Planning permission and building regulations Party walls
If you want to make major changes to a party wall, you must notify your neighbour
In England and Wales, if you're carrying out work on part of your property connected to your neighbour's property, you must make sure you comply with the Party Wall Act 1996.
If you are going to make any changes to shared walls, either internal or external, floors and ceilings, driveways or other communal spaces, then you may need to gain written approval – and sometimes even planning permission.
The Party Wall Act does allow you to carry out some work on joint walls between flats, terraced or semi-detached properties without permission. For instance, you can put up shelves, plaster and rewire, as long as you only go to half of the width of the wall, ceiling or floor.
However, warn your neighbours if the work is likely to be noisy, or they may make a formal complaint to your local authority under the noise laws.
Permission to work on party walls
If you want to make any major changes to a party wall, you need to give notice of the work you are going to do, then gain permission.
For example, you need to notify neighbours if:
- you want to increase the height or thickness of a joint wall to build an extension or convert an area
- you want to add or replace flashing that affects roof joins
- you are planning to underpin a party wall or make it load bearing
- you intend to do anything that could affect the neighbour’s foundations.
How to notify neighbours
Step 1 Write to the affected neighbour or owner of the property such as a landlord a minimum of two months before work starts, and have proof, such as recorded delivery or an independent witness, that you have served notice. Note the day you delivered the letter.
Step 2 If you have a flat, you also need to check your lease for what work you can carry out. Then write to the freeholder for advice/permission to carry out the work you want to do.
Step 3 Make sure you gain a written response within 14 days; don’t rely on a verbal agreement.
Step 4 Don’t carry out work if they haven’t bothered to respond – this just puts it in dispute. If there is a dispute, a surveyor can be appointed jointly or separately and he or she will award a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the work you want to do.
If you get a no, you have 14 days to appeal to a county court, at which point you may want to double-check that this is the right type of home improvement to make.
Even if you get a yes, unhappy neighbours can make jobs that affect their property very difficult to carry out, so try to get it all agreed first.
