Terms of Business
The terms on which we provide party wall surveying services. Your instruction is also governed by the engagement letter we send you, which takes precedence where the two differ.
Who you are contracting with
Andrew Edward & Co is a trading name of Party Wall Online Ltd. Your contract is with Party Wall Online Ltd. Full company details, including the registered number and registered office, appear in the footer of every page.
Our services
We provide party wall surveying services under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996, including advising on whether works are notifiable, preparing and serving notices, acting as appointed or agreed surveyor, preparing schedules of condition, and negotiating and making Awards. The precise scope is set out in your engagement letter.
Our duties as a party wall surveyor
Where we are appointed under section 10, our statutory duties are owed under the Act and we must act impartially in making an Award that is fair to both owners. This is not the same as acting as your advocate, and we will not do so. Where we act in an advisory capacity before any appointment is made, we advise you alone.
Fees
We provide a written estimate before we begin work. We do not offer fixed fees quoted in advance of seeing the scheme. Our estimate states its assumptions and what would change it; where the matter departs materially from those assumptions we will tell you before additional cost is incurred. Under section 11 the reasonable surveying fees of both owners are normally payable by the building owner. Invoices are payable within the period stated on them.
Liability
We carry professional indemnity insurance appropriate to the work we undertake. Our liability is limited to the amount stated in your engagement letter. Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else which cannot lawfully be limited.
Consumer cancellation rights
Where you are a consumer and the contract is made away from our premises or at a distance, you have the right to cancel within 14 days under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. If you ask us to begin work within that period, which is often necessary given the Act's deadlines, you remain liable for work properly carried out before you cancel.
Complaints
We operate a formal complaints handling procedure with escalation to an independent third party. Read the procedure.
Governing law
These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction.