On 3 May 2007 04:17:53 -0700 Aboleth wrote :
I'm planning a loft conversion. It will require two steel joists
across the party walls of our terraced house. I've given the
neighbours party wall act letters and it's not going smoothly!

One of them is saying they want to have the wall surveyed. This seems
fair enough, but who pays for the survey? Is it just me, because I'm
the person doing the work? Seems a bit unfair as it gives a grumpy
neighbour the chance to cause me unnecessary costs. A chap up the
road had this situation and his neighbour insisted on using the most
expensive surveyor in town.

You pay. 20 years back I did the plans for a loft conversion in Notting
Hill and my client said he couldn't be doing with all this nonsense.
Unfortunately the neighbour was a drinking buddy of a partner in a high
profile firm of Mayfair surveyors. After the stop work legal letter
guess who my client ended up paying for.

You might find it worth getting hold of a copy of "Party Walls: And
What to Do with Them" originally by John Anstey, latest revision 2005.
If it's as good as the original, you'll actually enjoy reading it!

--
Tony Bryer SDA UK 'Software to build on' http://www.sda.co.uk