With a pragmatic approach and the largest number of trained Party Wall surveyors in the city of Bath WBC are best placed to provide you with the best up to the minute advice regarding the Party Wall Etc. Act.
Please get in contact in the next seven days so we can discuss how to respond and any issues you have with your neighbours works, in most cases there will be no charge to you if we need to act on your behalf.
If you dissent the notice, you are legally obliged to appoint a surveyor. You only have a short timescale to respond otherwise the building owner may appoint a surveyor for you. Please contact us as soon as you receive notice from your neighbour.
We work for both the building owner or the adjoining owner as their appointed surveyor. This could be homeowners, business owners, developers, architects, planners or surveyors. We offer advice for small sites that are having extensions up to multi-million-pound sites that involve multiple neighbouring parties, Our previous clients include various local solicitors, small and large construction firms and developers such as Emerys of Bath, PG Group and Construction Total Solutions. Our expert knowledge and competitive fee structure make us the perfect solution for all types of client and project.
We also provide advice for designers and architects. If deemed suitable we can act as an agreed surveyor, acting impartially between neighbouring parties.
The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 came into force in 1997, it is the legal framework for dealing with construction that is carried on or near boundaries including shared walls or floors. This can also include works that are up to 6m from the boundary.
Although legally you can serve your own notices often people that do misinterpret the requirements of the Act and the legal notices are not worth the paper they are written on, invalidating any work carried out under them. It is also very difficult to get it right as most party wall surveyors require an in depth knowledge of case law and practice, as the Act in many ways leaves several areas open to interpretation.
If your neighbour dissents a notice or you dissent a neighbour’s notice legally surveyors need to be appointed to deal with the dispute.
You should consider getting advice from a party wall surveyor before planning permission is sought, although not a legal requirement the advice they can give regarding the complexities of access and construction near the boundary can result in alterations to the final planning design, which many architects might overlook. The actual appointment would happen should a dispute occur.
We can offer technical design advice to help reduce the impact on your neighbour and reduce any risks associated with the works. WBC will review your project plans with a site visit if needed and give general advice about the best strategy to use. We can serve party wall notices ensuring the required notices are in the right format and legally correct. We can draw up schedules of condition to ensure that any existing damage to your neighbour’s property is fully recorded, reducing your future liability.
An award is a legally binding agreement that two surveyors draw up facilitating the notifiable works and providing a number of conditions that the person carrying out the work must adhere to. We will liaise with other Party Wall Surveyors to agree and serve a Party Wall Award when a matter for dispute arises.
As an adjoining owner we can review the notice and supporting documentation and act on your behalf, commonly the costs involved with this service are paid for by the person carrying out the work unless the works relate to a repair of a shared wall etc.
We are qualified construction professionals; all our party wall surveyors carry out other construction functions such as building surveyors or architectural technology and therefore they provide an intrinsic value to their work. Often our competitors that have little construction background will end up costing you more money through additional surveyors fees due to their poor construction knowledge and subsequently poor advice.
To help ensure certainty of costs we aim to provide fixed price fees where possible. Our hourly rate for dealing with party wall matters is very competitively priced compared to many other local surveyors.
Our members include The Faculty of Party Wall Surveyors, The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, The Chartered Association of Building Engineers and the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists.
Sure we can, just phone 01225 789307 we offer a telephone-based no-obligation consultation before being formally instructed to act as your surveyor.
To obtain a quotation or to simply ask some advice, please contact us.
Quite simply yes, if your project is notifiable having planning permission will not grant you permission to construct your building under the Party Wall Etc. Act. Most projects require a party wall notice if they are carrying out even internal works on the party wall or if you are installing foundations within 3 metres of the neighbouring property.
The Party Wall Act is not affected by any requirement for Planning Permission or Building Regulation Approval. Similarly, having Planning Permission for Building Regulation Approval does not negate the need for compliance under the Party Wall Act. Even if your property has benefitted from Permitted Development Rights it will usually still require a party wall notice. If you proceed without one you can get yourself into legal hot water, risk receiving claims of damage and potentially holding up your works through injunctions.
Know Your limits – Knowing where the boundary lies between properties is very important, if you are unsure of the boundary condition we would recommend that this is established prior to gaining planning by a boundary dispute expert.
Be a good neighbour– Good relations with your neighbours is important, you can foster this by keeping in contact with your neighbour and consulting them on your plans, although your neighbour may feel that they need the protection of an award or schedule of condition and therefore good relations is not always a guarantee that they will not dissent a notice.
Plan before planning– Plan your project timescales and cycle to allow for the party wall process to take place once your detailed drawings have been drawn up.
Test it – It really helps if the foundation construction and depth are known before notices are served. This can often be carried out with a simple test pit and may result in you not having to serve notice at all.
We are happy to discuss any project at the planning stage and to comment on the legalities of the boundary condition. Our customers benefit from our unique approach and expert construction knowledge. Please call 01225 789307 or email enquiries@westernbuildingconsultants.co.uk.
Being socially responsible and promoting excellent ethics is at the forefront of our business. Our staff are happy and content and this is shown through our positive approach to your project. We work to the highest professional standards as required by both the RICS and CIAT. You can rest assured that when you employ WBC you will be supporting an organisation that champions local, national and international projects through schemes such as FairTrade, Mentoring Plus and the Bath percent club. This is backed up by a rigorous Corporate Social Responsibility Policy. We sponsor many grass roots sports clubs such as Combe Down Rugby Club, Frome Park Bowls Club & Cardiff Harlequins.
We are realistic with timescales and honest about what you will receive. Most people underestimate the time involved with a building project, but we are upfront about what is involved and will be clear about how long a project might take. Throughout the project we will continue to update you about progress and will advise you if there will be a disruption in the timetable.
We have vast planning experience and are adaptable to most architectural styles and ages of buildings. We are perfectly able to adapt to the style of your property from contemporary to traditional, urban to rural. We have designed projects in most styles and can use our broad experience to help design the best solution for your property, using whatever construction technology best suits your needs. Whether you plan a modest alteration or something spectacular WBC can help you achieve your project goals.
We employ qualified professionals with a variety of skill sets and the latest training. many of our employees have specialist post graduate qualifications. We also train selected staff through university programmes and professional qualifications to ensure our clients get the best trained surveyors and up to date advice. You will receive a professional, comprehensive and cohesive consultation and guidance throughout the project, ensuring that your development is handled with a consultant level of knowledge.
We are here for you when you need us, with our survey to completion guarantee. You won’t be left alone, we will fit in wherever you need us in the project or guide you through the whole process. You will have the knowledge that someone is always at hand whatever level of service you need.
Whilst offering exceptional value for money we also bring a positive, approachable, pragmatic, realistic and well rounded attitude to your project. You will feel at ease discussing issues with your project, our pragmatic approach to design and refurbishment means that we can often deliver built in VALUE. One example of this is recognising where cost savings can be made in the design without compromising the overall scheme and offering a higher standard of technical specification over many of our competitors, this reduces the need for outside engineering input and ultimately saves you money in fees. We are grounded which means that we can deliver a build in a cost conscious manner in order to make sure our projects are buildable.
Where we do not have the in house skills to tackle an element of a project we are well networked locally to utilise outside consultants that we have built up relationships with over many years. You will get the best of local knowledge and be introduced to like minded trusted suppliers with excellent professional services.
We can provide the majority of services required for a small project in house, making us practically a one stop shop. Having most services in house means that we are often fully accountable for the professional services on your project, this ensures simplicity, communication and efficiency. By utilising a multi-disciplinary approach we are able to keep professional costs for the project extremely competitive and hassle free, essentially you only pay for one set of overheads.
We have unparalleled technical knowledge and produce comprehensive architectural designs and surveys. You will be getting market-leading technical advice that has been approached with imaginative problem-solving techniques. This helps us to identify potential problems with a build before they arise.
Our knowledge adds value, an example of this is that most architects do not provide any advice on the structure of a building during the building regulations approval stage, relying on a structural engineer to produce all work relating to the super structure. At Western Building Consultants we provide structural advice on many areas, such as timber design for floors and roofs, limiting the scope of the engineers work and saving you money.
Having a large team of surveyors means that your project is unlikely to be held up due to other circumstances, there will always be at least two surveyors familiar with the project therefore continuity and a personal service will be retained. On larger schemes a bigger team will be assembled with the required specialist knowledge to fully support your project.
Merlin House
No 1 Langstone Business Park,
Priory Drive
01633982588
Commerce Park, Unit R17, Marshall Way
01373488566
Western House,
2 Rush Hill
01225789307
Sophia House,
28 Cathedral Road
02922679366
Kingston House,
Lydiard Fields
01793234516
Studio 1a,
31 Berkeley Square
0117 3294290
Unit 2, Byre Workshops, Winterbourne Court Farm Barn, Church Lane, Winterbourne
0117 3294290
