Party Wall Surveyor and Party Wall Agreements
What is party wall agreement?
You are required by law in the United Kingdom to obtain party wall agreement.
You must tell your neighbours if you want to carry out any building work near or on your shared property boundary, or 'party wall', in England and Wales.
Party walls stand on the land of 2 or more owners and either:
form part of a building
don't form part of a building, such as a garden wall (not wooden fences)
Walls on one owner's land used by other owners (2 or more) to separate their buildings are also party walls.
Party structures
You can also have a 'party structure'. This could be a floor or other structure that separates buildings or parts of buildings with different owners, eg flats.
Party wall agreements are different from planning permission or building regulations approval.
There are different rules in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Work you must tell your neighbour about
You must tell your neighbour if you want to:
-
build on or at the boundary of your 2 properties
-
work on an existing party wall or party structure
-
dig below and near to the foundation level of their property
Examples of this type of work include:
-
building a new wall
-
cutting into a party wall
-
making a party wall taller, shorter or deeper
-
removing chimneys from a party wall
-
knocking down and rebuilding a party wall
Reference: https://www.gov.uk/party-walls-building-works/work-tell-your-neighbour-about
The process of the party wall agreement
We would seek party wall approval on your behalf and would obtain all necessary documents required:
01
Party wall notice would be served to you neighbor/s all supplemented documents are obtained.
Any other surveying additionally can be conducted at extra costs such as drain survey.
02
Party wall awards would be served. Our surveyors would attend neighbouring properties take images and note any cracks on walls. In line with design, structural drawings and on site survey investigation the party wall award would be typed up and party wall award served,
Your neighbour/s would either instruct us as their representative or they would appoint 3rd party surveyor to act on their behalf and deal with their side and party wall agreement, the charges for the 3rd party surveyors are charged extra, the cost rate is given by 3rd party surveyors. These charges are payable by person who is the homeowner of the property that changes to the structures are being made.
03
Party wall agreement is signed and agreed. You have completed the design phase you are now ready for construction!
Note: party wall agreement can take up to two months or more to complete in complicated cases, by law you have to give your neighbour/s two months notice minimum.
Find out more about next step of the process: Project management >