Precedent deed of assignment of debt
An outline form for an assignment of debt in party wall disputes.
Where the paying owner fails to meet its obligation, this leaves the surveyor in the uncomfortable position of having to bring proceedings against the appointing owner to recover his or her fees.
There is, however, a simple solution. Section 17 of the Party Wall etc. Act provides that sums due under an award are a debt. Debts are a kind of legal property called a 'chose in action', which may be transferred, or 'assigned', by the creditor to another person under section 136 of the Law of Property Act 1925.
So, all a surveyor needs to do to recover a sum of money payable under an award is to take an assignment of it from the appointing owner.