Party Wall Surveyor Hammersmith | Fixed Fees From £165

Grey & Associates are party wall surveyors in Hammersmith, covering W6 Hammersmith and Brackenbury Village, W12 Shepherd's Bush and White City, W14 West Kensington and Barons Court, and the Fulham borders. We act for the owner building and for the neighbour who has received the notice. Fixed fees start at £165 + VAT per adjoining property.

Key takeaway

Hammersmith produces two kinds of case more than anywhere else we cover. The first is the side-return extension in a Victorian terrace, where the new foundations land within three metres of two separate neighbours at once — sections 6 and 2 in the same project, and two notices rather than one. The second is the basement, which in W6 and W12 almost always means section 6, a neighbouring house whose foundations are shallower than the dig, and a Schedule of Condition that has to record water, drainage and existing movement before a shovel touches the ground.

It is also where this practice began. Grey & Associates opened in Hammersmith in 2008 and worked the W6 and W12 streets first; it remains one of our heaviest areas of work.

Why Hammersmith cases run the way they do

The housing stock sets the agenda. Hammersmith was built out as dense Victorian and Edwardian terraces on narrow plots, with the side return — that sliver of external space between the house and the boundary — as a standard feature of the plan. Modern owners almost always want it. That single fact generates most of the party wall work in the area.

The two-neighbour problem

A terraced house has a party wall on each side. Extend into the side return and the new structure and its foundations run close to the neighbouring house along the whole of that flank, and the boundary wall itself is often a party fence wall or is built off the party wall. The consequence is that a modest-looking project needs notices on both sides, two Schedules of Condition where the work affects two properties, and — if either neighbour dissents — two awards. Owners are frequently surprised by this; it is not a surveyor inflating a job, it is what a mid-terrace plot does.

Brook Green, St Peter's Square and the conservation areas

Parts of W6 sit inside conservation areas, including the squares and terraces around Brook Green and St Peter's Square. Conservation-area status does not change the party wall process — the Act applies on its own terms regardless of planning — but it changes the fabric that has to be recorded. Original cornices, plasterwork, joinery and stucco are exactly the finishes that crack first and are most expensive to make good, so the Schedule of Condition has to be detailed rather than generic.

White City, Old Oak and the newer stock

Around White City, Shepherd's Bush and the Old Oak regeneration area, a growing share of the work involves purpose-built blocks and converted buildings rather than brick terraces. There the party structure may be a concrete frame or a separating floor rather than a wall, and the adjoining owners are leaseholders with a freeholder or management company above them. It is a different set of questions from the terrace case, and it is the reason we check titles before serving rather than assuming the neighbour next door is the only person to notify.

Basements and underpinning in W6 and W12

Basement excavation is where Hammersmith work gets serious, and it is the part of our caseload we are best known for. Three features of the area shape it.

The neighbouring foundations are shallow. In a Victorian terrace the footings are typically a stepped brick base a metre or so below ground. Any basement that gains headroom passes well beneath them, which puts the excavation inside section 6 automatically — and with it the section 7 duty to compensate the neighbour for loss or damage caused by the work, whether or not anyone was at fault.
Ground conditions are working against you. The gravel terraces and the proximity of the river mean water is a live issue on many W6 and W12 sites. Dewatering, tanking and the neighbour's own drainage all become part of the record. The claims that follow a basement most often are water ingress and movement, and both are decided by what the Schedule of Condition shows beforehand.
Two-storey schemes are normal. Double basements under Hammersmith houses need temporary works to hold up the neighbouring structure and often underpinning of the neighbour's foundations before the dig reaches them. Those operations are themselves notifiable and have to be described accurately in the award.

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

Fees for party wall work in Hammersmith

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.

Basement and underpinning works are priced differently. Deeper excavation, more engineering input and far more extensive schedules put them outside the fixed figures above. 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.

Hammersmith party wall questions

My side-return extension in Hammersmith will be against both neighbours. How many notices do I need?

Two, in the usual case — one for each adjoining owner. Hammersmith's Victorian terraces are narrow and deep, and a side return is often little more than a metre of external space running the length of the house between your wall and the boundary. That means the new foundations will fall within three metres of the neighbouring structure on at least one side, and frequently both. Each neighbour is a separate adjoining owner entitled to their own notice, and if the case becomes a dispute, their own award.

Can I dig a basement under my Hammersmith house?

Yes, and in W6 and W12 it is routine. Section 6 of the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 requires notice at least one month before 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. A basement almost always meets that test in a Hammersmith terrace, and where the shared wall is also cut or underpinned, section 2 applies with a two-month notice. Basements here also have to deal with the water table around the river and the old gravel terraces, which is why the Schedule of Condition must record the neighbour's drainage and any existing damp before work starts.

Who is the adjoining owner in a W6 mansion block?

Usually more than one person. In a Hammersmith mansion block the freeholder or the management company is commonly served in respect of the structure, while any leaseholder whose flat touches the work may be an adjoining owner in their own right. Where the project involves a separating floor or the frame rather than a brick wall, the interests above and below matter as much as the one next door. We check the title position before serving, because a notice that misses an interest normally means starting the process again.

What does a party wall surveyor cost in Hammersmith?

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 a Hammersmith party wall surveyor

Grey & Associates have worked exclusively on the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 since 2008 — beginning in Hammersmith, and still handling basement and structural schemes across W6, W12 and W14. The first conversation is free.

Fixed fees per adjoining property, agreed before work starts.
Schedules of Condition that stand up as evidence a year later.
Basement, underpinning and temporary works experience.
Representation for owners building, and owners who have received a notice.

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

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

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Party Wall Surveyor in Hammersmith