For Adjoining Owners
My neighbour is building next door
Extension, loft conversion, basement, garden room, or anything that involves digging foundations close to your boundary, chances are the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 applies, and you have rights worth using. Appoint a surveyor; your neighbour pays.
Step 1 of 2
Where's your property?
Enter your postcode and we'll show you the surveyor on our team who will handle your case.
Pay £0. By law your neighbour covers our fees (s.10(13), Party Wall etc. Act 1996).
Which works trigger the Party Wall Act?
The short version: most works close to a shared wall or boundary need a notice. If you're unsure, ask us. We'll tell you in plain English.
Rear or side extension
Section 2 + Section 6Most extensions involve cutting into the party wall, attaching flashing, raising the chimney or excavating new foundations within 3 metres of your property. All of these trigger the Act.
Loft conversion
Section 2Loft conversions almost always trigger Section 2 because of the steel beams cut into the party wall, raised parapets, and the new structure bearing on what used to be a low wall. Even a Dormer affects the party structure.
Basement / cellar conversion
Section 6The most invasive of all. Excavation below the level of your foundations within 3 metres (or 6 metres at a steeper angle) triggers Section 6, and these works carry the highest risk of subsidence damage. A Schedule of Condition is non-negotiable.
Garden room close to the boundary
Section 1 + Section 6If footings are dug within 3 metres of your foundations, or if the structure attaches to a boundary wall in any way, Section 6 (and often Section 1) applies.
Underpinning or strengthening
Section 2Underpinning is invariably Section 2 work because it cuts into and reinforces the party wall. Specialist mortar, screw piles or mini-piles all fall within scope.
Chimney removal or alteration
Section 2If your neighbour is removing a flank chimney that sits on the party wall, taking a chimney breast out internally, or capping flues you share, the Act bites under Section 2.
Not sure which section applies? Read our guide to Party Wall Notices or just ask us.
Have you been served a Notice?
Your next move depends on whether your neighbour has formally served papers on you under the Act yet.
Yes, I have a Notice
You have 14 days to respond
The Act gives you a 14-day window to respond. After that, your neighbour can appoint a surveyor on your behalf, and you lose all say in who that is. Dissent the Notice and appoint your own surveyor (us).
Your options →Not yet, but they're planning works
You can engage us in advance
Your neighbour is legally required to serve a Notice before notifiable works begin. Engage us today and we'll write to them on your behalf putting them on notice that you have a surveyor and prompting them to serve the Notice the Act requires.
Engage us now →What if I just don't engage?
We get asked this a lot. The honest answer is: it usually goes wrong, and without a Schedule of Condition you have nothing to push back with.
Damage with no record
The single biggest risk. Hairline cracks, doors that no longer close, brickwork that's shifted: these are common after basement and underpinning works. Without a pre-works Schedule of Condition, you cannot prove they weren't there before.
No control over the rules
The Party Wall Award sets working hours, dust suppression, vibration limits, access arrangements and lots more. Without your own surveyor, those terms are drafted by your neighbour's surveyor alone. They're writing for their client, not you.
A surveyor appointed on your behalf
If you don't respond to a Notice within 14 days, your neighbour can appoint a surveyor for you under s.10(4)(b). That surveyor has no relationship with you, doesn't know your property, and the appointment is legally binding.
Recovery becomes a court case
Without an Award, any claim for damage becomes a county court matter: slow, expensive, with you as the claimant. With an Award and a Schedule of Condition, recovery is usually a written request to the neighbour's contractor's insurer.
Get a surveyor in your corner
Five minutes to sign up. We act for you under the Party Wall Act. Your neighbour covers our fees by law.
Instruct your surveyor →