Party Wall Act: consent or dissent?

[Yellowmellow2]

When served with a Party Wall notification, is it always best to dissent in order to protect oneself? Neighbours have served a letter. Their works are quite straight forward (extension and loft) but I’m not sure of the benefits on consenting or dissenting?

Please don't dissent if it isn't effecting you or your house, it just means more cost to your neighbour. If their plans are unreasonable, have a discussion with them. If an agreement can't be reached, then by all means dissent.

Thanks for the advice. This is new to me. If I want a condition survey of my house before the work starts, can I consent but also ask for that?

You will be protected under the Party Wall Agreement if you agree, so your neighbour would have to fix any potential damage anyway. Dissenting makes no difference in that regard.

We was in your neighbours shoes for a loft conversion. We sat down with our neighbour, talked him through the plans, served notice and he accepted. To protect him we insisted on a professional looking at his side of the party wall. He only trusted the building company he'd used for years (not a strange surveyor) to take photos and note the condition of the walls of the house, so we used his builder for that. We also consulted his builder on any works that were directly affecting the Party Wall so he knew what was going on and could inspect if he wanted to. It all worked well and it protected the both of us.

Yes you can do that at the cost to your neighbour but just as easy for you both to take before photos as proof to what the wall was like before works begin.

Agree with above, please don't dissent if there is nothing you object to. Has the agreement been done by a surveyor? If you are concerned about protecting your property, I would recommend you appoint a surveyor for this; your neighbours will pay for this as they are doing the work. This will also include a thorough survey of the condition of the property before works begin.

I was in your neighbours' shoes and having come out the other side, the best thing our neighbours did was to insist on having their own surveyor. We were initially disappointed as it cost us a lot more but when they later tried to claim for us to repair pre-existing damage, it was absolutely worth it to have their surveyor come and review the property.