Working with architects, builders and developers
Party wall matters are on the critical path of most extensions, loft conversions and infill schemes. Bring us in early and we'll make sure the notices are right, the timescales are built into your programme, and the neighbours are dealt with professionally.
How we can help
Free early design advice
Send us your drawings at concept or planning stage and we'll flag the party wall implications free of charge. Typical issues are walls on or astride the boundary, foundations that need special consent, eaves and gutters that oversail, and beam bearings in a solid party wall. Catching them early saves redesign and delay later.
Section 6 drawing checks
A section 6 notice must be accompanied by plans and sections showing the excavation. We check your foundation drawings show enough to make the notice valid. That includes depths, distances to neighbouring buildings and their likely foundation level, because an invalid notice can undo everything that follows.
Acting as agreed surveyor
Where appropriate, we can act as the agreed surveyor for both owners. One impartial surveyor is usually the quickest and most cost-effective route to an award, and it keeps your programme moving.
Fixed fees, and rates for repeat work
Our fees are published: notices at £100 per neighbour, awards from £995 and schedules of condition from £390. Basements are quoted individually. Regular clients, and builders and developers with repeat or multi-plot work, benefit from preferential rates. See pricing.
Building party walls into your programme
The notice periods are set by the Party Wall etc. Act 1996, and the work covered by a notice can't start until they've run, or until an award is in place if a neighbour dissents.
| Notice | Typical work | Minimum notice |
|---|---|---|
| Section 1, line of junction | New wall on or up to the boundary | 1 month |
| Section 2, party structure | Beams into a party wall, chimney breast removal, raising, underpinning or exposing a party wall | 2 months |
| Section 6, adjacent excavation | Foundations within 3 m and below the neighbour's foundations, or within 6 m for deeper digs | 1 month |
- Serve as soon as the structural design is settled. Notices don't need planning permission first, and serving early means any award can be agreed within the notice period.
- Neighbours have 14 days to respond. If they don't reply, that's treated as a dispute and surveyors must be appointed.
- Notices lapse after 12 months if the work hasn't started, so time them to your build programme.
- Older neighbouring houses usually have shallow footings, so section 6 applies to most extensions next to them. See foundations by house age.
What we need from you
- Site address, and the addresses of the neighbouring properties
- Existing and proposed plans, sections and elevations
- Structural engineer's drawings and calculations: beams, padstones, foundation type and depth
- Distances from the excavation to neighbouring buildings, and any known foundation depths
- Your intended start date and outline programme
- For basements: the engineer's construction method statement and any monitoring proposals
We identify every adjoining owner who must be served, including freeholders and leaseholders with more than a year left on their lease, using Land Registry records.
Referring a client
Your client, the building owner, appoints us directly. Just pass on our details, or send us the project with their contact details and we'll take it from there. With your client's agreement, we'll keep you copied in on notices, responses and the award, so you know exactly when work can start.
Questions from professionals
Can party wall notices be served before planning permission is granted?
Yes. The Party Wall Act is separate from planning. Notices can be served once the work is designed in enough detail to describe it properly. Serving early is often the best way to keep the programme on track.
Who pays the party wall fees?
The building owner normally pays the reasonable fees of all the surveyors involved, including the adjoining owner's surveyor. They're best included in the client's project budget from the outset.
What happens if work starts without notices?
The adjoining owner can seek an injunction stopping the work. The building owner also can't rely on the rights the Act gives them, and the neighbour can bring claims outside the Act. Serving notices late is far better than not at all: if work has already started, contact us straight away.
Not sure if the Act applies to your project?
Tell us what you're planning. We'll tell you, free of charge, whether you need to serve notice and what happens next.