Party Wall Agreement - what constitutes ‘make good’?

[LondonNQT]

We did the building works - the final survey has been done on the neighbours house; the two surveyors can’t agree. Four rooms are affected - our builder and our architect estimate that it’s two days work to fix. The party wall award just says that issues must be ‘made good’, so very open to interpretation.

There has been a very poor relationship with these neighbours for quite some time now, however, I just can’t bare the thought of spending £1,600 on the third party wall surveyor when it’s only two days work at circa £200 a day. Just feels such a waste!

However, this only works if it is actually two days of work. What would your reasonable expectation be if this was your property:
(A) the cracks are properly filled, sanded and painted
(B) the cracks are filled, sanded and the entire room repainted
(C) a different position entirely

I’ve done a fair bit of research online but can’t find any examples were any ‘making good’ has actually been needed.

I would say cracks filled, sanded, and that entire wall repainted. Not the whole room. Make sure no plaster dust left etc on other walls/ceilings.

I would say put back perfect if it was my neighbours. So filled/sanded & the whole wall painted. If my neighbours had a quibble after that, I'd do whatever it was they asked until they were happy. I don't want my neighbours bearing a grudge but I know they'd be reasonable.

B. the neighbours house should look exactly like it did before the works started and that will probably mean painting the entire room. painting just one wall will always look odd (unless it was a feature wall to start with).

Agree B unless one wall can be exactly matched in.

Probably B but they buy the paint if they want to use it as an opportunity to redecorate.

Interesting - I was of the opinion that A would have been sufficient.

Sounds like we’ll need to go to the third surveyor then, as repainting four rooms will take significantly longer! Especially as both our surveyor and builder feel that our works didn’t cause the cracks.

Option B.

Imagine if it was your house. Would you be happy to have one wall decorated differently from the others (even if just because it’s fresher paint) because your neighbour had some works done?

I wonder what works you had done that had such an impact on their house? You really do need to make sure things are fully restored.

B

You need to put their room back to the condition it was before the works, so cracks filled, sanded, wall painted and the whole room painted to match if the new wall is a different shade.. otherwise your neighbour is suffering as a result food your work, which is exactly what the agreement is supposed to avoid

This it’s B.
you’d be fuming if they left you with a bare plaster wall because you had some works done

B. Your work damaged their house but you expect them to have one wall redecorated knowing it probably won't match with the other walls?

Where did I suggest we’d leave bare plaster walls @Lastqueenofscotland2? Also, last time I checked cracks are widened, filled, sanded and repainted. Since when do 1mm wide cracks require replastering? How utterly ridiculous.

Have you ever done any building work @kirinm? As this is exactly what the decorator has been doing with our own property and no, the one wall doesn’t look any different to the others. They all match.

All in all thank you for your replies. Interesting to see how varied the interpretation of ‘make good’ is. For what it’s worth our party wall surveyor has stated that only option A is required.

Insufficient data

A If that would look fine
B plus carpets cleaned if it's created a lot of dust and mess

I've literally spent the last 5 years renovating my flat, so yes I have a lot of experience of building work including structural work on a party wall.

If you've got a decorator to fill in cracks and paint over them with paint that doesn't match the rest of your room that's your look out.