Getting party wall strategy right at RIBA Stages 1–3 saves your client time, budget, and neighbour goodwill later. The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 isn’t just a legal afterthought—it shapes how you detail, sequence, and even set out your scheme. Here are the design-stage moves that prevent disputes and keep statutory timelines off the critical path.
1) Map notifiable works before you freeze the layout
Run a quick triage against the three trigger sections of the Act:
- Section 1 (Line of Junction): New walls up to or astride the boundary.
- Design choice: Astride (needs the Adjoining Owner’s written consent) vs wholly on your client’s land (no consent needed, but consider thickness and finishes).
- Section 2 (Works to party structures): Cut-ins for beams or DPCs, chimney breast removals, raising, underpinning, rebuilding, waterproofing interfaces, flashing into a neighbour’s wall, exposing a party wall.
- Design choice: Rationalise penetrations and avoid unnecessary intrusions (fewer notifiable items = fewer flashpoints).
- Section 6 (Adjacent excavation): Excavating within 3 m (or 6 m for deep works like piles) and deeper than the neighbour’s foundation level.
- Design choice: Foundation type and depth drive the notice burden—consider trench fill vs. RC strip vs. micropiles and how each affects who must be notified.
2) Draw like a neighbour will read it
Notices under s.6 require plans and sections of the proposed foundations. Even where not strictly mandatory, neighbour-readable drawings de-risk dissent. At design stage:
- Include true boundary line, face-of-wall offsets, and finished thicknesses where close to the boundary.
- Show foundation depths with adjacent ground bearing levels; annotate whether works go deeper than typical 1930s strip footings (often 350–600 mm, but vary).
- Detail interfaces at party walls (flashings, weathering to exposed walls, cut-ins) and temporary stability assumptions.
- Flag special foundations (reinforced) early—if they project onto a neighbour’s land you’ll need explicit consent (these can’t be imposed).
3) Plan timelines backwards from statutory clocks
- Notice periods: 1 month for s.1/s.6, 2 months for s.2.
- Add slack for: owner identification (freeholder + long leaseholders), post/consent lag, dissent handling, surveyor appointments, and Award drafting.
- Design tip: Serve notices before tender and well before start on site; aim for statutory periods to elapse during procurement.
4) Design-out friction
- Access: Section 8 grants rights of access for notifiable works, but good design reduces need to rely on them. Consider scaffold from your client’s side, modular elements, or detail thicknesses to avoid over-sailing gutters and copings.
- Astride vs. on-line walls: If consent for astride looks unlikely, design flank walls wholly on your client’s land. Buildability improves if you plan for this from day one (faces, insulation, weathering).
- Services & penetrations: Rationalise routes that would otherwise require multiple notifications or cut-ins.
- Chimneys & projections: Removing a chimney breast? Ensure supporting steelwork is fully within the client’s demise to avoid avoidable cut-aways into the neighbour’s fabric.
5) Flats, freeholders, leaseholders—notify the right people
Where the neighbour is a conversion:
- Expect to notify the freeholder and each long leaseholder whose demise is affected, plus those within s.6 distance/ depth criteria.
- Think vertically: s.20 definitions can capture storeys not just ground-floor flats for excavation notices.
- Build a stakeholder matrix early so you (and your client) know how many owners may respond.
6) Model risk and budget for it (so nothing stalls later)
- Security for Expenses (s.12): For basement dig-outs and high-risk items, assume the Adjoining Owner may request security. Design cashflow so a ring-fenced amount doesn’t choke the programme.
- Third Surveyor pathway: Separate-surveyor cases require selecting a third “forthwith.” Assume this in your programme to avoid dead time if a referral becomes necessary.
- Non-response: If neighbours go quiet, the 10(4) route still moves matters forward—plan a clean paper trail.
7) Keep planning and party wall tracks separate—but aligned
- Party wall isn’t planning. However, neighbour-facing design (mass, overshadowing, overlooking) affects how receptive owners are to consenting.
- Provide a neighbour pack (plain English summary, key drawings, programme headline). Owners who understand the scheme are less likely to knee-jerk dissent.
8) Avoid the “No Notice, No Act” trap
Post Power & Kyson v Shah, if your client undertakes notifiable works without notice, the Act’s mechanisms won’t protect them. They lose rights of access and risk injunctions and common-law claims. Build party wall compliance into your pre-start checklist.
Costings your clients can plan for
Simple Survey‘s Transparent, fixed pricing
- Party Wall Notice service: £25 per adjoining ownership (multi-notice bundles discounted).
- Act administration as Agreed Surveyor (single surveyor): typically £300 fixed-fee, depending on complexity and number of notices/owners.
- Two-surveyor route (we act for the Building Owner): fixed-fee proposals from £325 for our side. (The Adjoining Owner’s surveyor often bills hourly; we work to keep those costs reasonable and contained.)
- Complex works (deep excavations, multi-owner blocks): we’ll still offer the fixed pricing as above!
- No surprises, no creeping extras. You’ll know the number before we start.
Guide add-ons your client might encounter (case dependent):
- Advising engineer (where proportionate/necessary): £600–£3,000
- Third Surveyor referral (if required; issue-focused): £750–£2,500
FAQs (for architects at design stage)
Q: When should we start party wall actions relative to planning?
A: As soon as your design is sufficiently fixed to describe the notifiable works. You don’t need planning consent in hand to serve notices, and running the clocks early protects the programme.
Q: What drawings are required for excavation notices?
A: Plans and sections showing foundation positions and depths relative to the neighbour’s foundations/ground level. Clear, scaled, and annotated drawings reduce dissent.
Q: Can we specify special (reinforced) foundations crossing the boundary?
A: Only with the Adjoining Owner’s express consent. Without it, keep any reinforcement within your client’s land.
Q: How long does a Party Wall Award take?
A: Simple, well-documented schemes can conclude within the notice period; more involved or multi-owner schemes may require 1–8+ weeks from dissent to Award. Early information = faster outcomes.
Q: Who pays the surveyors?
A: Typically the Building Owner pays the reasonable costs of administering the Act, as they benefit from the works.
Q: Our neighbour is a block of flats—who do we notify?
A: The freeholder and any long leaseholders whose demise is affected or within the s.6 distance/depth criteria. We’ll map the ownerships for you.
Q: Can Simple Survey act as Agreed Surveyor?
A: Yes—if both owners are comfortable. It’s often the fastest and cheapest route to a compliant Award.
The takeaway for architects
Design with the Act in mind and you’ll protect your programme, your client’s budget, and neighbour relations. The best party wall strategy starts at concept—choosing details, depths, and interfaces that minimise notice burden and reduce flashpoints—then runs a clean, timely process.
Need a quick design-stage sanity check—or want us to prep notices while you finalise drawings?
Email team@simplesurvey.co.uk with the site address, a brief of the works, and PDFs of your current plans/sections. Prefer a call? Drop your number and we’ll ring you back promptly.
Simple Survey — fast, fixed-fee Party Wall compliance, nationwide.