1 month’s notice
Line of Junction Notice
Served when building a new wall on or at the boundary line between two properties. One month’s notice is required. If the neighbour doesn’t consent, the surveyor route applies.
If your extension, loft conversion or new wall affects a shared wall or boundary, the law says you must notify your neighbour before work starts. Get the notice wrong and your project can be stopped. Xpanza prepares and serves party wall notices correctly, handles the responses, and takes the process through to a party wall award where one is needed, all under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996.
The Act defines three different notices, and using the wrong one can invalidate the whole process. Here’s what each covers.
Served when building a new wall on or at the boundary line between two properties. One month’s notice is required. If the neighbour doesn’t consent, the surveyor route applies.
Served for work directly affecting a party wall or party structure: cutting into it, raising it, rebuilding it, or exposing it during works. Two months’ notice is required, and the notice must describe the proposed work in detail.
Served when digging foundations within 3 metres of a neighbour’s building (and deeper than their foundations), or within 6 metres in certain ground conditions. One month’s notice is required. This is the notice most extension projects need.
Not a notice but the outcome: the formal written agreement drawn up by the surveyor or surveyors when owners can’t agree. It sets out the work allowed, working hours, access rights and protections, and both sides must follow it.
The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 sets strict rules for work to a party wall, party fence wall or boundary wall, and for excavation near a neighbour’s foundations. The rules cover which notice to serve, who it must go to, how much notice to give, and what happens when a neighbour consents, dissents or simply doesn’t reply. Miss a step, serve the wrong notice or get a name wrong, and the whole process has to restart, with your start date slipping while it does.
Most delays don’t come from difficult neighbours. They come from paperwork: invalid notices, missed deadlines and confusion about what the Act actually requires. Our service exists to remove that risk. We confirm whether the Act applies to your project, prepare and serve the correct notices, record schedules of condition, manage responses and dissents, and take the process through to a party wall award where one is needed.
Notices prepared and served with the correct names, dates and work descriptions, so they are valid first time. One wrong detail can invalidate a notice and cost you weeks.
A recorded survey of the neighbouring property before work begins, so if damage is claimed later there is an agreed baseline to judge it against.
Where owners can’t agree, the formal party wall award sets the rules: what work is allowed, working hours, access, and protections for both sides.
Consents recorded; dissents, counter-notices and surveyor appointments managed for you, without the back and forth landing on your desk.
Straight answers on whether the Act applies to your project, what your neighbour can and can’t do, and what happens if a notice is ignored.
A neighbour can respond in three ways. Here is how each one plays out, and what we do at every stage.
The adjoining owner agrees to the work. We record the consent, and the project can move ahead on the agreed terms.
Your neighbour can’t veto the work, but they can dissent. Each side appoints a surveyor, or they agree one, and a party wall award is drawn up.
Ignoring the notice doesn’t stop the process, it just moves it to surveyors. We manage that route for you from start to finish.
Address, drawings, what work is planned and when it starts. We confirm whether the Act applies and which notices your project needs.
We prepare and serve the correct party wall notices on every adjoining owner, with the right statutory notice periods for the work involved.
Where neighbours consent, it’s recorded. Where they dissent, surveyors are appointed and the award is prepared, all handled for you.
The party wall award is agreed and served. Work proceeds with the rules, protections and access rights settled in writing.
Straight answers to the questions we’re asked most about party wall agreements, notices and awards. If yours isn’t answered here, call 07446 197853.
It’s the everyday name for a party wall award: the written document that records what building work is agreed, and the protections for both properties. A party wall itself is a wall shared by two properties, such as the wall between terraced or semi-detached houses.
You need to follow the Act if your work affects a shared wall, builds on or near the boundary, or involves digging near a neighbour’s foundations, including for extensions and loft conversions. If any of those apply, a notice must be served before work starts.
A party wall surveyor prepares and serves notices, records schedules of condition, negotiates between owners, and draws up the party wall award where agreement can’t be reached. Our team handles the full process for you.
Usually the building owner, the person carrying out the work, pays the reasonable fees for both their own surveyor and the adjoining owner’s surveyor. The award itself sets out who pays for what.
Your neighbour can’t veto the work itself, but they can dissent to the notice. That triggers the surveyor route: each side appoints a surveyor (or they agree one), and a party wall award is drawn up. Ignoring the notice doesn’t stop the process, it just moves it to surveyors.
Act quickly. Ask them to stop and appoint a surveyor, and get professional advice on your position. In urgent cases the courts can grant an injunction to halt the work. Call us and we’ll talk through your options.
It depends on whether neighbours consent or an award is needed. Use our cost calculator for an instant indicative estimate based on our published rate card. Your exact price is confirmed in writing after a free consultation.
An award can still be put in place after work has started, but it’s messier and harder than doing it properly first. If work has already begun without notices, get advice straight away rather than hoping it goes unnoticed.
Templates exist, but a notice with the wrong names, wrong dates or an unclear description of the work is invalid, and an invalid notice means starting over. Having the notices prepared and served correctly costs less than the delay of getting it wrong.
Send us your project details and start date. We’ll confirm whether the Act applies, prepare the correct notices, and keep the process moving to an award where one is needed.