Guidance

You only need to serve party wall notices for specific types of work, these are known as ‘notifiable works’. There are three categories of notifiable works;

1. Line of junction works Where the boundary between you and your neighbour is not built upon, or there is only a boundary wall, and you wish to build a new wall on your own land up to the boundary, or astride the boundary.

2. Party structure works Where the boundary is built upon, and you are proposing works to a party wall, a party fence wall, or a wall belonging wholly to your neighbour.

3. Adjacent excavation works Where you are undertaking excavations to a greater depth than your neighbour’s foundations and within distances prescribed by the act, either within 3m of an adjoining property, or within 6m of an adjoining property.

You’ll need to serve notice on any neighbours affected by your work, or within notifiable distances of your excavations.

Notice should be served on anyone with more than 1 year’s interest in a neighbouring property. This usually includes the freeholder, and any leaseholders. Notice is not normally required upon tenants, who are often on a 12 month (or less) rolling contract.

You must notify an adjoining owner in writing, 1 month in advance of line of junction and adjacent excavation works, or 2 months prior, if you are undertaking party structure works.

We’ll review your works and produce notices on your behalf, ensuring they meet all the requirements of the Act to ensure valid service.

Your neighbour has 14 days to respond to your notice. They can either consent, or dissent, to the works.

• If your neighbour consents, you can start your work after the relevant notice period has run (either 1 or 2 months from the date of the notice, dependant on the type served). The neighbour can agree to let you start sooner if they wish.

• If your neighbour dissents to the notice, a dispute has arisen, and you must both agree to appoint a surveyor to determine the matter. If you and your neighbour cannot agree upon the same surveyor (known as an agreed surveyor), you will each need to appoint your own.

If your neighbour does not respond within 14 days to a line of junction notice, they are deemed to have consented to those works. You can start your work 1 month after the date of the notice.

If your neighbour does not respond within 14 days to a party structure or adjacent excavation notice, they are deemed to have dissented to those works. If that is the case, we will send them a reminder letter, giving them a further 10 days to respond.

If no response is received to the reminder letter you will need to appoint a surveyor to act on their behalf to resolve the dispute which is deemed to have arisen (this cannot be the same surveyor that you have decided to appoint).

The appointment of party wall surveyors, and production of a party wall award, is only required when your neighbour has either directly dissented or deemed to have dissented to your notice (by not responding).

The role of the surveyor or surveyors is to resolve the dispute that has arisen and authorise the works by producing a ‘party wall award’. The award is a legal document prepared by the appointed surveyor(s) which resolves the dispute and normally includes the following;

• Details of the work to be completed.

• Stipulates how and when the work is to be carried out.

• Specifies any additional work required (for example protection to prevent damage)

• A record of the condition of the adjoining property before the work begins (so that any damage to the adjoining land or buildings can be made good).

• Allows access for the surveyor(s) to inspect the works, or for you to access your neighbour’s land where required to undertake your notifiable works.

The award will set out who pays the cost for producing the award (e.g. the surveyors fees), which in all normal circumstances will be the person proposing the works.