Party wall notice: how to serve one, step by step

A party wall notice is a letter telling your neighbour about building work you’re planning on, or close to, the wall your homes share. A party wall is that shared wall, like the one between two terraced or semi-detached homes. Serving the notice is the first formal step, and most of what follows is paperwork rather than anything difficult.

This guide walks through that process in order. If you’re still working out whether your job needs any of this, start with do you need a party wall agreement? If you’re new to party walls, the party walls overview covers the basics.

Start with a conversation

Work out whether your work needs a notice

Not every job on a shared wall needs one. In England and Wales, you need to give notice for three kinds of work:

• Work to the shared wall itself, such as cutting into it to take a beam, raising, thickening or underpinning it, or cutting away a chimney breast that sticks out from it.
• A new wall up to or astride the boundary, where there’s no building on the boundary yet.
• Digging near next door, within 3 metres of their building and deeper than its foundations, or within 6 metres and cutting through a line drawn down at 45 degrees from the bottom of its foundations.

The GOV.UK explanatory booklet says jobs like fixing shelves, cutting in for sockets or replastering may be too minor to need notice.

If you’re using an architect or builder, ask them early whether your plans include any of this work. They should be able to point to the parts of the drawings that matter.

What goes in the notice (the paperwork bit)

There’s no official form. For work on the shared wall, the notice must give your name and address, details of the work and the date it will start. The GOV.UK booklet advises including a clear statement that it’s a notice under the Act. A notice for digging near next door must come with plans and sections showing where you’ll dig and how deep.

Keep the language plain. Your neighbour should be able to read it and understand what’s happening to their side of the wall. Attach clear drawings where you can, even if they aren’t required, because questions are cheaper to answer before work starts than after.

When to serve it

Work on the shared wall needs at least two months’ notice. A new wall at the boundary and digging near next door need at least one month. A notice lapses if the work hasn’t started within 12 months of serving it, so don’t serve it too early.

You can hand it to your neighbour in person, post it, or email it if they’ve said they’re happy to receive it by email.

Work backwards from your start date. If you have a builder booked, check the notice period fits with their schedule before you commit to dates.

What happens after you serve it

Your neighbour has a few options. They can agree to the work, disagree with it, or ask questions first. They have 14 days to give their consent in writing. If they don’t reply, the Act treats it as a dispute, and surveyors then get involved.

If they agree, that’s the simplest outcome. Their agreement must be in writing. Work still can’t start before the notice period ends unless they agree in writing to an earlier start.

If they disagree, surveyors get involved to agree how the work will be done. Their disagreement can’t stop work the Act allows you to do, but it can influence how and when it’s done. Our guide to party wall surveyors explains who does what, and who pays for a party wall surveyor covers the fees.

Keep a record of the wall

Whatever your neighbour decides, take dated photos of the shared wall on both sides, if they’ll let you, before work starts. Note any existing cracks. It protects both of you if there’s a question later about whether the work caused damage.

If you’d rather hand it over

You can do all of this yourself. If the work is complicated, or relations with next door are already strained, a party wall surveyor can prepare and serve the notice for you.