Party Wall Agreements: Notices, Consent and Awards Explained

Agreement, consent or award: what you actually need

"Party wall agreement" is what most people call it, but the Act doesn't use the phrase. What it sets out is a notice from you, then one of two outcomes:

• Written consent. Your neighbour agrees, in writing, to what your notice describes. No surveyors and no fees. That's the end of the formal process, though you still have the duties below while the work goes on.
• A party wall award. If they don't consent, the Act treats it as a dispute and one or more surveyors settle it with an award: a legal document setting out what you can do, how and when, and who pays.

You'll see "agreement" and "award" used as if they were the same thing. They aren't, and the difference matters to your budget: consent is free, an award usually means paying for your neighbour's surveyor as well as your own.

The Act is separate from planning permission and building regulations. Having either doesn't remove the need for a notice, and a notice doesn't give you either. Councils don't have to tell you about the Act, so don't count on a reminder from them.

Work that needs a notice

The Act covers three kinds of work, and one job can involve more than one:

• Work on an existing party wall or party structure (section 2). Cutting into it to take the end of a beam, raising it, underpinning it, putting in a damp-proof course, cutting off a projecting chimney breast, or demolishing and rebuilding it. Notice: at least 2 months.
• A new wall on the boundary (section 1), whether it stands astride the line or wholly on your side up to it. Notice: at least 1 month. You can only build astride the line with your neighbour's written consent.
• Digging near their building (section 6). Within 3m of it and deeper than the bottom of its foundations, or within 6m and reaching below a line drawn down at 45 degrees from the bottom of its foundations. Notice: at least 1 month, with plans and sections.

A party wall is a wall that stands across the boundary (part of a building, or a masonry garden wall shared by both of you, but not a wooden fence or a hedge), or a wall on one owner's land that both of you use to separate your buildings. Floors between flats count too: the Act calls them party structures.

Minor work usually doesn't need a notice: drilling for shelves, cutting in sockets, replastering. The government's explanatory booklet puts the test as whether the work could affect the wall's strength or damage your neighbour's side.

Common projects

• Loft conversions almost always need a 2-month notice, because the new floor and roof steels often bear into the party wall. It's the booklet's own example.
• Extensions often need an excavation notice for the foundations, and a boundary wall notice if the side wall goes on or up to the line. Side returns usually need both.
• Removing a chimney breast from a party wall is on the government's list of work you must tell your neighbour about.
• Conservatories, garden walls and new roofs need a notice only if they meet one of the three tests: a conservatory with foundations close enough and deep enough, a masonry wall on the boundary, or roof work that cuts into or raises the party wall. Re-roofing on its own isn't on the list.

Serving the notice

There's no official form, and you don't need a professional to write or serve it. The booklet has example letters for each kind of notice. Whatever you use, it should include:

• your name and address (every joint owner, by name);
• the address of the property being worked on, if different;
• a full description of the work, with plans (plans and sections are required for an excavation notice);
• the date you plan to start, no earlier than the notice period allows;
• the date of the notice, and a clear statement that it's a notice under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996.

Hand it over in person or post it. Email is allowed only if your neighbour has said they're happy to receive notices that way and given you the address. If you don't know who owns the property, you can address it to "The Owner" and leave it there.

Serve every adjoining owner. That includes a freeholder and a leaseholder of the same house (anyone with a lease of more than a year), and for excavation, owners within the distances even if their building doesn't touch yours.

Timing cuts both ways. Work can't start before the notice period ends unless your neighbour agrees in writing, and a notice lapses if the work hasn't started within 12 months. We'd serve it once your drawings are settled, not the day you first have the idea.

What your neighbour can do

Once the notice is served, your neighbour can:

• Consent in writing within 14 days. You can then go ahead when the notice period ends.
• Refuse, which starts the dispute process below.
• Serve a counter notice within 1 month, asking for extra work for their own benefit (they pay for it). You have 14 days to agree to it.
• Say nothing. Silence isn't consent. For work on a party wall or an excavation, no written consent within 14 days means a dispute is deemed to have arisen. For a new wall astride the boundary, it means you can only build wholly on your own land, at your own expense.

They can't stop work the Act allows, but they can shape how and when it's done. Consenting doesn't cost them any rights either: if something goes wrong later, damage for instance, they can still use the dispute process.

If they don't consent: surveyors and the award

A dispute is settled by surveyors, in one of two ways:

• One agreed surveyor, who both of you appoint. Cheaper, and the booklet suggests it for small residential jobs where fees would add a lot to the cost.
• One surveyor each, who then select a third. The third is only called in if the first two can't agree, or either of you asks.

A surveyor can be almost anyone who isn't a party to the matter, but not you, and the booklet advises against using whoever is supervising the build. Every surveyor must act impartially, including the one you appoint. If your neighbour won't appoint one, ask them in writing: after 10 days you can appoint one on their behalf. Appointments are in writing and can't be withdrawn, so choose carefully.

The award sets out the work, when and how it's done, any protection needed, and who pays, including the surveyors' fees. It often includes a record of the condition of your neighbour's property before work starts, which is what any later damage claim is measured against. Keep a copy with your deeds.

Who pays. If the work is only for your benefit, you pay for it and, usually, for all the surveyors. Costs are shared when the wall needs work because of a defect or disrepair, and your neighbour pays for any extra work they ask for. There are no set fees; you can ask a surveyor for a breakdown. Our fee estimates for party wall surveyors are on our side return extension guide.

An award is final unless either of you appeals to the county court within 14 days of receiving it. The booklet warns that an appeal shouldn't be taken lightly: whoever loses may have to pay the other side's costs.

To find a surveyor, the booklet points to the Faculty of Party Wall Surveyors and the Pyramus & Thisbe Society, both of which can put you in touch with surveyors in your area, as well as RICS.

Once work starts

Consent or award, the Act puts the same duties on you while the work goes on:

• No unnecessary inconvenience. The noise and mess the job can't avoid is allowed; anything beyond that isn't.
• Protection and repairs. Where your work opens up their land or building, you must protect it. You're responsible for putting right any damage, even if your builder caused it, or paying for it instead if they ask.
• Access. Your builders and surveyors can go onto their property during usual working hours to do the notified work, after 14 days' notice (less in an emergency). Knowingly refusing or obstructing entry is a criminal offence.
• Security. Your neighbour can ask you to put up security, such as money or a bond, before you start, in case the job is left half-done. The booklet says it's usually kept for intrusive or complex work.

We'd photograph their side of the wall (with their permission) before any work starts, even if they've consented. It gives you both something to check against if a crack appears later.

If no notice was served, or you're selling

The Act has no enforcement procedure of its own. If someone starts work without serving notice, it's a civil matter: the neighbour can ask a court for an injunction to stop the work, or seek other legal remedies. If you think your neighbour is about to start without a notice, the booklet suggests telling them about the Act in writing first.

When you sell, the seller's property information form (the Law Society's TA6) asks about party wall notices, and the Law Society's notes say to attach any you served or received. If work was done and you can't find a notice, tell your solicitor.

The Act doesn't change who owns a wall or where the boundary is, and it can't settle a boundary dispute. Those go to the courts or to mediation.

Frequently asked questions