Terms & Conditions

By checking the box above the sentence which reads “I have read, understood and agreed to the Terms and Conditions” and clicking “send” on the previous page you agree to the following:

1. That You, the party submitting this request, hereby authorise and instruct Matthew JM Pearce of Pearce & Pearce Surveyors Limited of Dalton House, 60 Windsor Avenue, Wimbledon, London SW19 2RR (“the Surveyor”) to act as your Agent to sign and serve (a) Notice(s) on Your behalf under the under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 (“the Act”) on any affected neighbouring homeowner(s) (“Adjoining Owner”) as directed by you in your submission. The Notice(s) will be accompanied by a covering letter, on our company headed paper, stating that the Surveyor is acting on Your behalf and with your authority to serve notice(s). The terms “Owner” and “Adjoining Owner” are more particularly defined under section 20 of the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 (“the Act”).

2. The Surveyor will usually require the current drawings of your scheme to be provided by you or your architect before serving notices.

3. Under section 6(6) of the Act you will need to provide drawings showing the proposed site and, if section 6(1) the Act applies, the depth of your proposed foundations. If no such drawing(s) is(are) available, you agree to the Surveyor preparing a basic, standard foundation sectional detail to serve alongside such a notice, which is strictly not for construction purposes and cannot be used for undertaking the work, save to serve within a “Party Wall Award” (per section 10(14) of the Act), should one be required.

4. The Surveyor is not liable for false or inaccurate information provided by you or your representative(s), nor is the Surveyor liable for any false or inaccurate documentation provided by you or your representative(s).

5. For the purposes of this Contract, “48 hours” as referred to on the preceding page is defined as two (2) whole business days (not including weekends and public or bank holidays) from the time that all necessary information is submitted to the Surveyor. The onus will be on you to provide such necessary information in order to serve the Party Wall Notice(s). Necessary information includes (but is not necessarily limited to): detailed engineer’s drawings, specifications, all relevant information regarding the owners of neighbouring properties, information relating to the order of house numbers either side of your property and all information relating to landlords or other owners of the adjacent property who do not reside at the adjacent property.

6. In some circumstances you will be required to serve notices on multiple “owners” (for definitions please refer to Section 20 of the Act) such as leaseholders, freeholders, more than yearly tenants or anyone else entitled to some or all of the rents of profits of the land. Under these circumstances the Surveyor (or one of his colleagues) will contact you and seek your instructions.

7. It is understood that the supply of services to you from the Surveyor under this particular contract ends as soon as notices are served.

8. This specific service (i.e. Fast Track Party Wall Notice Serving) may lead to other services being required from the Surveyor which are chargeable, such as “Schedules of Condition” of neighbouring property, Party Wall Awards etc. if this is what your neighbour upon whom the Party Wall Notice is served, requires.

9. We reserve the right to refuse any application to serve Party Wall Notices and for any reason. Such refusal will be put to you in writing, and will be sent to you either by email or post.

10. This service is offered for the intended purpose. Any unnecessary abuse or misuse of this service may lead to you being charged for any wastage of time and/or resources incurred by us, at an hourly rate of £160 + VAT.

11. The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 takes precedence over common law in England and Wales for all matters covered by that Act.

12. These Terms are governed by English law. This means that a Contract, and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with it or its subject matter or formation (including non- contractual disputes or claims), will be governed by English law. We both agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

13. Pearce & Pearce Surveyors Limited is a Registered Company in England and Wales (no: 8392871), whose registered office is 598-608 Chiswick High Road, London, W4 5RT and whose VAT No.: is 168 5255 80

14. That You fully, completely and unambiguously understand and agree that the serving of any Party Wall Notice under the Act and under this specific service will, in the vast majority of cases, lead to further professional fees being incurred for which you will be liable, either from an employee of Pearce & Pearce Surveyors Limited or from any other surveyor from outside of Pearce & Pearce Surveyors Limited if the “Adjoining Owner” upon whom the Party Wall Notice is served chooses to exercise its rights under section 10 of the Act and appoint (a) surveyor(s).

15. You fully, completely and unambiguously understand and agree that the “Adjoining Owner” upon whom the Party Wall Notice is served may choose to appoint a Party Wall Surveyor under section 10 of the Act, including another Party Wall Surveyor from within Pearce & Pearce Surveyors Limited, upon being served with a Party Wall Notice, as is their right (section 10 of the Act), and that under such circumstances you will be responsible for paying the/all appointed surveyor’s/surveyors’ reasonable fees (section 10(13) of the Act).