The short answer
The adjoining owner’s surveyor is appointed to resolve disputes under the Act — not to redesign the building owner’s project, act as structural engineer, duplicate building control or planning, or act as the adjoining owner’s agent. Where a surveyor strays beyond that remit, it should be challenged.
Why it matters
The Act does not fully define the role, which can let fee-driven surveyors expand it. But the building owner cannot be forced to change a lawful design just because the other side prefers another; the surveyor is not the project’s structural engineer and should not take over the design, as doing so risks becoming the de facto designer with the responsibility that follows; and under section 7(5) the Act does not authorise works in breach of other statutory requirements, so it is usually enough for the award to require compliance rather than duplicating building control or planning. Including matters outside the Act increases cost, causes delay and can make an award vulnerable to challenge.
What to do now
- Keep the surveyor’s role focused on notifiable works and genuine risks to the adjoining property.
- Resist design changes dressed up as party wall requirements.
- Let the award require statutory compliance rather than re-checking planning or building regulations.
- Challenge attempts to widen the award beyond the Act.
Common mistakes
- Allowing the adjoining owner’s surveyor to redesign a lawful project.
- Treating the surveyor as a structural engineer.
- Duplicating planning or building control within the award.
- Paying for work outside the surveyor’s proper remit.
When to call Coburns
If an adjoining owner’s surveyor is overreaching or inflating the matter, send us the correspondence and we will keep the process within the Act.