Glossary

Party Wall words, without the fog

Short meanings for the words that appear in notices and Awards. If a definition would need your drawings, it says so. 25 entries.

Party wall: In ordinary speech, the wall shared by two buildings. The Act also uses “party structure” and “party fence wall” for particular cases. Which one you have is a question for the drawing, not for a glossary.
Party structure: A wall, floor or other structure separating buildings, or parts of buildings, in different ownership. A floor between flats can be one.
Party fence wall: A wall that stands astride a boundary but is not part of a building, such as a garden wall built half on each side. It is not every timber fence.
Building owner: The owner who wants to do the work. It can be a freeholder, a leaseholder with the right to do that work, or a company. It is not automatically the person who rang us.
Adjoining owner: The owner of the land or building next door that may be affected. There can be more than one, and a freeholder and a leaseholder can both be adjoining owners.
Notice: A formal written notice under the Act. There are different types. A text message is not one of them.
Consent: A written agreement to the notice. It is not planning permission, and it does not cover a later change in the drawings unless that change is also agreed.
Dissent: A written refusal to agree the notice. It usually leads to surveyor appointments. It is a lawful step, not a breach of etiquette.
Agreed surveyor: One surveyor appointed in writing by both owners. Only where both are willing.
Building owner’s surveyor: The surveyor appointed by the person doing the work, where each side has their own.
Adjoining owner’s surveyor: The surveyor appointed by the neighbour. The neighbour chooses. This website does not choose for them.
Third surveyor: A surveyor selected by the two appointed surveyors to resolve things they cannot agree. Not a paid upgrade on this site.
Award: The document the appointed surveyor or surveyors make. It is not valid because a draft exists on a screen. It is served by them.
Schedule of Condition: A record of the adjoining property before work, with notes and photographs. Not a structural survey unless one was separately commissioned.
Security for expenses: A statutory request, in some cases, that money be set aside against risk. Not an automatic deposit on every job, and not calculated here.
Line of junction: The boundary line, in the context of a new wall built at or astride it.
Adjacent excavation: Digging within certain distances and depths of a neighbour’s building. The distances are applied to a drawing by a person.
Section 10: The part of the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 that deals with what happens if owners do not agree, including how surveyors are appointed and how an Award is made.
Service: Getting the document to the right person by a proper method, and being able to prove it.
Counter-notice: A notice an adjoining owner can serve in some party-structure cases, asking for extra work or a different approach. Whether one is available depends on the notice you were given. Ask a reviewer to read it.
Special foundations: Foundations in which an assemblage of steel is placed, as the Act uses that idea. If your engineer has designed them, say so. They change the conversation with the neighbour.
Type A wall: A label used by the Act’s schedule for a wall built wholly on one owner’s land. People use the phrase loosely. Check the drawing before you adopt it.
Padstone: The block a steel beam often sits on. If it is built into a party wall, the notice question is about that work, not about the padstone as a product.
Notifiable work: Work that may need a notice if the Act applies. It is not a stamp you can buy. Someone still has to match the work to the Act.
Working hours: On this service, weekdays 09:00–17:30. Not an emergency line.

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