Partywall.co.uk
Guidance
If you’re undertaking construction works in England or Wales, you may need to consider if they fall under the remit of the Party Wall etc. Act 1996.
The party wall act is totally separate to planning or building control regulations and requires that those undertaking certain works (the ‘building owner’), notify their neighbour (the ‘adjoining owner’) before they start. This is done by sending a written ‘party wall notice’.
We’ve set out below a quick guide to help you use our notice generator, which we suggest you read prior to getting started (don’t worry we’ve kept it as brief as possible!).
The Basics...
Our guidance provides a basic introduction to party wall matters and is not designed as a comprehensive explanation of the Act. If in doubt, please seek the guidance of a specialist party wall surveyor.
What works are notifiable?
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;
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Who do I have to serve notice upon?
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.
If you need to prepare more than one notice, you can run through our generator as many times as you like, changing the names/property of the adjoining owner, and the works applicable to each.
If you don’t know your neighbours name, or they do not live at the property (i.e. a landlord), you can normally attain their details from the Land Registry website. The Land Registry website allows you to search for neighbouring properties by postcode and attain a copy of their ‘title register’. You’ll need to register for an account and pay a fee (£3). Once attained, you will find the name and address of the registered owner in section B (Proprietorship Register).
How do I notify my neighbour?
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.
Notices must include an accurate description of the work and we always suggest attaching drawings. We’ll ask you to provide a description of your work so you should be familiar with the notifiable aspects (we’ve included a couple of examples in our notice generator).
If you are undertaking notifiable excavation works, your notice must be accompanied by drawings showing their location and depth. We’ll invite you to upload these, so you should ideally have them to hand. Once prepared, we’ll email you your notice which you can print and either deliver to your neighbour in person, or by posting (recommended).
What happens after I serve notice?
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.
Your notice will include an ‘acknowledgement form’ for your neighbour to return to you with their response. It will also include the name of a suggested specialist party wall surveyor from our database. Their name can be found within the covering letter and acknowledgment form. You do not have to appoint any surveyor suggested and are at liberty to edit your notice to substitute or remove our suggestion.
What if my neighbour doesn't respond?
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, you should send them a reminder letter, giving them a further 10 days to respond. You can download a template for this here.
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).
Party wall surveyors and the party wall award?
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.
