The Party Wall etc Act 1996

The Party Wall etc Act 1996 took effect from the 1st July 1997 throughout England and Wales.  The Party Wall Act was introduced to protect the interests of property owners involved or affected by building work.  It covers situations where you intend to carry out building works which involve:

• Work on an existing wall which is shared with another property
• Building on the boundary with a neighbouring property
• Excavating near a neighbouring building

In these instances, the Act requires a formal notice to be served on the owner of an adjoining property before undertaking building work.  Agreement should be reached with the adjoining owner before the work starts.

The Act protects owners from a situation where work carried out by a neighbour could affect their property.  It also allows people to carry out work without being hindered by unreasonable neighbours.

You must establish whether that works falls within the scope of the Act.  If it does, you are required to serve the statutory notice on all those defined by the Act as adjoining owners.

You should remember that reaching agreement with adjoining owners on a project that falls within the scope of the Act, does not remove the possible need for Planning Permission or Building Regulation Approval.  It is a civil matter between building owners.