Schedules of condition and final inspections : Are they required under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996?

Abstract

This paper is an exploratory study into whether schedules of condition and final inspections are required under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 (‘the Act’). It is common practice among party wall surveyors to gain access to adjoining owners’ properties to prepare a schedule of condition before the notified works commence and inspect upon the completion of the awarded works. There would, however, appear to be a tension between the statute itself and common practice, because the terms ‘schedule of condition’ and ‘final inspection’ are not included in the Act. It is the absence of these terms which has dictated the exploratory nature of this paper, drawing on various sources, including parliamentary debates at the time the Act was in the form of a Private Member’s Bill, the writing of an eminent surveyor who was chairman of the working party advising the legislators, and practising surveyors and lawyers. Consideration is given to the extent to which assumptions expressed in Parliament may have failed to find their way into the Act. My exploration is consideration of any distinction between statutory duty, professional duty, good practice and proportionality; a corollary to the duties and conduct of appointed surveyors is the problem of delegation in their quasi-judicial role.