Collier Stevens Chartered Surveyors, Party Wall Specialists

The Party Wall etc. Act 1996

1) What does the Act do?

The Act provides a framework for preventing and resolving disputes in relation to party walls, boundary walls and excavations near neighbouring buildings. It is based on some tried and tested provisions of the London Building Acts which applied in inner London for many decades. (This Act replaced those provisions in inner London.)

Anyone proposing to carry out work (anywhere in England and Wales) of the kinds described in the Act must give adjoining owners notice of their intentions.

A notice must be given even where that work will not extend beyond the centre line of a party wall.

Adjoining owners can agree or disagree with what is proposed. Where there is a disagreement, the Act provides for the resolution of disputes.

2) What does the Act cover?

• Various work that is going to be carried out directly to an existing party wall or structure (see paragraphs 4 to 19)
• New building at or astride the boundary line between properties
• (see paragraphs 20 to 25)
• Excavation within 3 or 6 metres of a neighbouring building(s) or structure(s), depending on the depth of the hole or foundations
  (see paragraphs 26 to 29).

3) What is a party wall?

The Act recognises two main types of party wall. These are referred to as a "party wall" or a "party fence wall".

A wall is a "PARTY WALL" if:

(i) it forms part of a building and stands astride the boundary of land belonging to two (or more) different owners CLICK FOR DIAGRAM

or

(ii) it separates buildings and it either

(a) stands astride the boundary of land belonging to two (or more) different owners
CLICK FOR DIAGRAM

(b) stands wholly on one owner’s land, but is used by two (or more) owners to separate their buildings. Where one person has built the wall in the first place, and another has butted their building up against it without constructing their own wall, only the part of the wall that does the separating is "party" - sections on either side or above are not "party"
CLICK FOR DIAGRAM. 

A wall is a "PARTY FENCE WALL" if it is a wall which is not part of a building, that stands astride the boundary line between lands of different owners and is used to separate those lands (for example a garden wall) - CLICK FOR DIAGRAM. This does not include such things as wooden fences.

The Act also uses the expression "PARTY STRUCTURE". This is a wider term which could be a party wall or a floor partition or other structure separating buildings or parts of buildings approached by separate staircases or entrances (for example flats) - CLICK FOR DIAGRAM.