If you’re the Building Owner planning works that could affect a shared wall, boundary, or nearby structure, the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 likely applies. Serving the correct notices early keeps your project lawful, reduces friction, and protects both properties.
What counts as “Party Wall works”?
Your project may be notifiable if it involves any of the following:
- New walls at or astride the boundary (the line of junction).
- Works to party structures: cutting in for steels, removing chimney breasts, raising/underpinning, inserting flashings, or demolishing and rebuilding a party fence wall (masonry boundary wall).
- Excavations near a neighbour’s structure: within 3 m and deeper than their foundations, or within 6 m where the 45° rule is met (e.g., piling or deep pads).
Party Wall Notices: your legal starting point
Before starting notifiable works, you must serve formal Party Wall Notices on all Adjoining Owners (freeholder and any leaseholders with >12 months’ interest) affected by the works.
What a valid notice should include
- The legal owners’ names and correspondence addresses for both properties.
- A clear description of the notifiable elements (what under the Act you intend to do).
- The intended start date (respecting the statutory lead-in: typically 1 month for Sections 1 & 6, 2 months for Section 2).
- For excavations (s.6): a plan and section showing proposed foundation depths, plus any underpinning/special foundations.
How neighbours can respond
Adjoining Owners have 14 days to reply in writing:
1) Consent
They allow the works to proceed (after the lead-in).
Importantly, consent does not waive their rights—damage must still be made good or compensated, and they can appoint a surveyor later if a specific dispute arises.
2) Dissent (Agreed Surveyor or separate surveyors)
Dissent triggers the Act’s dispute-resolution process. One Agreed Surveyor can act for both parties, or each party can appoint their own surveyor. The surveyor(s) will prepare a Party Wall Award.
3) No reply (deemed dissent)
After 14 days of silence, you serve a 10-day request. If there’s still no response, you may appoint a separate surveyor on their behalf (not your own surveyor) so the Award can be agreed and served.
What the Party Wall Award does
The Award is a binding document that sets what may be done, how and when (time & manner), lays out access protocols, requires protections, and explains damage procedures (making good or compensation). It will usually attach the relevant drawings.
Who pays?
In most residential projects, the Building Owner pays the reasonable costs of the Act’s procedures: their own surveyor’s fees and, where appointed, the Adjoining Owner’s surveyor’s fees.
Neighbour-first best practice
Talk early, share drawings, and answer questions before serving notices. Offering to fund a Schedule of Condition often secures a smooth consent and keeps relationships positive.
Want the simplest, lowest-cost route to compliance?
Email team@simplesurvey.co.uk. Simple Survey are the lowest-cost party wall surveyors across England & Wales. We’ll confirm what’s notifiable, draft and serve watertight notices and issue a clear, proportionate Award—so your build stays compliant and on programme.