How do I serve a party wall notice, and what happens next?

The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 applies in England and Wales only. Scotland and Northern Ireland have no equivalent statute, and work affecting a shared structure there is governed by the title deeds and by the common law instead. Most party wall processes fail at the beginning: the wrong notice type, the wrong owner, no drawings, or a notice served two weeks before the digger arrives. Getting the front end right is what keeps the whole thing cheap, because a consenting neighbour ends the process immediately and a dissenting one starts a surveyor's fee running.

What you'll need

• The correct notice form for the type of work
• Drawings and a description of the proposed work
• The names of every adjoining owner, freehold and long leasehold
• Proof of delivery — hand delivery with a witness, or recorded post (optional)
• A party wall surveyor, if the notice is dissented (optional)

Step by step

1. Identify the right notice for the work.The Act has different notices for work to an existing party structure, for building on the line of junction, and for excavation near a neighbouring building. A project can require more than one.
2. Identify every adjoining owner correctly.Check the title at the land registry rather than relying on who answers the door. Freeholders and leaseholders with long leases both count, and every one of them has to be served.
3. Prepare the notice with enough detail to be understood.The proposed work, the date it is intended to start, and drawings. A notice that describes the work vaguely invites a dissent that a clearer notice would not have produced.
4. Allow the statutory period before starting.The Act sets a minimum period between service and starting work, and it differs by notice type. Take the current periods from the government's explanatory booklet, and add contingency — the notice period is not a countdown to a start date.
5. Serve it properly and record how.Hand delivery with a witness, or recorded delivery to the property and to the owner's address if they do not live there. Keep proof: an unproved notice is a disputed notice.
6. Understand the three possible responses.Written consent ends the process. Dissent starts the surveyor process. No response within the response period is treated as dissent, which is why a friendly neighbour who forgets to reply still ends up costing you a surveyor.
7. Appoint surveyors if there is a dissent.Either an agreed surveyor acting for both owners, or one each with a third selected to resolve disagreements. An agreed surveyor is generally cheaper and faster where both sides are reasonable.
8. Get a schedule of condition before work starts.A written and photographed record of the neighbour's property as it is now. This is the document that decides, later, whether a crack was yours or was always there.
9. Expect a party wall award, and follow it.The award sets out what work may be done, how and when, access arrangements, and how damage will be dealt with. It is binding on both owners and it is appealable only within a short window.

Tips

• The building owner — the one doing the work — normally pays the surveyors' reasonable costs, including the adjoining owner's surveyor. That is a strong reason to keep the process proportionate and the drawings clear.
• Serve early. Neighbours who are given time behave very differently from neighbours who are given a deadline.
• If the neighbour appoints an unreasonable surveyor, the third surveyor mechanism exists exactly for that. Raise it rather than escalating directly with the neighbour.

Common mistakes

• Sending an informal letter instead of a notice — A notice has to be in the form and content the Act requires. A friendly note does not start the statutory process, so the period never begins to run.
• Serving on one owner of a flat — Freeholder and long leaseholder are both adjoining owners. Missing one leaves the work unnotified as against that person.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask