16 June 2019

Self Serve Party Wall Notices?

Can I serve my own notices?

This is one of those questions we get asked a lot when potential clients contact us for some free advice.

It comes with a very simple answer and that is Yes there is nothing within the act which requires you to get someone else to write your notices for you that being said its worth taking note of just how little it costs in Party Wall Surveyor Fees to serve your notice.

Upon Appointment as a Party Wall Surveyor we inspect the served bnotices and letters of appointments and well above 70% of those served by an owner contain mistakes which make them invalid.

Why Are They Invalid?

The most common is the names or address particularly if there known by other names, as most neighbours do not know they can run Land Registry Searches to find the legal owner of a property.

Another common reason is that someone has found a template usually the wrong one for the part of the act they wish to serve notice for an have served it anyway.

Sometimes, notice has been served incorrectly on owners who are not adjoining owners under the Act. They may have incurred costs at this point by appointing a surveyor.

We also get Section 6 Notices Served without appropriate foundation details and Party Structure Notices when really they wanted to serve a line of junction

Apart from delays and having to sort out a valid notice, an owner can justifiably claim the whole process up to that point is invalid and therefore the Act has not been invoked. This could add weeks on to a possibly already tight schedule in addition to added costs for appointed surveyors

Ok so I should never serve notices myself?

Actually that is not what we are saying we are just saying weigh up what it could potentially cost you if you get it wrong and if you don't really understand what your doing its probably cheaper and easier to get a Party Wall Surveyor to do it for you.

We have provided DIY templates in the notices section at the top of the website for you to easily fill out if you know what you are doing these are based of Facility of Party Wall Surveyors documents and include our details for easy appointments should you need a party wall surveyor.

Should you need an expert Party Wall Surveyor Kent or generally on party wall matters please don’t hesitate to contact us on 01843 808184 or email us at [email protected] or use our contact form on the website.

We cover Canterbury, Margate, Ramsgate, Whitstable, Herne Bay, Folkestone, Dover, Deal, Ash, Sandwich, Faversham, Sittingbourne and Other Kent Locations for all Our Party Wall Surveyor works

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