Party Wall Surveyor in South East London

Southwark, Lewisham, Greenwich, Croydon, Bromley and Sutton — notices, Schedules of Condition and awards on a fixed fee

Grey & Associates are party wall surveyors covering South East London — Southwark, Lewisham, Greenwich, Croydon, Bromley and Sutton. This is the largest concentration of Victorian and Edwardian terrace housing in London, and the most predictable demand for notices that goes with it: nearly every rear extension, side return or loft conversion in these boroughs runs into a shared wall somewhere. We act for the owner building and for the neighbour receiving the notice.

Key takeaway

South East London splits into two halves. Inside — Southwark, Lewisham and Greenwich — the housing is Victorian and Edwardian terraces and conversions, with dense side-return and lower-ground work and the multiple adjoining owners that flat conversions create. Outside — Croydon, Bromley and Sutton — the stock is largely inter-war semi-detached, where one neighbour and one notice is the normal shape of the case.

If you have received a notice, the important thing to know is that in a dispute the Building Owner pays both surveyors' reasonable fees. You are not funding your own representation to protect your property.

Borough by borough: what changes about the work

The Act does not change across London, but the buildings do, and the buildings decide how the case runs. Six boroughs, four quite different situations.

Southwark — SE1 Borough and Bermondsey, SE5 Camberwell, SE15 Peckham, SE16 Rotherhithe, SE17 Walworth, SE21 and SE22 Dulwich

Southwark contains more variety than any other borough we cover. Around Borough, Bankside and Walworth the building is Georgian and early Victorian, often large and often listed. Through Camberwell, Peckham and Nunhead it is dense Victorian terrace, heavily converted, where a side-return extension is the standard project. In Dulwich and East Dulwich the properties are substantial Victorian villas on wider plots, with correspondingly deeper schemes. Along the river at Bermondsey and Rotherhithe the warehouse and wharf conversions bring their own complications: thick masonry walls, shared structure above and below, and leasehold buildings where several flats sit between the work and the ground. In all of it, the recurring theme is the number of separate interests against a single party structure.

Lewisham — SE3 Blackheath, SE4 Brockley, SE6 Catford, SE8 Deptford, SE12 Lee, SE13 Lewisham, SE14 New Cross, SE23 Forest Hill, SE26 Sydenham

Lewisham has the largest stock of large Victorian housing of any borough in South East London, and the biggest houses are where the biggest projects happen. Around Blackheath and Forest Hill the villas are big enough for full lower-ground conversions, which brings section 6 excavation into a case that already involves section 2 work to the shared wall. Through Brockley, Crofton Park, Catford and Sydenham the terraces are narrower and the work is lofts, rear extensions and side returns. Deptford and New Cross add a layer of newer build and converted industrial property, where the party structure may be a concrete frame rather than brick and the Schedule of Condition needs to record a different kind of building.

Greenwich — SE7 Charlton, SE9 Eltham, SE10 Greenwich, SE18 Woolwich and Plumstead

Greenwich is really three markets. Maritime Greenwich around the town centre and the World Heritage Site is Georgian and early Victorian, tightly controlled and often listed, where consent sits alongside the party wall process. Eltham and much of Charlton are inter-war suburban — semis and short terraces where a loft or rear extension usually involves a single neighbour. Woolwich and Plumstead are in the middle of sustained regeneration, with new-build and converted flats producing multi-owner buildings, and where the adjoining owner on paper may be a housing association, a developer or an absentee leaseholder, each of which changes how notice is dealt with in practice.

Croydon — CR0 Croydon and Addiscombe, CR2 Sanderstead and South Croydon, CR5 Coulsdon, CR7 Thornton Heath, CR8 Purley

Croydon is the highest-volume borough in this group and the least complicated per case. Addiscombe, Thornton Heath and much of CR0 are inter-war semis and short terraces where a loft conversion or rear extension involves one adjoining owner. Moving south, Sanderstead, Purley and Coulsdon have larger 1930s detached and semi-detached houses on generous plots — bigger projects, more often a basement or a two-storey rear addition, and neighbours who frequently appoint their own surveyor. Croydon town centre adds a large stock of flats, where the question is usually vertical: who owns what above and below the work.

Bromley — BR1 and BR2 Bromley, BR3 Beckenham, BR4 West Wickham, BR5 and BR6 Orpington, BR7 Chislehurst

Bromley is different in kind. There is more detached and larger semi-detached housing here than anywhere else we cover, which means the party wall question comes up less often — and when it does, it is frequently not about a wall inside a building at all. Garden walls, boundary walls and line-of-junction structures dominate: rebuilding a boundary wall in Beckenham or Chislehurst, or building a new wall along the line of junction in Orpington, brings section 1 or the party fence wall provisions into play rather than section 2. Conservation areas at Chislehurst, Beckenham and around Bromley Common add a heritage dimension to work that would be trivial elsewhere.

Sutton — SM1 and SM2 Sutton, SM3 Cheam and Worcester Park, SM5 Carshalton, SM6 Wallington

Sutton is inter-war suburban London in its most consistent form: semi-detached houses in long streets, with the typical project being a loft conversion, a single-storey rear extension or both. The cases are usually short — one neighbour, one notice, one award if it comes to that. Carshalton and Carshalton Village add a pocket of older property and conservation-area controls around the ponds, and the larger houses there tend to bring deeper schemes. Worcester Park and Cheam have a significant share of extended and re-extended houses, where the relevant party wall may have been altered by a previous owner and the paperwork from 1980 is long gone.

What catches people out in South East London

  • Count the adjoining owners before you price the job. A converted Victorian terrace in Camberwell or Forest Hill can put four or five separate interests against the same wall. Each receives notice, each may appoint a surveyor, and where the dispute reaches an award, each gets its own. A fee quoted per adjoining property is the only honest way to present that — a single all-in figure quoted by a firm that has not asked how many flats there are will usually be revised later.
  • Lower-ground and basement work in the bigger houses. Around Blackheath, Forest Hill and Dulwich, digging down is common, and it triggers section 6 as well as section 2. The deeper the dig, the more the case rests on the Schedule of Condition and, on many schemes, on a structural engineer's assessment of the neighbour's foundations. This is the one part of the work that we do not price from a standard tariff.
  • Setting out a new wall on the line of junction. In the outer boroughs, extensions and outbuildings frequently mean a new wall placed on or astride the boundary. That is section 1, notice is one month, and there is no obligation to build the wall half on each side unless the neighbour agrees to pay half — a distinction that causes more argument than almost anything else in the Act.
  • Notices to the wrong party. Where the adjoining property is owned by a housing association, a local authority, a management company or an absent leaseholder, serving the occupant is not enough. We check the title position before serving, because a notice that never reached the right owner is the single most common cause of a case that has to be restarted from scratch.

Two further points for South East London specifically. First, the Act's notice periods are one month for excavation and line-of-junction work and two months for work to an existing party structure — so a side-return extension usually has the longest lead time, and it is the job most often started on site before notice is properly served. Second, our guide to the different types of party wall covers the party structure versus party fence wall distinction that decides which section of the Act applies to what you are building. If a neighbour will not engage at all, what to do when a neighbour ignores a party wall notice sets out the 14-day position.

Fees across South East London

Fixed and published, and the same in every 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 at 20%.

Basement and underpinning works are priced differently. They involve deeper excavation, more engineering input and far more extensive schedules than the standard cases above, so they sit outside these figures. We review your plans and the proposed works first, then present a formal written quote before anything is agreed and before any notice is served.

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

South East London party wall questions

My neighbour's extension is going into the wall we share in Peckham. Who pays for my surveyor?

In a dispute, the Building Owner carrying out the work is responsible for the reasonable fees of both surveyors, including the surveyor appointed by the Adjoining Owner. That is the position under section 11 of the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 and it is not a matter of negotiation in the ordinary case. As the Adjoining Owner you are not paying for your own representation.

How much notice does a loft conversion need in a Lewisham terrace?

Raising a party wall to support a loft conversion is work to an existing party structure under section 2, so two months' notice applies — the longest period in the Act. If the loft is set within the existing roof and the party wall is untouched, no party wall notice may be needed at all. Whether the wall is affected is a question about the structural design, not the planning permission.

Do you cover a party fence wall between gardens in Bromley or Chislehurst?

Yes. A wall separating adjoining gardens that does not form part of a building is a party fence wall, and building against it, raising it or replacing it carries its own notice requirements. On the larger Bromley, Beckenham and Chislehurst plots a boundary wall is often the only shared structure between two properties, so the party wall question becomes a boundary question — and the answer turns on the deeds and the position of the wall as much as on what is built.

What does a party wall surveyor cost in South East London?

Fixed fees across South East London: £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.

Every area we cover across London

This is one of five regions we work across, and each region page is the hub for the local pages beneath it. This is the complete map of where we act.

West London

  • Hammersmith — W6 and W12, side-return extensions and the White City and Old Oak regeneration.
  • Kensington — W8 and W11, Notting Hill and Holland Park — listed buildings, conservation areas and deep basements.
  • Chelsea — SW3 and SW10, the deepest basement schemes we see.
  • Knightsbridge — SW1X and Hans Town — separating floors, structural frames and estate-owned blocks.
  • Chiswick — W4, including the Bedford Park conservation area.
  • Ealing — W3, W5, W7 and W13, sub-divided terraces and inter-war semis.

South West London

  • Wandsworth — Battersea, Balham, Putney, Tooting, Earlsfield and Southfields.
  • Wimbledon — SW19 and SW20, from the Village to West Wimbledon, Merton Park and Raynes Park.

South East London

Southwark, Lewisham, Greenwich, Croydon, Bromley and Sutton. The region you are on now — no separate local pages yet; this page carries the detail.

North London

Camden, Islington, Haringey, Barnet and Enfield. No separate local pages yet; the region page carries the detail.

East London

Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Newham, Waltham Forest, Redbridge, Barking & Dagenham and Havering. No separate local pages yet; the region page carries the detail.

Specialist work

New local pages are added inside these regions as the work grows, and the menu stays as it is — each region page lists everything beneath it. See also our London party wall surveyor coverage, the party wall FAQ and the definitions of the Act's terms.

Talk to a South East London party wall surveyor

Grey & Associates have worked exclusively on the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 since 2008, across Greater London within the M25. The first conversation costs nothing and commits you to nothing.

  • Cover across Southwark, Lewisham, Greenwich, Croydon, Bromley and Sutton.
  • Fixed fees quoted per adjoining property, agreed before work starts.
  • Representation whether you are building or receiving a notice.
  • Site visits arranged around your project, not our diary.

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

Digging out a basement? That work has its own page: basement and underpinning party wall surveyors.

Elsewhere in London: West London, South West London, North London, East London.

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