Party Wall Surveyors London

Since the start of the new year, I have noticed a real uplift in Building Survey requests by potential buyers of properties or clients looking to understand the full extent of their properties structure. I will aim to provide a better understanding of what a Building Survey is, what it consists of and why it is so important for a prospective buyer.

As the Licence for Alterations is governed by law, this landlord’s consent is not to be unreasonably withheld from the tenant and should be provided in a written format. This is called a Licence To Alter (or Licence For Alterations) and it protects both the landlord and the tenant’s rights under the terms of the lease. Explore more at https://www.blsurveyors.com/what-is-a-licence-to-alter-or-licence-for-alterations/

If you have bought or are the owner of a property on a leasehold (meaning you own it for a specified period of years), whether this is a flat or a house, if you want to make internal or external changes to the property then you may not know that you need to get a licence to alter agreed and in place with your freeholder before you make those changes...

We are going to be looking into adverse possession in relation to boundary disputes.
It is easy to make mistakes when determining property boundaries especially when there are no original features along the border. In many instances, homeowners unknowingly install boundary fences or build structures that encroach onto their neighbour’s land, which often lead to a dispute...

A Party Wall Surveyor specialises in resolving disputes that may arise under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996.
Under the Act and within England and Wales, disputes can arise between homeowners who directly share a wall, often referred to as a Party Wall, or when homeowners are in close proximity to each other and building works such as a structural works to the Party Wall, rear or side extension, or basement conversion are taking place...

A snagging list is created when a construction project is near completion. At this phase, it is crucial for a client to evaluate a property for any type of defect or to point out any unfinished work. It is crucial to identify these defects before the termination of a project, as a contractor is responsible to repair these defects if they have been identified at the correct time...

In this week’s blog, I will be discussing whether a building owner, who is the person undertaking the construction works,  would be required to go through the Party Wall Procedures including serving a Party Wall Notice and potentially having a Party Wall Award in place for an extension to their property.

In this blog post I am going to be discussing the type of considerations that need to be taken into account when a leaseholder is obtaining a Licence to Alter from his freeholder.
Given that most leaseholders will live in a block shared with other owners/leaseholders, it is common that the contractor will gain access to the flat of the leaseholder who is undertaking the works through communal areas such as hallways, stairs, lifts or corridors.

Buying a property? Confused about Pre-purchase Survey of your future property?
This is one of the most common questions that can confuse every property buyers. If you are purchasing a property that is older than 10 years. It is quite simple that, there will be no form of warranty in place. Therefore you are effectively going to be the person liable for making good any defects or damage should they arise the property...

Boundary disputes between neighbours are a perennial problem. They cause a great deal of hostility and tension and disputes can arise in relation to the tiniest patch of land imaginable (one bitter row involved 4cm of land and the Scotland Yard!). Common sense and logic get thrown out of the window, and the knives come out, figuratively at least!..

As a part of our dedication to helping inform and assist people with party wall issues we provide a free question and answering service on all party wall matters. We have written a variety of party wall blogs on a number of these queries which you can find in our previous blog list. If you have got a party wall question and would like some free Party Wall Advice contact us now and we will be happy to assist you free of charge.

Brexit is literally the short hand word for “Britain Exit”, which is a reflection of Britain’s intention to leave the European Union, which was determined through a UK wide referendum in 2016.
What this does is now affect UK citizens living in the EU and EU citizens living in the UK, therefore placing their ability to reside in the said countries, up for question... http://bit.ly/31DZTxU

Annually, the ‘RICS Matrics UK Young Surveyor Awards’ recognize the outstanding and inspiring talents, set to be the future leaders in the profession. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) is a professional association that is dedicated to promoting and enforcing the highest international standards in the development, management, and valuation of the real estate, land, construction, and infrastructure...

I will be discussing this mainly from the perspective from the building owner who wishes to serve Party Wall Notices to notify the adjoining owners of their intention to carry out notifiable works.

Party Wall Dispute options are available to an adjoining owner who has been served Party Wall Notice. If an adjoining owner decides upon receiving Party Wall Notices that they wish to dissent to the works, they are faced with two addition options; 1 – they can appoint the same surveyor as the Building Owner as an agreed Surveyor. 2 – they can appoint their own…

You may have never considered where the boundary line lies in your property, there is often no reason to. The fence and Party Wall, when laid correctly, will often lie right on top of the Boundary and thus it doesn’t bare much thought.

When conducting works which trigger the Party Wall Act 1996, it is a legal requirement that you send out Party Wall Notices to the neighbouring properties affected by the works. This is the first step of the Party Wall process and it is a step everyone needs to take if they want to proceed with Party Wall works...

In this blog post, I am going to explore the various methods we follow to help determine boundary lines.

A boundary is effectively an imaginary line that separates land, and is marked by a physical feature. A boundary line has two dimensions; it runs vertically from the center of the earth to the sky and extends horizontally across the ground...

We had a question this week from a building owner who was undertaking a loft conversion, which included raising the Party Wall, using timber.
We thought it would be helpful to publish this question and answer on our Party Wall Blog, as in our experience this is an issue that arises a fair bit, when undertaking loft works...

Berry Lodge: RICS Accredited Property Mediators Property Mediation Services can help avoid the rancor, costs, and the uncertainty involved in court proceedings.  Dispute resolution is a big business and British industry has to employ many people for it. Disputes are stressful and reaching a resolution involves high cost and more time. During mediation, an impartial…

If a tenant wants to make changes to a property that they are occupying under a lease. Whether this is a commercial premise or a residential property they are required to get the landlords permission before they make any alterations to the property. This simple process is known as getting a Licence for Alterations...

An Agreed Surveyor will act impartially and mutually upon behalf of both the building owner and the adjoining owner. In our experience, the appointment of an Agreed Surveyor often comes about when a building owner serves a Party Wall Notice upon the adjoining owner and the adjoining owner responds to that Notice with the appointment of a Party Wall Surveyor...

A Licence to Alter, or a Licence for Alterations, can often be tricky to obtain for leaseholders, with freeholder’s Surveyors often asking for a number of onerous considerations to be followed, implemented or installed.

Here at Berry Lodge Surveyors we are Party Wall Surveying specialists as well as being Chartered Surveyors and undertake a range of Surveying services throughout London.
We thought it would be helpful to look at some of the most common types of Party Wall Surveying works that we have dealt with in the past year or so...

In this blog post, I am going to discuss party wall procedures generally and let you know when the Act applies, the type of work it applies to and what needs to be done if you are a building owner, or an adjoining owner...