A retrospective party wall agreement is a kind of party wall award that comes up when the party wall work is in progress, partially completed, or sometimes even fully finalized. The most common reason behind the retrospective agreement is to deal with the charges and claims of potential damage.
Often, we feel the need for a retrospective party wall agreement to get a clearer picture of the work under construction and how it will turn out to be? If this is the case, the deal encapsulates as-built drawings and images for enhanced interpretation.
It was not likely to have a retrospective party wall agreement. Under section 10, both neighbours must have a hired surveyor; otherwise, you will need two surveyors with both the owners’ knowledge to put the contract together.
Formulation of a Retrospective Party Wall Agreement
Like a party wall agreement, designing a retrospective party wall agreement requires an agreed or two independent party wall surveyors under section 10 of the Party Wall Act 1996. The surveyors must have complete knowledge of the Act, construction business, and the properties they are dealing with.
Under the Act, an agreement is carried out once the construction works have either been fully finished or carried out.
The purpose of the agreement is to deal with any assertions and allegations made of damage. The party wall agreement will then clarify the building work being done and add terms like ‘as-built.
Moreover, following the Act, there is no reference to having a retrospective party wall notice or award. Any consequences such as harm being made on adjoining owner’s property will probably need to be settled in court unless your neighbours can not agree to one decision.
Pro tip! A practical and straightforward solution is to draw a retrospective notice to deal with potential damage.
Need of having a Retrospective Party Wall Agreement
Occasionally, we feel the need for guidance on what should be done when construction is underway. The property owner (person carrying out the construction) has not served the Party Wall Notice, or the Party Wall Award has not been made.
Party wall agreement template include;
- The sale of the respective property
- Keep up the neighbourly relations
- Satisfy lender’s need where funding is mandatory
- Resolve a dispute resulting for the works
Whereas in most cases, if you one way or another fail to follow the process, it has no negative outcome for either party; hence no action is required.
Conclusion
In case of wondering whether you need a party wall agreement, then it’s a yes! Because the Act prevents neighbours from any proposed work you and building owners carry out.
The preferable way to deal with the neighbour that has gone forward with their work without serving the notice is to prepare a retrospective party wall agreement. For that, you need a Professional Party Wall Surveyor under Section 10 of the Party Wall Act 1996 to produce a retrospective award.
