Party walls, what you need to know

We have all heard or had experience with those neighbours that add havoc and frustration to homeowners, “the dog is too loud”, “the crying baby keeps me up at night”, “your tree is over my side”. When you have neighbours, issues can arise, but if you are respectful of each other, it should be peaceful and easy to accommodate one and another.

Even if you get on superbly well with your neighbours, issues can arise when one of you thinks about doing construction work on your property. Due to the financial climate, more people are extending and making their property more family liveable by knocking down walls, converting their lofts or adding a basement. With these extensions, can come neighbour tension.

Party walls are where, in terraced houses or semi-detached houses, your wall is adjoined to the next house. If this wall adjoins the two properties with no gap in between then that is a party wall. If thinking about carrying out work on your property that will affect your neighbour then a party wall agreement has to be put in place.

Party wall notices need to be given whenever building a new wall that will affect your neighbour: cutting into a party wall, making a party wall taller, shorter, deeper, removing chimneys on the party wall, or knocking down and rebuilding a part of the party wall. Other examples include doing a rear side extension to your property’s boundary or converting the loft, or working on a boundary that already exists, underpinning, cutting and repairing. All of these touch the wall you share, so your neighbour must be told about the work. The Party Wall agreement will let your neighbours know about the work you are proposing to have done and let them know that it may affect them. Dust, dirt and noise can all occur if you are having work done on your property.

A verbal agreement is not enough. The notice must be in writing, and the notice period depends on the work. A party structure notice, for cutting into or altering the shared wall, is served at least two months before work starts. A line of junction or excavation notice needs one month. Your neighbour then has fourteen days to consent or dissent.

A neighbour can dissent, and often does. That is not a refusal and it does not end the project. It moves the matter to a party wall surveyor, who hears both sides and draws up an award setting out what may be done and how. The Act is a process, not a veto. It costs a fee and it adds time to the programme, which is the reason to start it early rather than late.

Two related terms are worth knowing. A party fence wall is a garden wall built on the boundary. A party structure is a floor or ceiling shared between flats.

Party wall matters are slow rather than difficult. NU Projects coordinates the surveyor alongside building control and the structural design, so the notices go out on time and the programme is built around them. Tell us what you are planning and we will say early whether your project needs one. For more detail, read what a party wall agreement costs and who handles it.