Barker and Associates Party Wall Surveys Limited Reviews 64

We engaged Neil for a party wall agreement. Apart from showing up we had no further contact. Every time you phone/email no response. Until the last email which said:-
Neil Barker via barkerspartywall.onmicrosoft.com
Fri 2 May, 12:58 (6 days ago)
to me

Thank you for your email.



Due to unforseen circumstances Barker and Associates has had to close and will not be responding to any further enquiries.



Kind regards,



Barker and Associates Party Wall Surveys Ltd.

Need I say more......!

You only have to look at the responses to reviews to see how rude this man is. This firm is an ambulance chasing outfit who scours the planning portals and then sends unsolicited mail in the hope of signing up new customers. Certainly a few years ago when I had the misfortune of dealing with him, Neil had no actual relevant qualifications and is not a qualified (chartered) surveyor. Anyone can call themselves a party wall surveyor.

My absent landlord neighbour was sent a letter by Barkers. He signed him up. I tried to explain the concept of party walls to him and explained that Barkers were not chartered surveyors and he got really funny, threatening legal processing etc. I dread to think what the letter says when you first hear from Barkers but I suspect it gives the recipient the impression that unless you instruct a surveyor and have a party wall agreement then they have no legal rights, which is of course total bull. Neil was rude when I first wrote to him, alleging that my notice was not valid. I’m a lawyer by trade and I can tell you it was.

The whole party wall agreement concept is a con and firms like Barkers happily exploit that. Hats off to him I suppose. Everyone has to make a living but I guess some just make a more honest living - and are polite and respectful in doing so - than others.

Neil Barker has now written a reply that is a lie and slanderous. Neil Barker does not like to be held to account for his dubious business practice and total lack of expertise. I did not try to claim for anything. I wouldn't even know how to. Neil Barker was not contactable the majority of the time. When I did eventually manage to get in touch to ask him to look at some sunken ground on my land next to the new extension he refused to attend and it then transpired he had failed to document evidence before the work began. However this was just one of a long list of incompetencies.

Wee should have used one of our consultants in the commercial construction industry to professionally do this job. In good faith, we too got a flyer in the post box. Does not have our interest protected at all apart from passing on emails.

Absolutely rude and fraud , I received letter regarding party wall act filled the form now the extension has been done by neighbour into our boundaries Bakers declined to help.
I did fill the firm called you and I was advised tosend the for via email , I still have that email with filled form attached in my sent emails, I did even called after sending the form I was advised we will contact the neighbours now. So please don't reply with false information

A disgraceful practice of sending letters to neighbours of those who are planning extensions. My neighbour is 88 years of age and thought she had to fill out the authorisation form she was sent. Her son spotted the form and stopped her from doing it.
On top of this there is nothing being done anywhere near a party wall.
I cannot believe that a company can be this desperate for business!

Very good service, would recommend.

Avoid this 'company' at all costs. I don't typically leave reviews but the behaviour of this individual made me feel it necessary to warn others.

Mr Barker contacts neighbours with letters claiming that work being carried out is definitely going to cause harm and they MUST appoint him to deal with it. If you have elderly (or stupid) neighbours such as we do, then he preys on them and feeds them incorrect information in order for them to appoint him.

He is not accredited by any relevant professional bodies, and whilst this is not a requirement it is a huge red flag. Why would a law abiding and professional business not want to associate themselves with an accredited body? Unless of course because they fail to meet the required standards and moral codes of conduct laid out by these bodies.

The letters we received from him were uninformed and, above all, rude and pedantic.

Finally, when he knew there was no chance of us appointing him, he stopped responding to our neighbours requests for information and cut them off completely.

The party wall surveyor we eventually appointed said he had heard stories of others going with Barker and Associates and having a terrible experience and being charged almost double what they should be charging.

I can see he has a habit of responding to these reviews saying that they must be fake as he has never worked with us. Yes, he has never worked with us as we never gave him the chance!

Don't ignore the bad reviews everyone, people have taken the time and effort to come here and leave these reviews to help warn others.

Hassle free Party Wall award within a week. Would recommend.

I dont usually write reviews but I felt implored to do so on this occasion. If you want a sweet and short answer STAY AWAY. Now for the long review I wouldn't even call this a company what they do is this. So let's say you would like to build a extension to do you apply to the council who in turn publishes on its planning portal now this sick company trawls these websites and sends unsolicited letters to your neighbours implying that they will need them at huge cost because whoever is doing and exstension in upto something sinister like building a batcave or bond villains lair. They then contact you saying that they were instructed by your neighbours to act on their behalf. Furthermore because party wall act states if there is a disagreement the person building the extension foots the bill. Having spoken to them on the phone they are not even regulated or apporved by any body eg RICS. They scare people into believing that you need them. They make friendly neighbours fall out because of their lies. And if you do have the misfortune of falling for all their Bull then they charge you and obscene amount of money then they instruct a local surveyor because there not even local to do the survey for a fraction of the cost and they pocket the rest. Please please please stay away from this not so good company.

Excellent customer service! Whenever I needed something they were there for me. Thank you guys. I will be using this company again with my future builds

Today I spoke with your team, they were so pleasant and extremely helpful, in explaining everything regarding the party wall Act.

Thanks again.

Thank you for sending out a very friendly and professional surveyor who helped us and answered all our questions. Highly recommend! Thank you so much for your help.

Received an unsolicited letter from this company.
Having previous experience of party wall agreements, suggest you talk to neighbours first, and if there are issues that concern you consult a well reviewed local chartered surveyor. Ignore these scaremongering "ambulance chasers".

We had no problem at all using Barker and Associates to carry out our survey and issue the party wall awards.

I am so grateful for the reviews on this page about this immoral company. They saw I had submitted a planning application for an extension on my property by scouring through the council’s website, they then took it upon themselves to write a letter to both my neighbours claiming my building works were to start within the coming weeks and required them to act as an intermediary between us for a Party Wall Agreement (both entirely untrue claims). I hadn’t even received planning permission at this point, even as I write this I am still awaiting planning permission! Luckily one of my neighbours ignored their scaremongering letter. However, due to the way in which their letter was written, my other neighbour thought this company were acting on my behalf and responded to them. I then receive a letter from this company which stated my neighbour is their client and is instructing them to act as a third party between us. Their aim is to provide disinformation in order to capitalise off it. Their practice is immoral - it is DISINFORMATION they are providing and they are most probably a cause of a lot of unnecessary neighbourly feuds. Luckily I get on well with my neighbours, and luckily this page exists so I can prove to my neighbour who was misled by them that this company are not to be trusted. Thank you TrustPilot!

My elderly parents received an unsolicited letter from this outfit regarding a neighbours extension (Party Wall Act) putting the fear of God into them, creating huge stress, arguments etc etc (my father is 91 and recently suffered a stroke during the pandemic). Purely out of greed, preying on people's fears. Of course what they state is completely unfounded as the application had already been refused by the local council on entirely different grounds. Shameful, ambulance chasing outfits like this should be closed down for good.

I have to say, I had no idea that the letter from this despicable Company was a chance letter to get our business. we thought it was from our neighbor's solicitor asking for us to agree to a party wall to sign.
we did not ask them to represent us, we did not call them. they are soliciting work. I feel so stupid. they are very clever in the way they word the letter so that it looks like it comes from your neighbour. If you ever get a letter like this which you haven't asked for, bin it. burn it do anything with it but don't answer it.

If you've ever wondered why you pay so much for your insurance it's because of the nasty companies like this one that wrote to me trying to persuade me to fall out with my neighbour over their proposed extension. Their "to the homeowner" letter dropped onto my doormat the same day as the planning application notice today, on my birthday as it happens. We are selling up soon, a dispute with a neighbour is the last thing we want. Absolute bunch of ambulance chasers and no this is not a baseless fake review, I wouldn't pay them a penny. I'd appoint my own surveyor. No wonder the World is the sad, litigious state it's in. AVOID