Party Wall Notice | What It Is and What To Do

A party wall notice is the written notice one owner must serve on a neighbouring owner before carrying out work that the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 covers. It is not a request for permission and it is not a consent form. It is the statutory trigger that starts a timetable — and if the neighbour does not respond in writing within 14 days, the Act deems a dispute to have arisen and surveyors are appointed.

Key takeaway

Notice must be given before work starts: at least two months for a party structure notice under section 3 (work to an existing party wall), and at least one month for a new wall on the line of junction under section 1 or excavation under section 6. The neighbour then has 14 days to respond in writing. Grey & Associates prepare and serve notices in London for £165 plus VAT per adjoining property.

We deal with notices from both directions. If you are building and need notices served correctly and on time, that is a fixed fee and a straightforward process. If a notice has arrived on your doormat, we will tell you plainly what it commits you to, what it does not, and what to do about it.

What is a party wall notice?

It is a formal written notice served by the owner who intends to carry out the work (the Building Owner) on the owner who will be affected (the Adjoining Owner), before the work begins. Its purpose is to give the neighbour advance warning and the opportunity to protect their property — through a record of its condition before work starts, conditions on how the work is done, and a binding award if the two owners do not agree.

Two misconceptions cause most of the trouble. The first is that a notice is asking permission: it is not, and the neighbour cannot simply refuse. The second is that a notice is a formality to be dealt with after the scaffolding goes up: it is not, and a notice served late or wrongly is the single most common way a London project loses a fortnight or worse. The notice is the point at which the timetable starts, so it needs to be early, accurate, and properly addressed.

The three types of party wall notice

Which notice you need depends entirely on what the work is. The section of the Act is what sets the notice period, and getting the section wrong is the defect that gets challenged most often.

Section 1 — a new wall on the line of junction. Building a new wall on, or astride, the boundary between two properties. Notice must be served at least one month before work begins. Where the wall is to be built astride the boundary with the neighbour's consent, the arrangement is usually recorded in writing between the owners.
Section 3 — the party structure notice. Work to an existing party wall: cutting into or inserting a steel beam into a party wall, raising a party wall for a loft conversion, rebuilding or underpinning it, or cutting away for a side-return extension. Section 2 gives the building owner the right to do that work; section 3(1) is the notice that has to come first, and under section 3(2) it must be served at least two months before the work begins. This is the longest notice period in the Act. It is also the one most often called a "section 2 notice" — the shorthand is everywhere, but the section that creates the notice is section 3.
Section 6 — excavation near a neighbouring structure. Digging within three metres of a neighbouring building or structure and deeper than its foundations, or within six metres in the wider case the Act describes. Basements, new foundations and drainage runs usually fall here. Notice is at least one month, and the Act requires plans and sections to accompany it.

Some projects need more than one notice, and some need more than one notice for the same project. A rear extension with a side return in a London terrace routinely involves work to the shared party wall on both sides of the property — which means two notices, two adjoining owners, and two sets of consequences if either becomes a dispute.

What makes a notice valid — and what makes it challengeable

A notice that does not do the things the Act requires does not start the statutory clock, which means the work has no valid notice behind it. That is a worse position than having served nothing, because by then the contractor may be on site.

A notice needs to

Be in writing and dated
Come from the owner proposing the work, or from a surveyor acting for them
Name the building owner and the adjoining owner
Identify the premises affected
Describe the proposed works specifically — not "alterations"
Identify the section of the Act relied on
Be accompanied by plans and sections for section 6 excavation

The common defects

The wrong section — usually a party structure notice served where the work is excavation, or the reverse
A description too vague to tell the neighbour what is actually proposed
Served on the wrong person, such as a tenant rather than the owner
Unable to identify the owner — a leasehold flat above a freehold house, or a property held by an estate or company
Served too late to leave the full notice period before the start date
Section 6 work notified without the plans and sections

One timing point is worth knowing before anything else: the notice clock starts when the notice is served, not when it is posted, so proof of delivery matters and the date on the letter is not necessarily the date that counts. None of the defects above is difficult to avoid, and all of them are routine for a surveyor who serves notices every week. They are expensive to discover after the work has started. If you are serving notice yourself, read it as the neighbour will read it — would a reasonable person know, from this letter alone, what is being built next to their home?

If you have received a party wall notice

You have 14 days from the date of the notice to respond in writing. What you do in that fortnight determines how the rest of the project runs, and there are four options rather than two.

Consent in writing. The work proceeds without surveyors. Fastest and cheapest, and appropriate where the works are minor and the relationship is good — but you are consenting without a record of your property's existing condition, so if cracks appear afterwards the argument about cause is much harder.
Consent on agreed terms. Conditions — a Schedule of Condition, working hours, protection for a particular feature — are recorded in writing between the owners, usually as a licence. This is the pragmatic middle route where the neighbours get on and the works are modest.
Dissent. You object to the works or want the protection of an award, and the matter goes to surveyors. You may also serve a counter-notice within one month. This is not aggressive and it is not a refusal — the works still go ahead. What changes is that the terms are set by a surveyor's award, which binds the building owner.
Do nothing. After 14 days without a written response, section 5 deems a dispute to have arisen and the case moves to the surveyor stage automatically. Silence has the same effect as dissenting, and it is the option most people take by accident.

The cost point matters here. Where a dispute arises, the Building Owner is responsible for the reasonable fees of both sides' surveyors, including any surveyor and checking engineer appointed by the Adjoining Owner. This is a statutory position set out in section 11 of the Act, not a commercial one. An adjoining owner who has just received a notice is not funding their own representation in the normal case. There is more detail on our party wall surveyor fees page and in the who pays section of our main party wall page.

What you are buying by responding, rather than ignoring the letter, is a Schedule of Condition — a dated photographic record of your property taken before any work starts. It is the document that decides whether the crack that appears in month three was caused by the excavation or was already there. Without it, that question is genuinely unwinnable for either side.

If you are serving notice

Notice belongs at the start of the programme, before the contractor is booked, for the simple reason that the period has to run before work starts. Two months for work to an existing party wall under section 3 is the longest wait in the Act, and it is the one that catches people out on loft conversions and extensions where the build was scheduled around the scaffolding rather than around the notice.

Practically, serving notice involves working out who the adjoining owners actually are — which is not always obvious in London, where a house may be split into flats, one side may be held in a company name, and a freeholder may be an estate or a management company. Every adjoining owner needs their own notice, and where the case becomes a dispute, their own award. A property converted into four flats against a shared wall is four adjoining owners, not one.

We prepare the notice, check the section against the works and the drawings, serve it, and handle the correspondence that follows — including chasing a response, dealing with a challenge, and moving the case to the surveyor stage if that is where it goes. Serving notice with Grey & Associates is £165 plus VAT per adjoining property, and every notice is checked against the drawings before it goes out. If you are planning the project rather than the notice, our guides to the party wall notice timeline and home extension projects set out where notice fits into the build.

What happens after the notice

There are only two paths, and which one you take depends on the neighbour's response.

Consent. Nothing further is required under the Act. The work proceeds. Where the neighbours agree terms, they are usually recorded in writing rather than as an award.
Dissent, a counter-notice, or silence. The case becomes a dispute, and a surveyor or surveyors are appointed — either one agreed surveyor acting for both owners, or one surveyor appointed by each owner, with a third surveyor available if the two cannot settle. The surveyors record the neighbouring property's condition, settle the terms, and produce a party wall award that binds both owners.

If you are the building owner and you are wondering how much all of this is going to cost before you commit, our fees page publishes the whole schedule — notice, Schedule of Condition and award — with a worked example for a two-neighbour project. There is no hourly meter running on calls and emails, and the fee is agreed before the work starts.

The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 exists to let building work proceed without damaging the relationship next door. Handled properly, a notice does exactly that: it tells the neighbour what is coming, gives them a way to protect their property, and keeps the project out of the county court. Our guide to the different types of party wall explains which structure you are dealing with, and what to do when a neighbour ignores a notice covers the most common outcome in London.

Party wall notices — frequently asked questions

How long before work starts should a party wall notice be served?

The notice periods are set by the Party Wall etc. Act 1996. Work to an existing party structure requires at least two months' notice: that is a party structure notice, defined and timed by section 3. A new wall on the line of junction under section 1, and excavation under section 6, require at least one month. The notice period has to run before the works begin, so it belongs at the front of the programme, not the week before the contractor arrives.

Can I serve a party wall notice myself?

Yes. The Act does not require a surveyor to serve notice — the notice comes from the building owner, and an owner may prepare and serve it personally. Most people have a surveyor do it, because the notice has to identify the right section of the Act, describe the proposed works accurately, and go to the right person. Getting any of those wrong produces a challengeable notice, which is worse than no notice at all because work may already have started when it is challenged.

What does a party wall notice have to contain?

It has to be in writing, dated, from the person proposing the work, identify the building owner and the adjoining owner and the premises affected, describe the works proposed and identify the section of the Act relied on. Where the notice relates to excavation under section 6, the Act requires plans and sections to accompany it, showing the site and depth of the excavation and any structure proposed. A vague description of the works, or the wrong section, is the most common reason a notice is challenged.

What happens if I ignore a party wall notice?

Doing nothing has a defined consequence: the adjoining owner has 14 days to respond in writing, and if nothing is received, section 5 of the Act deems a dispute to have arisen. That does not block the works and it does not mean anything has gone wrong. It moves the case to the surveyor stage, where the adjoining owner's interests are protected by an award instead of by agreement.

Can I refuse a party wall notice?

You cannot veto the works where the Act gives the building owner the right to carry them out. What an adjoining owner can require is protection: a Schedule of Condition recording the property before work starts, conditions on how and when the work is done, and an award that binds the building owner to make good any damage. Dissenting, or simply not responding within 14 days, is what triggers that protection. Consent, on the other hand, usually means the work proceeds on whatever terms are agreed between the two owners.

What should I do if the party wall notice is wrong?

A notice that relies on the wrong section, describes the works vaguely, or is served on the wrong person can be challenged, and an invalid notice does not start the statutory clock. If the works are genuinely notifiable, the correct response is to ask for a valid notice to be served rather than to ignore it, and to put the challenge in writing. If the notice is not valid, our advice is to say so promptly — a challenge raised late in a project is expensive for everyone.

Who pays for a party wall notice?

The building owner carrying out the work pays, and it is not a shared cost. Grey & Associates charge £165 plus VAT per adjoining property to prepare and serve notice. Where the case becomes a dispute, the building owner is also responsible for the reasonable fees of both sides' surveyors under section 11 of the Act, so an adjoining owner receiving a notice is not paying for their own representation in the normal case.

What if my neighbour has moved out or cannot be traced?

It does not stop the project. The Act sets out how notices are to be served and what happens where an adjoining owner cannot be found or does not respond, and an absent owner is treated in much the same way as one who stays silent: the matter moves to the surveyor stage. Tell us early, because a vacant or tenanted neighbouring property changes how the case is run and who has to be served.

Serve a notice, or deal with one

Whether you need notice served properly before work starts, or a notice has just arrived and you want to know what it means for you, the first conversation is free and there is nothing to commit to.

Notices prepared, checked against your drawings and served — £165 plus VAT per adjoining property.
Plain advice on whether the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 applies to what you are planning.
Representation whether you are the Building Owner or the Adjoining Owner.
Cover across South and West London, and Greater London within the M25.

Call 020 8150 3762 or email info@greyandassociates.co.uk.

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Party Wall Notices