Why trying to manage your neighbour’s build may not be a good idea

Overview

Once an adjoining owner becomes engaged with the Party Wall process, it is easy to start following every detail of the project: which contractor is attending, when materials arrive, how the architect has drawn a detail, the order of every operation and whether the builder is using the method you would have chosen.

Some of that information may be relevant. Much of it is simply the building owner’s job to manage.

What you should care about

• Whether notifiable work is being carried out in accordance with the award and relevant agreements.
• Whether temporary support and protective measures affecting your property are in place.
• Whether access to your land is being sought and exercised properly.
• Whether unnecessary inconvenience is being caused.
• Whether damage has occurred.
• Whether a material change affects the notifiable work or the protections previously considered.

What you generally do not need to manage

Trying to supervise the whole project can create constant points of disagreement and make it harder to identify the occasions when intervention is actually justified. It can also encourage the mistaken idea that the party wall surveyor should act as clerk of works or project manager.

• The contractor’s ordinary programme.
• Every design choice unrelated to the statutory dispute.
• The building owner’s procurement decisions.
• Ordinary supervision of workmanship that does not affect your rights.
• The internal running of the building site.
• Whether the project is being managed in the way you would personally manage it.