How to Remove a Party Wall Surveyor

[Grimaldi]

Hi,
I am entrenched in a protracted build, my NDN have done some building work and I would like to remove my pary wall surveyor as I don't think he is suporting me very well etc,,,,
He has not addressed many of the issues that are of a real concern
tia

Hello, steve the party wall surveyor here. The short answer is that you cannot remove a party wall surveyor. Its a statutory appointment and not a standard client/agent relationship. The only way contained within the party wall act is for the surveyor to deem themselves incapable of acting, if the relationship is completely broken ask them if they will step down on that basis (most surveyors know when its "not working" and many will do this), if they refuse you are stuck with them I'm afraid.

One alternative may be to contact the third surveyor (your surveyor should have told you who this is) and ask them to kick things along.

Steve

hi thanks for your reply
so there is no legal way of removing them even if there is a conflict of interest?
thanks

No, the party wall act is pretty clear there. BUT if they are a chartered surveyor and there is a genuine and clear conflict of interest they should really consider stepping down - and may well do so if you suggested a report to RICS Professional Standards.

On the other hand, party wall surveying is an unregulated business with hints of the wild west and the profiteering at times. Amazingly there is no requirement to have any qualification at all to be a party wall surveyor. As an RICS Chartered Surveyor trying to be professional this causes me and my colleagues no end of bother...

hi thank you so much for your time, it is as I feared, there is very little I can do.

@stevenway1 can I ask a question? (sorry to jump on your thread Grimaldi). We are planning to build close to a garden wall (we own it) between us and our neighbour - neighbours house is not near this wall at all. To do this we need to remove part of the wall which is not on the boundary but joins the boundary wall (again all on our land). The wall on the boundary would remain in situ and structurally sound. Do we need a party wall agreement? I've gone round in circles on this and still have no idea!

np at all

As always, that depends. If you are sure that you own the wall and it is all on your land then it is NOT a party fence wall (which is what we call shared garden walls). If it not a party wall then the Act cannot apply and no party wall award is required. Steve

Thank you. Better go and triple check the deeds!

Or just look on the ground? You can usually work out whether a wall is party or not. Do you get on with your neighbours? If so just talk to them and get them on board? Steve