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Party wall agreements a con?
I bought my house at the beginning of this year and planned to do it up over the course of the year, however Covid has proven a bit of a hurdle for those plans.
I am preparing to have a rear extension built of 3m which will be built under permitted development and I have already obtained an LDC from the local council regarding it.
My house is a terraced, ex council house situated on the outskirts of London. I have a neighbour on one side which is also the freeholder of their property like myself and I have a neighbour on the other side who rents from a housing association (Clarion).
I get on well with my freeholder neighbour who was happy to sign a party wall agreement without the need for a surveyor.
The housing association opted to go for a surveyor so I found one who I was happy to work with. The housing association agreed to use my surveyor, however my surveyor pointed out to me and to the housing association that if the tenants were long term renters, the law required them to also agree to use my surveyor.
They never responded to any of the letters or requests from me when I knocked on their door about using my surveyor and eventually I found out from my surveyor they have appointed another surveyor themselves.
The survey happened and my surveyor put everything together and sent it over to the neighbours surveyor and they added a couple of lines regarding to bagging up some of their plants.
I then receive the bill for both the surveyors, my one cost £1600 including VAT, whilst my neighbours one is costing me over £2000 including VAT. I have tried contesting this, but I don't feel I know enough and when speaking to my surveyor about this they have recommended to pay it as although they also think it is too much considering the little input they did, there is a risk that if I get a 3rd surveyor I could end up having to pay even more money!
Personally it all seems like an awful lot of money for not much work. It makes me think of other potential scenarios where you could be paying for 3 lots of surveyors for each adjoining house, where you would pay for your own, the housing associations and the tenants. That's 6 surveyors and if they all charged £1600, you could end up paying £9600 for just the agreement.
To me it just seems to be an easy way for these surveyors to print money. Anyway enough ranting, is it worth the risk in contesting my neighbours surveyors cost of just over £2000 (especially as they only added in a couple of lines regarding some potted plants)?
Any suggestions appreciated!
I am preparing to have a rear extension built of 3m which will be built under permitted development and I have already obtained an LDC from the local council regarding it.
My house is a terraced, ex council house situated on the outskirts of London. I have a neighbour on one side which is also the freeholder of their property like myself and I have a neighbour on the other side who rents from a housing association (Clarion).
I get on well with my freeholder neighbour who was happy to sign a party wall agreement without the need for a surveyor.
The housing association opted to go for a surveyor so I found one who I was happy to work with. The housing association agreed to use my surveyor, however my surveyor pointed out to me and to the housing association that if the tenants were long term renters, the law required them to also agree to use my surveyor.
They never responded to any of the letters or requests from me when I knocked on their door about using my surveyor and eventually I found out from my surveyor they have appointed another surveyor themselves.
The survey happened and my surveyor put everything together and sent it over to the neighbours surveyor and they added a couple of lines regarding to bagging up some of their plants.
I then receive the bill for both the surveyors, my one cost £1600 including VAT, whilst my neighbours one is costing me over £2000 including VAT. I have tried contesting this, but I don't feel I know enough and when speaking to my surveyor about this they have recommended to pay it as although they also think it is too much considering the little input they did, there is a risk that if I get a 3rd surveyor I could end up having to pay even more money!
Personally it all seems like an awful lot of money for not much work. It makes me think of other potential scenarios where you could be paying for 3 lots of surveyors for each adjoining house, where you would pay for your own, the housing associations and the tenants. That's 6 surveyors and if they all charged £1600, you could end up paying £9600 for just the agreement.
To me it just seems to be an easy way for these surveyors to print money. Anyway enough ranting, is it worth the risk in contesting my neighbours surveyors cost of just over £2000 (especially as they only added in a couple of lines regarding some potted plants)?
Any suggestions appreciated!
