Party walls for property managers

Abstract

Anyone can be a party wall surveyor. Despite the continued successful existence of The Pyramus and Thisbe Club, it is not yet a condition of The London Building Acts (Amendment) Act 1939, that a party wall surveyor should be selected from that august body, even though it probably does contain the best in the business. No qualification is called for in the Act, and no indication is given as to what sort of person should be chosen, except in the use of the word ‘surveyor’. As, unlike ‘architect’, the term ‘surveyor’ is not protected and limited to the qualified and registered, it would seem that an adjoining owner, in whose ranks the property manager is presumably to be found, can appoint his sister, cousin, aunt or, if he is determined upon gross nepotism, his grandson, rather than a specialist in the field.