surveyor, referred to in the Act as the agreed surveyor. That single surveyor then acts for both sides and produces one award. It is the cheapest and quickest route where the owners are on reasonable terms, because there is one set of fees, one Schedule of Condition protocol and no third surveyor to involve. It is not a route either owner can be forced into — either can decline, and the case moves to the two-surveyor structure.
2. Two surveyors, and a third
Under section 10(1)(b) each owner appoints a surveyor of their own, and the two appointed surveyors must forthwith select a third surveyor. The appointed surveyors are expected to settle the matters in dispute between them; where they cannot agree, either party or either surveyor may call on the third surveyor to determine the disputed matters and make the necessary award. In most cases the third surveyor never becomes involved — the two surveyors agree the bulk of it — but the mechanism is what stops a case deadlocking between two appointees.
3. Appointment by the local authority
Where an owner refuses or neglects to appoint a surveyor at all, section 10(8) allows the appointment to be made by the appointing officer of the local authority. This is the answer to the neighbour who goes silent or declines to engage with the process: the building owner is not stuck, and the case can proceed with a surveyor appointed for the non-engaging side.
There is a fourth situation worth knowing, because it is the one that ends most stalled cases. If an appointed surveyor refuses to act, or neglects to act effectively for a period of ten days beginning with the day a request is served on them, section 10(3) allows the other party's surveyor to proceed to act ex parte — and anything done that way is as effectual as if they had been the agreed surveyor. Silent counterparties and unresponsive surveyors both have statutory answers.
The sequence, from notice to award
Appointment sits in the middle of a sequence fixed by the Act's own notice periods, and it is worth setting out because most of the delays in party wall work come from a step being started late rather than from a disagreement.
- The notice. A party structure notice under section 3 must be served at least two months before the proposed work begins. Notice of excavation near a neighbour under section 6 must be served at least one month before excavating. A notice under section 1 for a wall on the line of junction follows the same one-month pattern.
- Consent, or deemed dissent. The adjoining owner has fourteen days from service of a party structure notice to serve a notice indicating consent. If nothing is served in that period, they are deemed to have dissented — and that, not any active objection, is how most disputes arise.
- A counter notice, if there is one. An adjoining owner who dissents may serve a counter notice, which must be served within one month of the party structure notice.
- Appointment. With the dispute in place, surveyors are appointed — agreed surveyor or one each, per the routes above. This is the point at which the two-month notice period is running down.
- Schedule of Condition. The surveyor or surveyors record the condition of the adjoining property before work starts. Without it, damage that appears later cannot be attributed, and the adjoining owner's position weakens. It is the single most valuable document in the file and the one most often skipped on cheap quotes.
- The award. The surveyor or surveyors settle the disputed matters by award, which sets out what may be done, how and when, who makes good damage, and who pays which costs. It is the award the contractor builds to.
- Appeal. Either party may appeal to the county court against an award, within fourteen days of the award being served on them.
The two-month notice period is not bureaucracy — it is the window in which a Schedule of Condition gets done, an appointment gets made and an award gets drafted. Start the notice late and every later step compresses into the period when you most want to be building. The cost of a delayed start on a London extension is measured in trades rescheduled, not in surveyor fees.
Briefing a surveyor you are appointing
Appointment is only as good as the information behind it. A surveyor appointed without drawings cannot describe the works in the award, and an award that describes the works vaguely is one the adjoining owner can hold you to later. Four things are needed to start properly:
- The property address, and the address of the adjoining property or properties affected.
- The drawings or plans for the proposed works, including sections where a basement or foundation is involved.
- A short description of what is being built and how — the method, not just the outcome.
- Whether notice has already been served, on whom, on what date, and whether any response has been received.
From those it is possible to say how many adjoining owners are affected, which section of the Act the works engage, whether a Schedule of Condition is needed on one side or both, and whether the case is heading for an award or is likely to settle at consent. A party wall fee is per adjoining property and a reasonable adviser will not quote you a single figure without knowing how many properties that figure has to cover.
The mistakes that cost the most
Appointing too late. The appointment is triggered by dissent, and dissent is deemed fourteen days after notice. Treating appointment as something to arrange once the notice period has expired puts the Schedule of Condition inside the build window.
Appointing someone with an interest. A builder's “surveyor” or an architect acting for the owner who designed the scheme is not an appointment the Act recognises. It looks like a saving until the award is challenged.
Skipping the Schedule of Condition to save fee. It is the document that decides who pays for what if cracks appear. On a scheme involving excavation, underpinning or heavy temporary works, going without it is the most expensive false economy in the whole process.
Assuming consent is the end of the process. Consent means no dispute and no award — genuinely cheaper. But the conditions that were meant to go with it, working hours, protection of a particular feature, making good, need to be recorded somewhere, and a verbal understanding is not a record. Where owners want conditions without a dispute, that is what a written party wall agreement is for.
Appointing a party wall surveyor — frequently asked questions
Who can be appointed as a party wall surveyor?
The Act defines a surveyor as any person not being a party to the matter, appointed or selected under section 10 to determine disputes. Anyone with an interest in the works is excluded — the building owner, the adjoining owner, their architect and their builder cannot act. There is no requirement to be a chartered surveyor, but a surveyor unfamiliar with construction and with party wall procedure is a false economy.
Do both owners have to agree on one surveyor?
No. Section 10 sets out two structures: both owners concurring in one agreed surveyor, or each owner appointing their own surveyor and those two selecting a third. Either owner can decline the agreed surveyor route, and the case then moves to one appointment each.
What happens if my neighbour will not appoint a surveyor?
Where a party refuses or neglects to appoint, section 10(8) allows the local authority's appointing officer to make the appointment. Separately, section 10(3) lets the other surveyor proceed ex parte where an appointed surveyor neglects to act effectively for ten days after a request is served. A neighbour going quiet does not stall the case.
When should a party wall surveyor be appointed?
As soon as the notice goes out, and certainly before works start. A party structure notice must be served at least two months before the work begins, and the adjoining owner has fourteen days from service to consent. No consent in that window means deemed dissent, which is when surveyors are needed — so the appointment usually falls at the far end of the two-month period, not at the beginning of it.
What should I send a surveyor I am appointing?
The address, the drawings, a description of what is being built and how, and the notice position — served or not, on whom, on what date. Those four determine how many adjoining properties are affected, which section applies, and whether a Schedule of Condition is needed.
Who pays the surveyor I appoint?
In a dispute, section 11 makes the building owner carrying out the work responsible for the reasonable fees of both sides' surveyors, including the surveyor appointed by the adjoining owner and any third surveyor. An adjoining owner appointing a surveyor is not, in the normal case, funding their own representation. Our published fees set out our figures.
Does appointing my own surveyor make disagreement more likely?
Not in practice. A surveyor appointed by one owner is not an advocate for that owner: their function under section 10 is to determine the dispute, and the award binds both parties. Where each side appoints, the two surveyors usually agree most matters between them, with only genuinely contested points going to the third surveyor.
Can I change surveyor once one has been appointed?
Not unilaterally, where the appointment is an agreed surveyor appointed by both owners — the appointment attaches to the matter rather than to one side. Where each side has its own appointee, a party's own surveyor is their appointee. Where a surveyor refuses to act or is not acting effectively, section 10(3) provides the ten-day ex parte route, and section 10(8) covers selection of a replacement third surveyor where one is refused or neglected.
More on the surrounding steps: party wall notices, the notice timeline, the award, Schedules of Condition, and the fee schedule.
Talk to a party wall surveyor about an appointment
Whether you are the building owner serving notice, an adjoining owner who has just received one, or you have inherited a case where nothing has moved for weeks, the first conversation is free.
- Acting as agreed surveyor for both owners, or for one owner where each side appoints.
- Taken on cases stalled by a neighbour or by a surveyor who will not act.
- A fixed fee quoted for your case, before any work starts.
- Cover across South and West London, and Greater London within the M25.
Call 020 8150 3762 or email info@greyandassociates.co.uk.
Related: party wall surveyors in London, the role of a party wall surveyor, party wall agreements, and our published fees.