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Reference

The Party Wall etc. Act 1996,
in plain English.

The Act does two things at once, which is why it confuses people. It gives building owners rights to carry out work they would otherwise have no right to do. And it gives adjoining owners a framework of protection in return. Neither side gets everything they want, and that is the design rather than a flaw.

Ask us how it applies to youI've had a notice
The three notifiable categories

Sections 1, 2 and 6.

Almost every party wall matter falls under one or more of these. A single project often engages two, with different notice periods running at the same time.

Section 1: 1 month

Line of junction

Building a new wall up to or astride the boundary where no building currently stands. If built astride, the adjoining owner must agree, and the wall becomes a party wall in which both have an interest. If they do not agree, it must be built wholly on the building owner's land. But they retain a right to place footings under the neighbour's land.
Section 2: 2 months

Works to a party structure

The long list: cutting into the wall to take a beam, removing a chimney breast, forming or enlarging openings, raising or reducing the wall, underpinning it, cutting away projections, inserting a damp proof course, rebuilding it, and demolishing and rebuilding to a different height. Also exposing the wall to the weather.
Section 6: 1 month

Adjacent excavation

6(1): excavating within 3 metres of a neighbouring building and going deeper than the bottom of their foundations. 6(2): within 6 metres, where the excavation cuts a line drawn downwards at 45 degrees from the bottom of their foundations. Both require plans and sections showing depth and position.

Section 6 catches far more projects than people expect

It applies whether or not there is a shared wall, and whether or not anything is built near the boundary. A detached house digging trench-fill foundations for an extension can easily be excavating deeper than the shallow Victorian footings 2 metres away. Which is notifiable, even though nothing touches the neighbour's building at any point.
The other sections worth knowing

Rights and protections beyond the three notices.

  1. Section 7: protection of the adjoining owner

    The core duty
    A building owner must not cause unnecessary inconvenience, must provide temporary protection where necessary, and must compensate the adjoining owner for any loss or damage resulting from the works. This is the provision behind the duty to make good.

  2. Section 8: right of entry

    Access, with notice
    A building owner and their workmen may enter the adjoining owner's land to carry out the works, but only with 14 days' written notice except in an emergency. The Award normally regulates when and how. It is a right of access for the works, not a general right to wander about.

  3. Section 10: resolution of disputes

    The surveyor machinery
    Each owner appoints a surveyor, or both agree on one. Appointments must be in writing and cannot be rescinded. The two appointed surveyors select a third at the outset, to whom any disagreement can be referred for a binding determination.

  4. Section 11: expenses

    Who pays
    The building owner generally bears the cost of works carried out for their benefit, including the reasonable surveying fees of both owners. Section 11(8) lets an adjoining owner require payment in lieu of making good. Costs are shared where works benefit both owners. For instance, repairing a defective shared wall.

  5. Section 12: security for expenses

    Underused
    An adjoining owner may require the building owner to provide security, typically money held in escrow, before works begin. Particularly relevant where a development is being carried out by a company with no substantial assets.

  6. Section 5: deemed dispute

    The 14 days
    If an adjoining owner does not respond to a notice within 14 days, a dispute is deemed to have arisen. Not a hostile finding. It simply triggers the surveyor process, and most disputes under the Act arise this way.

Questions about the Act

Does the Act apply in Scotland or Northern Ireland?

No. The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 extends to England and Wales only. Scotland has no directly equivalent statute, matters there are dealt with under common law and the law of the tenement, and Northern Ireland has its own separate regime.

What is a party wall, exactly?

Section 20 defines it. In broad terms, a party wall is either a wall that stands astride the boundary and separates two owners' buildings, or a wall standing wholly on one owner's land but separating buildings belonging to different owners. There is also a 'party fence wall', a freestanding boundary wall astride the line, though a wooden fence is not one, and a 'party structure', which covers floors and partitions separating flats as well as walls.

Is a garden fence a party wall?

No. A timber fence is not a party fence wall and is not covered by the Act at all. A masonry boundary wall straddling the line between two properties is. Disputes about fences are boundary and ownership matters rather than party wall matters.

Does the Act override planning permission or building regulations?

It sits alongside them and is entirely independent of both. Planning permission concerns land use and appearance; building regulations concern construction standards; the Act concerns rights between two private owners. You can need all three, and having one says nothing about the others.

Who is an 'owner' under the Act?

Wider than most people expect. Section 20 includes freeholders, leaseholders with a term of more than a year unexpired, and anyone in receipt of the rents and profits. That means a single property can have more than one adjoining owner, a freeholder and a leaseholder both need serving, and joint owners must each be served individually.

Speak to a party wall surveyor, free.

Ring us and a surveyor will tell you where you stand, what your deadline is, and what it will cost you. Which, as an adjoining owner, is usually nothing.

  • The building owner normally pays your surveyor's reasonable fees
  • A named surveyor on your case from start to finish
  • We will tell you honestly if you do not need us
Appoint us as your surveyorTalk to us first, freeor call 01174420259

No card details. No obligation. Nothing is final until you sign the appointment. A member of our office team reads every message, and a surveyor replies, usually within one working day.

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