Expert Surveys and Expert Witness services

Gary Vaughan has been involved in the production of Expert Surveys for over 35 years. Through his training as a civil engineer and forty-three years of professional practice, he has established a wealth of experience over a wide range of disciplines which uniquely enables him to provide invaluable insight to those commissioning his services. Gary has become a well-known and respected authority in the fields of Boundary Demarcation, Drainage and Flooding, Rights of Way, and Extent of Highway matters. Gary is the first choice – ‘go-to resource’ of many legal practitioners, local architects and estate agents when it comes to the matter of uncertainty over the position of a legal boundary, the source of flooding or Rights of Way matters.

Boundary Demarcation

Boundary Demarcation is a complicated area which requires specific skills and abilities that many non-specialist surveyors do not possess. All too often, general practice surveyors lack the requisite skills to map land or they become overly focused on mapping sources which lack relevance or the accuracy to resolve the dispute in question. Limited understanding of boundary matters by surveyors un-versed in Boundary Demarcation quite often leads to a situation where the result put forward is clearly wrong leading to wasted time, wasted costs and a significant amount of stress for both parties.

If you are unfortunate enough to find yourself in the situation of falling out with your neighbour over the position of the legal boundary you will need sound, well-thought-out, professional impartial advice on the simplest, cheapest and most effective route to resolve your problem.

Just one call to Gary might be enough to put your mind at rest and speed up the process of resolving your boundary dispute.

Drainage and Flooding Matters

Flooding problems are unfortunately becoming more commonplace in this day and age.  The causes of flooding however may not be immediately obvious to the layperson or indeed the general practice surveyor. Gary has over 43 years of experience in drainage and flooding matters which provides him with the ability to get to the root cause of drainage problems. His ability to undertake Expert Surveys in difficult areas is virtually unmatched by other experts working in this field which traditionally take a more desktop study approach. Access to data with regard to levels and gradients is however often critical to establishing the mechanisms at work. Gary regularly acts as a consultant in the design of new works and the calculation of flooding impact on the local amenity. 

Highways and Rights of Way

As a civil engineer, Gary is uniquely placed amongst land surveyors when it comes to producing Expert Highway Surveys.

Our Reports

Types of Reports

This is the type of report that you will need if you are involved in formal proceedings in either a County Court or a Land Tribunal. The production of such reports is regulated by a strict protocol established by the Civil Procedure Act 1997. Each and every ‘Part 35 Report’ is required to include a ‘Statement of Truth’ which confirms that the Expert understands his duties in producing the report. Part 35 Reports are typically laid out in a formal style with different sections setting out details of the Expert’s experience, instruction, assumed facts, assumptions made, reasoning and conclusions to name but a few. Supporting documents are normally set out in accompanying appendices.

The Part 35 Report is best suited to clients who are engaged in a matter where civil proceedings are already issued, imminent or inevitable. If you find yourself in this position legal representation is strongly recommended. Typically an instruction for a Part 35 Report is received from a legal practitioner by way of a comprehensive ‘Letter of Instruction’ together with documentary evidence that the Expert is asked to take into consideration when preparing his or her report.

It can take anywhere from between a week to three months to produce a Part 35 Report.

What’s Included In This Report:
  • The Expert’s methodology
  • Expert Plans
  • Expert Photographs
  • The Expert’s independent reasoning
  • Summary of conclusions
  • Expert Statement of Truth

This is the type of report that you will need if you are ‘unsure’ either of your held contentions or if you are uncertain as to whether a problem exists at all. These reports are colloquially referred to as ‘Heads Up’ reports because they are intended to provide a heads-up perspective or a reality check on a potential issue. They can be used to gauge the probability of success in an action and indeed this form of report is regularly provided to legal expenses insurers in order that they can gauge whether cover is available or relevant to the householder. The advisory report is best suited to clients who are unaware of their legal footing and require advice as to whether their held beliefs have merit.

Advisory reports run to between six and eighteen pages of written advice and sufficient plans to explain the Expert reasoning. They are not formatted into distinct sections and they do not normally append the documentary evidence supplied by the client to the Expert. They do not normally attach the site photographs taken by the Expert unless there is a point which is difficult to explain without reference to a photograph.

Although the production of an advisory report does not include the obligation to sign a statement of truth, the professional constraints under which such a report is produced ensures that the opinion given must be the Expert’s honestly held impartial and un-biased opinion. To that end, each advisory report makes clear that the opinion expressed within is the honestly held impartial opinion of the Expert and that if required that opinion would be repeated in a Part 35 Compliant Report.

It typically takes less than a week to produce an advisory report.

What’s Included In This Report:
  • The Expert’s methodology
  • Expert Plans
  • The Expert’s independent reasoning
  • Summary of conclusions

This is the level of service supplied to clients who do not wish to commission a report of any kind. Some clients simply require a record of what exists on the ground at a point in time. Some clients are clear in their own mind that the legal boundary runs from one particular feature to another and they do not need an expert report to confirm that fact. They simply need an accurate plan with a line drawn concisely according to their contended position.

The form of this report is that there is no formal report and typically an e-mail accompanying the produced plans explains in a few short paragraphs what each plan shows and the size and scale at which the plan should be plotted.

Although the expert may carry out a form of analysis such as a simple graphical overlay of the Boundary Survey over an old Conveyance Plan, no formal written report upon that exercise is supplied with the results plan. The client is obliged to form a view on what the plan shows based on his or her own reasoning.

It typically takes less than a week to produce a Boundary Survey and Expert Analysis only.

What’s Included In This Report:
  • Expert Plans

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