Do you need a surveyor?
Section 20 defines a surveyor as any person not being a party to the matter, with two routes to appointing one under section 10(1).
Check the surveyor guide →What your notice can produce, section by section
The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 covers building work near a boundary or a shared wall, and it only reaches as far as England and Wales (section 22(4)). It does not name a document called a party wall agreement anywhere in its text. What it produces instead is one of three things, and each has its own section.
The three routes a notice can take
- Consent in writing from the adjoining owner, the neighbour with an interest in the affected structure, under section 3(3)(a).
- No response within fourteen days, which becomes a deemed dissent under section 5 (or section 6(7) for excavation work).
- An award under section 10, the document a surveyor or surveyors produce once a dispute has arisen.
Every rule on this page is written with the section it comes from sitting next to it, so you can open legislation.gov.uk in another tab and check any of them against the Act itself.
From notice to outcome
What happens after you serve a notice
Serving a notice starts a process that ends in one of three places. The adjoining owner (the neighbour whose property or wall the work affects) can consent, can go quiet, or the two of you end up with a document that neither of you drafted. The Act never uses the phrase 'party wall agreement': what it actually produces is a consent in writing under section 3(3)(a), or an award under section 10.
-
You serve the notice
A party structure notice under section 3, or an excavation notice under section 6, sets out what you plan to do and starts the clock running from the day the adjoining owner receives it.
-
The adjoining owner has fourteen days to respond
From the date of receipt, the adjoining owner can consent to the notice as served, or let the fourteen days run out.
Consents in writingSection 3(3)(a): the adjoining owner agrees to the notice as it stands. No dispute arises and no award is needed.
Says nothing, or objectsSection 5 for a party structure notice, section 6(7) for an excavation notice: silence past fourteen days is treated the same as an objection. A dispute is deemed to have arisen either way.
-
A dispute goes to award
Once a dispute is deemed to have arisen, section 10 takes over. The parties appoint surveyors, either one agreed surveyor under section 10(1)(a) or one each, and the surveyors' award becomes the document that sets out the work, access and any other terms.
Whether you need to appoint a surveyor at all is a separate question, covered on the page about deciding if you need a party wall surveyor.
Which notice period applies to your job?
Three types of work carry a one-month notice period: a new wall at the line of junction (section 1(2)), a new wall built on the boundary (section 1(5)), and excavation near a neighbour's structure (section 6(5)). Work to an existing party structure, such as cutting into a shared wall for a beam, carries a two-month period under section 3(2)(a).
| Work type | Notice period | Section |
|---|---|---|
| New wall at the line of junction | One month | 1(2) |
| New wall on the boundary | One month | 1(5) |
| Excavation near a neighbour | One month | 6(5) |
| Work to an existing party structure | Two months | 3(2)(a) |
What the period counts from
The clock starts when the adjoining owner, the neighbour with an interest in the affected structure (section 20), receives the notice. Build the rest of your programme around whichever period applies, since work cannot start until it has run or the adjoining owner has responded.
Don't confuse the notice period with the expiry period
A separate twelve-month figure appears under sections 3(2)(b) and 6(8). That is how long a notice stays valid if the work hasn't started, not the length of time you must wait before starting. If your excavation is close enough to a boundary to need checking against both limbs of section 6, that is covered on the page about excavation near a boundary.
Three questions worth checking first
Each one turns on a specific section of the Act.
Digging near a boundary
Section 6(1) sets a distance test and a depth test together. Meeting only one of them does not trigger a notice.
Check the excavation test →If a notice gets no reply
Section 5 and section 6(7) turn silence into deemed dissent after fourteen days. A line of junction notice under section 1(4) works differently.
See what happens next →