What if Difficult Neighbours Dispute The Project?
First off, you should be reassured to know that the primary purpose of the Party Wall Act of 1996 is to facilitate responsible development. The Party Wall etc Act is arguably favourably disposed towards the interests of construction projects and the dissenting neighbours do need to establish substantive basis for not allowing the construction or excavation to proceed. It is the responsibility of the appointed Surveyors to decide matters, although the Adjoining Owner can refer decisions to the Third Surveyor. The Third Surveyor can determine who will be responsible for costs involved in such referrals, and this should be a deterrent to any malicious Adjoining Owner or Building Owner, since they could end up paying the costs. It is probably not likely that unnecessarily difficult neighbours will successfully prevent progress as long as your proposed work does not otherwise violate any other regulations or local authority approvals. Even if a neighbour refuses to respond at all, the Act p
