Party wall notices, explained in plain English
Whether you need to serve a notice or one has just come through your door, start here. Free guides written by Ivan Larkin, a practising party wall surveyor.
Planning work near a neighbour?
That makes you the building owner. Before work touches a shared wall, puts a wall on the boundary or digs near next door, your neighbours need formal notice.
Guides for building ownersReceived a notice?
That makes you the adjoining owner. There are 14 days to answer, and saying nothing will not stop the work. Here is how to reply.
Guides for neighboursFour numbers every notice turns on
Put the date of service into our deadline calculator to see them for your own notice.
- 14 daysfor the neighbour to reply, counting the day the notice is served
- 1 monthminimum warning for a boundary wall or nearby excavation
- 2 monthsminimum warning for work to a shared wall
- 12 monthsbefore a notice for work that never started lapses
What is a party wall notice?
It is the formal letter the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 requires before certain building work near a neighbour. The Act sets out when one is needed, what it must contain and how long the neighbour has to answer.
A notice is not a request for permission in the everyday sense. It starts a process. The neighbour can agree, or surveyors are appointed to decide how the work will be done, in a document called a party wall award. Most people know it as a party wall agreement.
There are three main notices: a line of junction notice for a new wall at the boundary, a party structure notice for work to a wall you share, and a notice of adjacent excavation before digging close to next door's foundations. Our guide to choosing the right one explains each with examples.
Free tools
- Deadline calculator
The reply date, the earliest start and when the notice runs out. - Reply form for neighbours
Turns your answer into a letter ready to sign and send.
Guides for building owners
- How to tell your neighbour about your building plansThe conversation to have before any notice goes through the door.
- Which party wall notice do I need?How to tell whether your project needs a line of junction notice, a party structure notice, an excavation notice, or more than one.
- How much notice must I give my neighbour?The minimum party wall notice periods for boundary walls, shared walls and excavations, and how to plan your build around them.
- How to serve a party wall notice correctlyWho to serve, how to deliver a party wall notice, and what to do about joint owners, flats, landlords and empty properties next door.
- What must a party wall notice include?A checklist of the details every valid party wall notice needs, plus the extra information required for excavation and special foundation notices.
- Party wall notice mistakes that cause delaysThe errors that invalidate party wall notices or hold up building work, from serving the wrong person to a start date that comes too soon.
- My neighbour hasn't replied to my party wall noticeWhat to do when a neighbour ignores your party wall notice: the 14-day deemed dispute, the 10-day request and appointing a surveyor for them.
- When does a party wall notice expire?Party structure and excavation notices generally lapse if work does not begin within 12 months. What that means for delayed projects.
- Do I need to serve notice on both neighbours?Either side, behind you, in the flats next door, or further along the street.
- Can I serve a party wall notice before planning permission?Yes, and it can save weeks. When early is sensible, and when it is too early.
- Who can serve a party wall notice?Owners, joint owners, companies, and the professionals who act for them.
- Can a party wall notice be served by email?Only with the neighbour's agreement, and only to the address they gave.
- Serving notice on a council or housing associationWhen next door is a council or housing association home.
- Absent owners, landlords and companies: serving noticeLet, empty, company-owned, or owned from abroad.
- Changing or withdrawing a party wall noticeMistakes, design changes, and deciding not to build.
Guides for neighbours
- Your three ways to reply to a party wall noticeThe three ways an adjoining owner can respond to a party wall notice, what each one means for your home, and how to choose.
- Do I have to pay for a party wall surveyor if my neighbour is building?Why the neighbour doing the work normally pays your party wall surveyor's reasonable fees, and the few situations where you might share the cost.
- Party wall notice reply formFree and private: builds your reply letter, ready to sign.
- Ignoring a party wall notice: what happens nextIgnoring a party wall notice does not stop the work. Here is what happens after 14 days of silence, and why replying protects you.
- Can I stop my neighbour's building work?What the Party Wall Act lets you do, and not do, about a neighbour's building plans, and where else objections belong.
- Consenting to a party wall notice: how to say yes safelyWhen it makes sense to consent to a party wall notice, and the simple steps that protect your home if you say yes instead of appointing a surveyor.
- Questions to ask your neighbour before you replyA short list of sensible questions to ask a neighbour who has served a party wall notice, so you can decide how to respond.
- Is the notice I've received valid? A checklistSeven things to check before you reply.
- Counter notices: asking for extra workHave flues, piers or deeper foundations built in while the wall is open.
- Can I have more time to reply to a party wall notice?What the 14-day deadline really means, and how to keep control.
- I rent my home and received a party wall noticePass it on fast, and know your rights as the person living there.
- A developer has served a party wall notice on meBigger jobs, tighter timetables, and owners who may not stay.
- Why have I received more than one party wall notice?One project, several kinds of work, a notice for each.
Written by a party wall surveyor
Every guide here is written and kept up to date by Ivan Larkin ACABE MFPWS MPTS. Ivan spent more than 37 years in the building trade, including years building new homes as an NHBC and LABC registered builder, before turning to party walls. Read his background.
Other guides by Ivan
- About Party Walls: the Act, and the kinds of work it covers
- About Party Wall Agreements: surveyors, awards, damage and disputes