The big idea
This is an unnecessary piece of bureaucratic legislation. All it does is give Chartered Surveyors a license to print money for a document stating the same facts that are in the legislation. It sets neighbours against each other.
Why does this matter?
Party Wall Act legislation is phrased in terms of "dispute" rather than what it should be as an "agreement" between two parties. The product does not protect either party as it is not "joint agreement". The document produced has no legal standing and a Chartered Surveyor is only a "middle-man" and cannot act legally. So, any dispute becomes a civil matter anyway, as it would if there issues arise between two parties. Scrap it, or repeal it.
I absolutely agree. This act is phrased and construtcte in such a way as to set neighbour in conflict with neighbour – without adding anything by way of additional protection for anyone in law. It forces engagement of an additional professional – but one potentially devoid of any qualifications – in pretty well any given situation – and allows one party to engage/select their own surveyor while the other is saddled with potentially unreasonable (unless he can prove otherwise) anhd escalating costs. A worse piece of legislation for the sake of itself is hard to imagine.