For building owners
You are being asked for security. It stays yours.
If your works could damage your neighbour's property, their surveyor can ask for money to be set aside first. It is not a fee and not a payment to your neighbour. Here is where it goes and what brings it back.
In short
- The security remains your money throughout.
- It returns to you once the award's conditions are met.
- Your neighbour cannot take it, and neither can we.
- The scheme costs you nothing to open, hold or close.
What happens, in order
First
The award sets the amount
The appointed surveyors decide what is reasonable and write it into the party wall award, along with the conditions on which it comes back. The figure reflects what putting damage right would realistically cost.
Then
You open the account and pay the security in
Register the building, upload the award, and we read the security clause back to you before anything moves. You receive the account details and pay the sum in. There is no fee at any point.
Then
The works proceed
The security sits in a safeguarded escrow account at the Bank of England. Both owners can see the balance, which is usually the end of any argument about whether the money exists.
Then
The surveyors agree the position
When the works finish, the surveyors settle what, if anything, is owed for damage. If nothing is owed, nothing is deducted.
Finally
The balance returns to you
One side's surveyor requests the release and the other agrees it, in whatever split they have settled. We make the payments and record every step. Neither owner can move the money alone.
Ready to open the account?
It takes a few minutes, and there is no fee to either owner.