Party Wall Surveyor Ealing | Fixed Fees From £165

Grey & Associates are party wall surveyors in Ealing, covering W5 Ealing and Pitshanger, W13 West Ealing and Northfields, W7 Hanwell, W3 Acton and UB1 Southall. We act for owners building and for owners who have received a notice. Fixed fees start at £165 + VAT per adjoining property.

Key takeaway

Ealing contains two very different housing markets, and they produce two different kinds of party wall case. In Acton and around Ealing Broadway the stock is dense Victorian and Edwardian terraces, heavily sub-divided, where a single project can have several adjoining owners and the notice count is the first thing to establish. Across Hanwell, West Ealing, Northfields and the inter-war streets the housing is semi-detached on wider plots, where the works are more modest but the boundary-wall and line-of-junction questions matter more. Both are Ealing jobs; they are not the same job.

The common thread is independent ownership: converted houses and long leaseholds mean the person living next door is often not the person whose interest the notice has to reach.

What makes Ealing different

Dense Victorian terraces in Acton and Ealing Broadway

Acton and the streets around Ealing Broadway are built of narrow, deep Victorian and Edwardian terraces with side returns — the same physical pattern as Hammersmith, which sits immediately to the east. A rear or side extension brings new foundations within three metres of the neighbouring house as a matter of course, and because the plots are narrow, the project usually affects two neighbours rather than one. Sections 6 and 2 commonly apply to the same scheme: excavation for the new foundations, and alteration or loading of the party wall itself. Where either neighbour dissents, that means two awards rather than one.

The sub-division problem

Ealing has a very large amount of sub-divided housing, particularly in Acton, Southall and parts of West Ealing. Houses have been converted into flats, in some cases more than once, and freeholds are frequently separated from individual leases. The result is that "the neighbour" may be three or four separate interests. Each flat that touches the party structure can be an adjoining owner in its own right, and the freeholder — or more than one freeholder, where the freehold has itself been split — may be another. This is the single most common cause of a delay in Ealing: a notice served on the occupant of the ground-floor flat, while the interest in the structure sits with a landlord elsewhere. We check titles before serving.

Brentham, Pitshanger and the conservation areas

Ealing contains conservation areas with distinctive architectural character, including the garden-suburb streets of Brentham and the Pitshanger area. Conservation-area status does not change the legal test under the Act — it applies on its own terms regardless of planning — but it changes the fabric that has to be recorded. Original joinery, render, tilework and plaster are the finishes that crack first and cost most to put right, so the Schedule of Condition has to describe them specifically rather than in general terms.

Hanwell, West Ealing, Northfields: inter-war semis

Across the west and north of the borough the stock is largely inter-war semi-detached housing on wider plots. Projects here are typically rear extensions, loft conversions and garden buildings rather than deep structural work, but the questions they raise are different ones. The party wall between a pair of semis is a single wall with a single adjoining owner, and where a new wall goes up on the line of junction, section 1 applies with a one-month notice. Boundary walls between the plots raise the party-fence-wall question — a wall that is not part of a building is treated differently under the Act from a party wall, and the rights over it are narrower. On these streets, a good deal of the value of a surveyor is in telling an owner what they do and do not need permission to do.

Basements and underpinning under Ealing houses

Basement schemes in Ealing follow the same pattern as the denser parts of West London, and the deeper ones sit in the Victorian terraces of Acton, Ealing Broadway and the Pitshanger streets. Four points govern them.

Section 6 notice, one month before the dig. Excavating within three metres of a neighbouring structure and deeper than its foundations, or within six metres where the dig would cut a 45-degree line from the bottom of those foundations, requires notice at least a month before work begins. A basement that gains usable headroom meets the first test in almost every Ealing terrace.
Compensation for damage does not depend on fault. Section 7 requires the building owner to compensate the neighbour for loss or damage caused by work executed under the Act, so damage from the excavation is compensable whether or not anyone was negligent. The record taken before the first shovel is what distinguishes condition that already existed from the consequence of the dig.
Two-storey schemes need the structure held up. Double basements require propping, piling or temporary works to support the neighbouring house, and often the underpinning of the neighbour's foundations before the excavation reaches them. Those operations are themselves notifiable and must be described accurately in the award.
Section 2 runs alongside section 6. Where the party wall is cut into, underpinned or loaded — inserting a beam or padstone, for example — section 2 applies and the notice period is two months. The longer period governs when the project can start.

Basement and underpinning work is quoted separately from our fixed fees, after we have read the structural drawings and the method statement. Our basement and underpinning party wall page explains how those cases are run.

Fees for party wall work in Ealing

Fixed and published, and the same across the borough: £165 + VAT per adjoining property to serve notice, £620 + VAT per Schedule of Condition, and £350 + VAT per adjoining property for an award acting for the Building Owner. A one-neighbour dispute — notices, one Schedule of Condition and the award — is £1,135 + VAT. All prices exclude VAT, charged at 20%: the £1,135 figure carries £227 of VAT, so £1,362 including VAT.

Those figures apply per adjoining property, which matters in Ealing more than almost anywhere else: a sub-divided house with three interests is three notices, and in a dispute, three awards. Basement and underpinning works are priced differently — deeper excavation, more engineering input and far more extensive schedules put them outside the fixed figures. We review your plans and the proposed works first, then present a formal written quote before anything is agreed or any notice is served. Nothing in this section is an offer.

The full breakdown, including the statutory position on who pays for both sides' surveyors, is on our London party wall surveyor page.

Ealing party wall questions

The house next door in Acton is divided into flats. How many party wall notices do I need?

One per adjoining owner, which in a converted house can be several. Each flat that touches the party structure can be a separate interest, and the freeholder may be another. In Acton, Southall and much of Ealing, where a great many houses have been divided, a single loft conversion or rear extension can require three or four notices — and, if the case becomes a dispute, a separate award for each adjoining owner rather than one award for the building. We check the title position before serving so that no interest is missed, because a notice that omits one usually means the process has to be started again.

I own a 1930s semi in Hanwell and want to extend. Do I need to serve notice?

Possibly, and it depends on the structure rather than on the age of the house. A rear extension whose foundations fall within three metres of the neighbouring house and go deeper than its foundations is section 6 work and needs notice at least a month before excavation. If the extension is built on the line of junction rather than within your own land, section 1 applies with a one-month notice. Where the works involve the party wall itself — cutting in a beam or padstone, or underpinning — it is section 2, with a two-month notice. Boundary and garden walls on inter-war estates are also worth checking: a wall that is not part of a building, stands on land of different owners and separates those lands is a party fence wall rather than a party wall, and which category it falls into decides the notice position.

My Ealing Broadway house is in a terrace with neighbours both sides. Will a side-return extension need two notices?

Usually yes. In Ealing's Victorian and Edwardian terraces the side return is often the only available external space, and extending into it puts the new foundations within three metres of the neighbouring house on one side — and frequently both, because the plot is no wider than the house plus that strip. Each neighbour is a separate adjoining owner entitled to their own notice and their own Schedule of Condition where their property is affected, and where either dissents, their own award.

What does a party wall surveyor cost in Ealing?

Fixed fees: £165 per adjoining property to serve notice, £620 per Schedule of Condition, and £350 per adjoining property for an award acting for the Building Owner. A one-neighbour dispute — notices, one Schedule of Condition and the award — is £1,135 all-in. All figures exclude VAT at 20%. Basement and underpinning works are priced differently, and a formal quote is presented after we have reviewed the plans and the proposed works.

Talk to an Ealing party wall surveyor

Grey & Associates have worked exclusively on the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 since 2008, including basement, structural and multi-interest schemes across W5, W13, W7 and W3. The first conversation is free.

Fixed fees per adjoining property, agreed before work starts.
Title checks before serving, so every interest is covered.
Schedules of Condition for basement and conservation-area property.
Representation for owners building, and owners who have received a notice.

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

Nearby: Chiswick, Hammersmith, Kensington, Chelsea and Knightsbridge. The wider picture is on our West London party wall surveyor page.

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Party Wall Surveyor in Ealing