How to Serve a Party Wall Notice

What a Party Wall Notice Is

A party wall notice is a letter that tells your neighbour about building work you plan on or near your shared boundary. The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 says which work needs a notice, how much notice you must give and what happens next.

A party wall is a wall that stands on the land of 2 owners and forms part of a building, or that separates buildings belonging to different owners. A garden wall on the boundary can be a party fence wall. Wooden fences and hedges are not covered.

The Act is separate from planning permission and building regulations, so you may need those as well.

What Our Template Covers

Our template writes a party structure notice (section 3) or a line of junction notice (section 1(2) or 1(5)). Each one ends with an acknowledgement form for your neighbour to sign and return.

It does not cover adjacent excavation notices (section 6) yet. It also cannot be used for work to a shared wall that includes special foundations, because those notices must include plans, and we cannot send plans with the notice yet.

We print and post your notice. We are not surveyors, and we cannot tell you which notice your work needs.

Work That Needs a Notice

You must tell your neighbour if you want to build on or at the boundary, work on an existing party wall or party structure, or dig below and near the foundations of their building.

Examples include cutting into a party wall to take a beam for a loft conversion, making a party wall taller, shorter or deeper, removing a chimney breast, inserting a damp proof course, and knocking down and rebuilding a party wall.

GOV.UK says you do not need to tell your neighbour about minor work, such as plastering, adding or replacing electrical wiring or sockets, or drilling to put up shelves or cabinets.

The Notices and Their Notice Periods

A party structure notice, under section 3, is for work to an existing shared wall. You must serve it at least 2 months before the work starts.

A line of junction notice, under section 1, is for building a new wall on the line of the boundary. Serve it at least 1 month before the work starts. Section 1(2) covers a wall built across the boundary, and section 1(5) covers a wall built wholly on your own land, up to the boundary.

An adjacent excavation notice, under section 6, is for digging within 3 metres of your neighbour's building and deeper than its foundations, or within 6 metres if the digging would cut a line drawn down at 45 degrees from the bottom of its foundations. It needs at least 1 month's notice and must be sent with plans and sections. Our template does not cover excavation notices yet.

What Your Notice Must Say

There is no set form, so a letter is fine, and you do not need a surveyor or solicitor to serve it. Give your name and address, and name every joint owner. Give the address of the building, a full description of the work and the date it will start. Date the notice and say it is a notice under the Act.

GOV.UK says you can speak to your neighbour to explain the work before you give notice in writing. Any agreement you reach should be in writing.

Who to Serve

Serve a notice on every owner of the neighbouring property. Under the Act, an owner includes a leaseholder with a lease of more than a year, so a flat may have a freeholder and a leaseholder who each need a notice.

You can serve it by post to the owner's home or business address in the UK, or by hand. You can only use email if the owner has said they are willing to receive notices by email and has given you an address.

If you do not know who owns the property, HM Land Registry's title register shows the owner. You can get it even if you do not own the property.

What Happens After You Serve It

Your neighbour has 14 days to give their consent in writing. GOV.UK says you cannot assume that no reply means they agree.

For a party structure notice, if your neighbour does not consent in writing within 14 days, a dispute is treated as having arisen, and the surveyor process in the Act applies.

For a section 1(2) notice, if your neighbour does not consent within 14 days, you can only build the wall at your own expense, wholly on your own land. A section 1(5) notice does not ask for consent, but any dispute about the work is settled by surveyors.

Within 1 month of a party structure notice, your neighbour can serve a counter notice asking for extra work for their own benefit.

A notice lapses if the work has not started within 12 months, so do not serve it too early.

If Your Neighbour Does Not Agree

You and your neighbour can appoint one agreed surveyor together, or each appoint your own. The two surveyors then pick a third. You cannot act as your own surveyor.

If your neighbour refuses to appoint a surveyor, or does not do so within 10 days of being asked, you can appoint one for them.

The surveyors make a party wall award. It sets out what work is done, how and when, and who pays, including the surveyors' fees. GOV.UK's booklet says the building owner usually pays. Either of you can appeal to a county court within 14 days of receiving the award.

When the Work Starts

Your neighbour must let surveyors and workers in during usual working hours to carry out the work, with 14 days' notice except in an emergency. You must avoid unnecessary inconvenience, protect their property, and fix or pay for any damage.

GOV.UK's booklet says the Act does not require a schedule of condition, a record of your neighbour's property before work starts, but it advises making one.

The Act has no enforcement procedure for failing to serve a notice, but a neighbour can ask a court for an injunction to stop the work.

Why Send It by Post

Your notice period counts from the day the notice is served. Under the Interpretation Act 1978, a notice sent by post is treated as served when it would normally be delivered, unless the contrary is proved. A tracked letter gives you a dated record of when it arrived, and your copy shows exactly what you said.

If you need a signed copy, print it, sign it and send it with Upload a PDF.

Scotland and Northern Ireland

The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 does not apply in Scotland or Northern Ireland. GOV.UK says there are different rules in Scotland.