We get asked pretty regularly what the Party Wall Act is and whether it affects our client’s during the construction of their loft conversion / extension.

This article should help you understand exactly what the purpose of the Act is, whether it affects your project and what you need to do to comply with it…

What is a Party Wall?

The ‘Act’ that people are referring to is actually titled The Party Wall Act 1996. In this Act, a party wall is defined as any wall that “stands astride the boundary of land between two (or more) owners”. A wall can also be defined as a Party Wall if the wall is entirely within the client’s boundary but it’s external face is being used as the internal face of a neighbouring property.
The Act also uses the phrase ‘Party Structure’ which will normally describe shared floor voids.

All of these situations in which the act considers an element to be a party wall or structure are shown below…

Does the Act apply to me?

The Act determines that it is likely to comply if you are;

• Working on an existing shared wall
• Working at or ‘astride’ the boundary line between properties
• Excavating within 3-6 metres of a neighbouring property
  (as this is likely to cause some sort of disruption to the neighbouring property)

Under the Act you are generally allowed to cut into the wall, bear onto it with a beam/lintel, insert a DPC, raise the height of the wall, underpin it and even demolish & rebuild it.
If you seek to undertake any of these practices, you must fulfil your duties as detailed in the Act.

What are my duties under the Act?

The Act requires that you notify all adjoining owners of the intended works in writing. If you are planning to work on a party wall, notice must be served at least at least 2 months before work is set to begin. If you are planning to build something on the boundary line between your properties or you are carrying out excavations that are covered by the Act, you must serve the notice at least 1 month before work begins.

If you do not do this, your neighbours have the right to stop any building work through a court injunction.
The notice lasts a maximum of 1 year before you either have to start the work or issue a new one.

It is advisable to speak to your neighbour in person beforehand if possible to iron out any possible issues that may arise during the work. You can then be confident that they will agree to the written notice.

What do I need to write?

There is no specific form to fill in, you just need to write a letter that includes the following;

• Your name and postal address (both names if joint owners)
• The address of the building to be worked on (If different from postal address)
• A full description of what you propose to do (You may also want to include some drawings to better explain the proposal)
• When you propose to start the work (at least 2 months from the date of the letter

If you are writing to give notice of excavations covered by the Act that you plan to carry out, you will need to include details of how you will strengthen the neighbouring foundations and also include section drawings showing accurate expected depths of existing and proposed foundations.

What happens next?

Next, your adjoining property owner has 14 days to either agree the works in writing, deny the works completely or issue a ‘counter-notice’ in which they will set out extra provisions that they want met before they will agree the proposal. If they do not respond within 14 days, the Act dictates that a dispute has arisen.
If they agree to the works, the Act dictates simply that there is not a dispute at this stage (ie. things can still go wrong from here! For example, if the the terms of the proposed works are broken or the adjoining property is damaged)

What if the neighbours won’t agree the works?

If the notice is proposing a new wall to be built on the boundary line and the neighbour denies the works, you have no choice but to build the wall inside the boundary line. You do however have the right to build the necessary footings under their land and must compensate the owner for any damage caused to their land.

If the notice served is for work to be carried out on an existing party wall (eg. cutting into it) and the neighbour denies the works completely, this is where things can get quite complicated but try not to get too disheartened. The best way to solve these sorts of things is to go round their house for a chat and see exactly what concerns they have. If this is not possible or even after a friendly chat they still do not want to agree to the building work, both you and your neighbour will need to agree on and employ a surveyor.  The Act considers anybody not involved in the dispute to be a surveyor but it is obviously best to employ somebody with some building experience and possibly some party wall experience.
The job of the surveyor is to write up an “Award”. This is  a document that seeks to form some sort of fair plan for construction which addresses the adjoining neighbour’s concerns where possible without being too unreasonable to the home-owner who is carrying out the works. If you can not even agree on a surveyor, you can appoint separate surveyors who will try to agree an Award between them. If those two surveyors can not agree on a fair decision, they must then agree a surveyor and appoint them to make a final decision. If your neighbour won’t even agree to appoint a surveyor, your surveyor can employ another surveyor on your neighbour’s behalf… (told you it could get complicated!).

Once an Award is written up, this decision is final unless either party wants to forge an appeal with the courts. This will only be looked at by the courts if the party who initiates the appeal believes the surveyor is fundamentally wrong in their decision.  All appeals must be issued to the courts within 14 days of receipt of the Award.

If your neighbours are being really difficult and won’t even allow access to the party wall for surveyors/architects etc. you will need to notify them in writing 14 days before each visit advising them that they are legally obligated to allow access by these professionals.

Party Wall disputes are notoriously common in the building industry so it is crucial that the Act is followed precisely by both involved parties. For further information and sample letters, the government have provided an information booklet here.

Should you require any extension plans to issue to your neighbours in accordance with the Party Wall Act, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us and we will do all we can to help.

Until next time,

ArkiPlan.co.uk