Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) average cost of appointing a surveyor for the purposes of drawing up a party wall award and (b) extent to which this cost prohibits homeowners in settling disputes.

Any surveyor appointed under section 10 of the Party Wall Act 1996 is undertaking a statutory role. In all cases, surveyors appointed or selected under the dispute resolution procedure of the Act must consider the interests and rights of both owners and draw up an award impartially.

The Department has not carried out an assessment of the average cost of appointing a surveyor for the purposes of drawing up a party wall award. The Act provides for surveyors to be paid the reasonable costs of drawing up an award. However, if the owner or the adjoining owner feels that a surveyor’s costs are unreasonable they may ask for a breakdown of costs, e.g. the hourly rate and number of hours of time being charged for.