FAQs

No. Awards are prepared and served by the surveyor or surveyors who have been appointed. This platform drafts, stores and tracks documents, and it stops a statutory document from being marked served until a named professional has approved it.

No. PartyWallSurvey.uk is not a law firm and is not presented as a RICS-regulated firm. Individual partners may hold professional memberships. Those are shown only when they are marked verified on that partner’s file.

No. Serving a notice does not automatically allow works to start. Response periods, consents or Awards, and entirely separate permissions — planning, building regulations, leases, licences and structural design — can all still apply.

No. We will not say that consent is guaranteed. Neighbours may consent, dissent, or not reply. Each of those has a process, and dissent is a lawful choice.

Straightforward residential notice-only work is shown from £99 plus VAT per adjoining owner. A notice with a professional project review is shown from £195 plus VAT per adjoining owner. Urgent preparation is shown from £295 plus VAT per adjoining owner. These are indicative from-prices, not a guaranteed quote.

A dissent does not necessarily stop the project, but it may require surveyor appointments and an Award. You may be able to agree one surveyor, or each owner may appoint their own. The platform explains those paths and does not appoint a surveyor by itself.

Often the building owner is responsible for the reasonable costs of the process, but that is not something this website can decide for your notice. Upload the notice and a reviewer will explain the practical options, including if you simply wish to consent.

It is a record of the adjoining property’s condition before work, usually with photographs and notes. It is not a structural survey unless a suitably qualified person has separately agreed to provide one.

No. The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 applies in England and Wales. This service is not offered in Scotland or Northern Ireland.

The launch aim is a first human response the same weekday if you write before 15:00, and the next working morning if you write later. Weekday hours are 09:00–17:30. This is not an emergency legal service.

Software can assemble a draft from checked facts and flag missing items. Every draft is labelled until a professional approves it. The software does not decide that the Act applies, does not appoint a surveyor, and does not issue an Award.

Plans, elevations, sections, structural calculations if you have them, foundation details, and any notice or letter already exchanged. Photographs of the boundary help. A sketch is enough to start a conversation if the formal drawings are not ready.

Yes. Architects, builders, engineers and project managers can refer a client. We still need the owner’s authority before a notice is served.

Contact us the same day and say so on the form. Those files are marked for urgent human review. Do not assume a standard notice will put the project back in order.

Matching uses coverage, the type of work, insurance status, capacity, response time and a quality score. You are introduced to an independent firm. We do not describe anyone as the best surveyor.

It is the notice usually used when work may affect a shared wall, floor or other party structure. A loft steel or a chimney breast on a shared wall are common examples. It is usually served at least two months before the work, as a general rule that a professional still has to confirm.

It concerns a new wall built at or astride the boundary. It is not the same document as work to an existing party wall. The usual period people cite is one month, subject to review of the drawing.

It is about digging near a neighbour’s building. Whether it is needed depends on depth and distance. Those figures come from the foundation drawing, not from this FAQ.

No. If an adjoining owner does not reply, that is not consent. A further written request may be appropriate. This platform will not appoint a surveyor because a date has passed.

No. Drafts stay labelled until a named professional approves the version, and the building owner confirms authority to serve. A downloaded summary is not a notice.

Only if the work may affect a party wall or otherwise fall within the Act. A dormer wholly on your own roof slope may not. A dormer that cuts or loads the party wall may. Upload the section. We will not clear it from the word “dormer”.

Sometimes. If the wall is a party wall, or the steel that replaces it bears on one, a notice may be needed. An internal alteration in a detached house with no shared structure often sits outside the Act, still subject to the drawings.

It depends on the lease and who has the right to do the work. The freeholder may also need to be involved. Tell us it is a flat at the start so the owner list is not guessed from the doorbell.

Each adjoining owner generally needs their own notice. Two neighbours are not a free second copy, and the from-price for notice work is per adjoining owner.

They can still be an adjoining owner. The address for service may not be the house itself. Say so on the form. Those files take longer because the address has to be checked.

No. Service is a formal step with a proper method and proof. A friendly message can still be a good idea. It does not start the statutory clock.

Consent in writing, about the drawings you were actually shown. Keep a copy. Consent does not replace planning permission, building regulations, or a lease. If you want a record of your house beforehand, ask about a Schedule of Condition.

Yes. Dissent is a normal statutory step. It asks for the surveyor process. It is not treated on this site as obstruction.

No. An agreed surveyor is only used where both owners are willing. You may appoint your own. We will not press you to accept the other side’s choice.

In some party-structure cases an adjoining owner can serve their own notice asking for additional work. Whether you can do that depends on the notice you received. Upload it and a reviewer will read it. This FAQ is not that reading.

No. We can log photographs and compare them with a Schedule of Condition if one exists. Cause and cost are for the appointed professional, or for advice outside this platform. The software does not allocate blame.

Upload the new revision. A reviewer decides whether the notice or Award still matches. Earlier consent does not automatically cover a different scheme.

No. Where a party structure notice is required, the two-month period is a general rule under the Act, not a house style we can waive because a builder is booked. Urgent preparation speeds up our work. It does not delete the statutory period.

Only as a specialist review by a person, matched only to a partner who accepts that work and whose insurance is in date. There is no public from-price for basement, underpinning or piling work.

The platform is not presented as a RICS-regulated firm. A partner’s RICS membership is shown only when that partner’s record is marked verified. “RICS approved” is a phrase we do not use.

They can refer you and, if you ask them to, help with drawings. Authority to serve a notice still has to come from the building owner. Who pays is set out in the quote you accept.

Tell your conveyancer and tell the file. We can say what stage the Party Wall papers have reached. We do not give conveyancing advice, and a website summary is not a substitute for the notice or the Award.

No. The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 applies in England and Wales. We do not market or accept instructions for Scotland or Northern Ireland.

Usually not. A party fence wall in the Act is a wall astride the boundary that is not part of a building, typically masonry. A timber panel fence is a different thing. If you are building a new brick wall on the line, upload the plan.

The Act uses it for foundations that include an assemblage of steel. If your engineer has designed them, say so. They can change what the neighbour is asked to agree. We will not label a trench from a photo.

Yes. The case desk includes demonstration files, such as a Muswell Hill loft where a notice has been served. They are examples. They are not live instructions, and the firms named on them are not real appointments.

Use the complaints page and include the case number if you have one. Complaints about the platform are handled here. A disagreement with the contents of an Award belongs first with the appointed surveyor. We cannot rewrite an Award.