Party Wall Agreements
Do I need A Party Wall Agreement?
You must tell your neighbours if you want to carry out any building work near or on your shared property boundary, or ‘party wall’, in England and Wales.
This is law mandated by the Party Wall Act which came into effect in July 1997
What is a Party Wall?
Party walls stand on the land of 2 or more owners and either:
- form part of a building
- don’t form part of a building, such as a garden wall
Walls on one owner’s land used by other owners to separate their buildings are also party walls.
What is a Party structure?
This could be a floor or other structure that separates buildings or parts of buildings with different owners, eg flats.
Party wall agreements are different from planning permission or building regulations approval.
What are you required to do?
You must tell your neighbour if you plan work that:
- builds on or at the boundary of your 2 properties
- work on an existing party wall or party structure
- dig below and near to the foundation level of their property
Examples of this type of work include:
- building a new wall
- cutting into a party wall
- making a party wall taller, shorter or deeper
- removing chimneys from a party wall
- knocking down and rebuilding a party wall
You must give notice to your neighbour between 2 months and a year before you plan to start building works. Include what you plan on doing.
All agreements reached with your neighbour must be recorded in writing
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