Retrospective Party Wall Agreement
This is a party wall Award that is put in place once party wall works are partially or have been fully completed.
They are sometimes agreed in order to deal with allegations of damage, or claims made. They may also be put in place to provide clarity on the scope of works carried out, and include ‘as – built’ drawings, or similar.
In order to draw up a retrospective party wall agreement, an Agreed Surveyor, or two party wall Surveyors need to be appointed under Section 10 of the Act, with the knowledge of both Owners concerned.
At Harding Chartered Surveyors, we’re a team of independent and impartial RICS surveyors that can carry out party wall matters. If you have any questions or need advice don’t hesitate to call us on 020 3598 6730.
- If you are selling your property, you should seek advice from a conveyancer or solicitor about whether you can get some form of indemnity insurance in the event of any claims being made later (once the conveyance has taken place).
- Otherwise, you would need your neighbour(s) to 'buy in' to the principle of a retrospective Award being put in place - the Surveyors (and it can end up being two separate surveyors) costs of doing so can often exceed any reported claims of damage. If you do not get on with your neighbour(s), then this is the kind of thing that may need to be declared as a 'dispute' with your next door neighbour, on conveyancing questionnaires.
- Surveyors can't give a timescale or a fixed cost of taking on such instructions, as it is all based on a supposition, and the information that they would usually have may not be available.
- The timescale of putting a Retrospective Award in place may not accord with the vendor's, or buyer's intended programme.
- If you are a buyer, you will need to make your own enquiries to satisfy yourself before a conveyance takes place; and again, getting indemnities in place if you are advised to do so.