A notice is the document that starts everything. The clock, the rights, and the obligations on both sides. Get the content or the service wrong and it does none of those things: it starts no clock, confers no rights, and has to be done again. A surprising proportion of the notices we are shown are defective.
There is no prescribed form, which surprises people. What the Act requires is substance, and every item below has to be right.
If you have received a notice and something on this list is missing or wrong, that matters. Send us a photograph of it and we will tell you whether it stands up. There is no charge and no obligation.
Defective does not mean you should ignore it
Section 15 allows service in person, by post to the adjoining owner's usual or last known residence or place of business, or, where the owner cannot be traced, by addressing it to 'the owner' and fixing it to a conspicuous part of the premises. Email service is only valid if the recipient has stated in writing that they are willing to accept service that way. Assuming email is fine is a common route to an invalid notice.
No prescribed form exists. What matters is content: the building owner's name and address, the property, an accurate description of the proposed works, the sections relied on, the proposed start date, the date of the notice, and, for section 6, plans and sections showing the depth and position of the excavation. A notice on plain paper containing all of that is valid; a glossy template missing any of it is not.
Twelve months. Section 3(2) provides that a section 2 notice ceases to have effect if the works are not begun within twelve months of service and prosecuted with due diligence. If your project slips beyond a year, the notice must be served again.
The notice is the building owner's and must be served in their name, though an agent, a surveyor, architect or solicitor, may serve it on their behalf and sign as agent. A notice served in the builder's own name, as though the builder were the owner, is defective.
Do not simply ignore it, because if you are wrong you will have let the 14 days run out. Take advice quickly. If the notice is defective it starts no clock and confers no rights, and your neighbour will have to serve again properly. But that is a conclusion to reach with a surveyor rather than on your own.
Photograph it and email it over. We will tell you whether it is valid, what it actually covers, and what your deadline really is, free, and with no obligation.
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.
Your 14 days and your three options.
Sections 1, 2 and 6 in plain English.
What follows once a dispute arises.
