The Role of a Party Wall Surveyor
What the Act means by a surveyor, what the appointment actually requires, and who the surveyor is working for
The role of a party wall surveyor is to determine the matters in dispute between adjoining owners under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996. The Act's own definition is narrow and worth reading closely: a surveyor is “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 things follow from that wording — who may be appointed, and who the appointee is working for.
A party wall surveyor is not an advocate for the owner who appointed them. The appointment is to determine the dispute, and the award binds both owners — the one who appointed the surveyor and the one who did not. This is why the Act insists the surveyor must not be a party to the matter, and why the adjoining owner's surveyor is normally paid by the building owner under section 11 without that making them the building owner's adviser. Read as a representative, the role produces both bad awards and avoidable litigation.
This page is about the role itself. If you want the mechanics of getting someone appointed, that is on appointing a party wall surveyor; if you want the document the role produces, it is the award.
Who the Act means by “surveyor”
The definition has two limbs, and each rules people out.
Not a party to the matter. The building owner cannot act as their own surveyor. Neither can the adjoining owner. Neither can an architect, project manager or contractor with a direct interest in the works proceeding as designed — that interest is precisely what the award process exists to mediate. Where a builder offers to “sort the party wall paperwork”, that is not a party wall appointment under the Act, and an award made on that footing is exposed.
Appointed or selected under section 10. The appointment has a source. It is either the concurred appointment of both owners — the agreed surveyor — or an appointment by one owner with a third surveyor selected by the two appointees, or an appointment made by the local authority's appointing officer where a party refuses or neglects to appoint. A surveyor who simply starts corresponding about a party wall dispute has not been appointed to anything.
Nothing in the Act requires a professional qualification, and there is no statutory register. Most party wall surveyors are members of RICS or of the Faculty of Party Wall Surveyors, which brings a code of conduct and a complaints route, but membership is not a statutory gate. The practical test is narrower: can the surveyor describe the works and the existing condition precisely enough for the award to be built to without an argument in month three?
What the appointment actually requires
Between the appointment and the award, the work falls into five parts.
- Understanding the works. Reading the drawings and the method, not just the planning permission. The depth of an excavation, the position of a new wall in relation to the boundary, the method of temporary support — these are the things an award has to describe, and they come from the structural information, not the planning drawing.
- Recording condition. Inspecting the adjoining property and preparing a Schedule of Condition before work starts, with photographs and dates. This is the document that decides whether a crack appearing in month three is attributable to the works, and it cannot be reconstructed afterwards.
- Dealing with the notices. Considering the notice served, any counter notice, and whether the works described in the notice match the works that will actually be carried out — a mismatch is one of the most common reasons a case goes wrong.
- Conferring, and settling by award. Where each side has appointed a surveyor, the two are expected to settle the matters between them. Section 10(10) requires the agreed surveyor, or the three surveyors, or any two of them, to settle the disputed matters by award. Only the genuinely contested points should need the third surveyor.
- Setting the conditions. Timing, working hours, protection of particular features, making good, and who pays which costs. These are the clauses the adjoining owner actually relies on, and the ones most often written too generally to be enforced.
Specificity. An award that says the contractor will make good any damage is worth little; one that says a crack wider than a stated width in the flank wall, recorded in photograph 12 of the annexed Schedule of Condition, is to be made good by a named party and monitored at stated intervals, is a document the adjoining owner can hold someone to. The surveyor's value is almost entirely in the precision, not in the position taken.
Who pays, and why it does not make them your adviser
Where a dispute has arisen, section 11 of the Act 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. This surprises people in both directions.
If you are the adjoining owner, you are not funding your own representation. The cost of your surveyor and of your Schedule of Condition sits with the neighbour doing the work. If you are building, the neighbour's side of the dispute is your cost, and budgeting for a party wall case means budgeting for both surveyors rather than one. Our published fee schedule sets out our figures, including what a two-neighbour case comes to.
The fee obligation is statutory and it runs in one direction, which is exactly why it does not compromise the surveyor's independence. A surveyor appointed by the adjoining owner and paid by the building owner is neither the building owner's adviser nor the adjoining owner's advocate. The duty the Act creates is to determine the dispute.
What the role is not
Not project management. A party wall surveyor is not supervising the build, not checking the contractor's sequence and not signing off the work as an building control inspector would. They are recording condition, settling disputes and setting the conditions the work has to meet.
Not a structural engineer. Where a scheme involves underpinning, heavy temporary works or a foundation of any complexity, engineering input is a separate discipline and is frequently required. Our basement and underpinning page sets out where the boundary sits in practice.
Not legal advice. An award determines the party wall dispute; it does not resolve questions of title, boundary ownership, covenants or lease terms. Where those are in play, a solicitor is a separate appointment, and party wall cases that involve them are usually the ones where a boundary question has been mistaken for a party wall question.
Not advocacy. This is the one that matters most and is most commonly got wrong. An adjoining owner who reads their appointed surveyor's correspondence as a campaign on their behalf will be disappointed by the award, because the surveyor's job is to decide the disputed matters as the Act requires — not to win.
The role of a party wall surveyor — frequently asked questions
What is the role of a party wall surveyor?
A surveyor is appointed under section 10 of the Act to determine the matters in dispute between adjoining owners. In practice that means inspecting the neighbouring property and recording its condition, considering the notices, settling the disputed matters by award, and setting out what may be built, how, when and at whose cost.
Is a party wall surveyor on the side of the person who appointed them?
No. The appointment is to determine the dispute, not to advance the appointing owner's interest, and the award binds both owners. That is why the Act requires the surveyor to be someone who is not a party to the matter.
What does a party wall surveyor actually do?
They read the drawings and understand the works, inspect the adjoining property and prepare a Schedule of Condition, deal with notices and counter notices, correspond with the owners and any other surveyor, and settle the disputed matters by award — referring genuinely contested points to the third surveyor where the two appointees cannot agree.
Can my architect or builder act as the party wall surveyor?
No. The Act defines a surveyor as a person not being a party to the matter, which excludes both owners and, in practice, anyone with a direct interest in the works proceeding — including the architect who designed the scheme and the builder who will carry it out.
Who pays a party wall surveyor, and does that affect their independence?
In a dispute, section 11 makes the building owner carrying out the work responsible for the reasonable fees of both sides' surveyors, including the adjoining owner's surveyor and any third surveyor. That does not make the surveyor the building owner's adviser: the duty is to determine the dispute, not to serve whoever pays.
What happens if the two surveyors cannot agree?
Where each side has appointed a surveyor, the two must select a third. Most matters are settled between the two appointees; where they cannot be, either party or either surveyor may call on the third surveyor to determine the disputed matters and make the necessary award.
Is a party wall surveyor regulated?
Not by the Act — there is no statutory register or qualification requirement. Most practising surveyors are members of RICS or the Faculty of Party Wall Surveyors, which brings a code of conduct and a complaints route. The practical test is whether the surveyor describes the works and the existing condition precisely enough for the award to be built to without argument.
Can a party wall surveyor's award be challenged?
Yes. Either party may appeal to the county court against an award within fourteen days of it being served on them. Separately, section 10(3) allows the other surveyor to proceed ex parte where an appointed surveyor refuses to act or neglects to act effectively for ten days after a request is served.
Talk to a party wall surveyor about your case
Whether you are serving notice, have just received one, or want an existing award or agreement reviewed before you act on it, the first conversation is free.
- Appointments as agreed surveyor or for one owner, under section 10.
- Schedules of Condition recorded before work starts, not reconstructed after.
- Awards drafted as an instruction the contractor can build to.
- 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, appointing a party wall surveyor, party wall awards, party wall agreements, and the guide to choosing a surveyor.