Party wall surveyor not responding, what can we do?

[petiteHBB]

Hello,

We appointed a joint party wall surveyor due to the building work from our neighbour. We sent some enquires regarding the damage repair and settlement, but didn't get any reply for weeks.

Is this normal? Can anyone give us some advice about what we should do now please? Many thanks!

Party wall surveyors are generally charlatans in my experience. They should give you the same service as any professional. Respond to your emails in a timely fashion , answer queries, keep you updated etc. The thing they do not do when they act for the AO is give the BO any idea of their costs - because they want to fleece them and they know the BO can't get rid of them.

What does your contract say? If they are in breach of your contract you can terminate and appoint someone else.

It sounds as though the works are on your neighbour's side, and you agreed to use the same PW Surveyor to represent both of you? I've been on both sides of that situation and my experience as the adjoining neighbour was that the Surveyor was slow to get back to me, while the reverse has been true when I've been the one doing the works. While they are legally bound to represent both sides fairly (and I had no doubts on this in either case), it may be they they respond more quickly to your neighbour, as the person carrying out the works, than to you. Could you speak to your neighbour and ask them to contact the surveyor and mention that you are still waiting on responses, and that it's holding things up for both of you?