Closed petition Reform the party wall act and instate a party wall regulator for households

Closed on 28 April 2021

Party wall awards have become far too expensive and time consuming for householders. Party wall surveyors have been given a licence to extract unnecessary fees from householders given the only route to hold surveyors to account is via prohibitively expensive litigation via the county courts.

The government should create a party wall regulator, funded by industry levies, that is free to access for homeowners.

In order to reduce costs, legislation should explicitly grant building owners the right to use the adjoining owner’s appointed surveyor as an agreed surveyor.

In the interest of transparency, and to enable the detection of bias, third surveyor’s awards should be a matter of public record.