Buying a Property with a Party Wall Agreement

A party wall agreement, known properly as a party wall award, is made under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996. It records what building work is permitted, how and when it must be carried out, and who pays for what. It matters to a buyer because the works it authorises are part of the building you are about to own.

If you are already in a dispute, our party wall solicitors can advise on the next step.

What is a party wall award?

An award is a determination made by surveyors under the dispute procedure in section 10 of the Act.

It comes into being when a building owner serves notice of proposed works and the adjoining owner dissents or does not respond in time. The owners then appoint a single agreed surveyor, or one surveyor each with a third selected to break any deadlock.

Under section 10(12) an award can determine the right to carry out the work, the time and manner of doing it, and any other matter arising out of the dispute, including costs. Section 10(13) leaves it to the surveyors to decide who pays.

What does a party wall award normally contain?

Most awards cover the same ground:

• A description of the notified works, usually with drawings attached
• Conditions on how and when the work is done, such as permitted working hours
• Protective measures, for example temporary support, weatherproofing or hoarding
• A schedule of condition recording the state of the adjoining property before work starts
• Rights of access for the surveyors to inspect while work is under way
• Who pays the surveyors’ fees

The schedule of condition is not required by the Act, but the government’s explanatory booklet advises recording one, because without it damage is very hard to attribute. For a buyer it is often the most useful page in the document.

Does a party wall award transfer to the new owner?

The Act contains no mechanism for assigning or transferring the benefit of rights obtained by serving a party wall notice. Those rights belong to the owner who served the notice and became a party to the award. A buyer does not automatically inherit them.

If you are buying from the building owner

If the seller served the notice and the works are unfinished, you cannot simply carry on under their award. Serve a fresh notice, or get yourself brought into the process before completion.

The Act defines “owner” in section 20 to include a purchaser of an interest in land under a contract for purchase. Once you have exchanged, you can serve a notice yourself before completing. Where a sale is anticipated, notices are sometimes served jointly so the award covers everyone.

If you are buying from the adjoining owner

The Act is silent on whether a new adjoining owner can rely on written consent given by the previous one. Assume consent is personal and does not carry over, which means the building owner should serve a fresh notice on you.

Where an award provides for payment, it binds the building owner named in it. If money is still owed when the adjoining property changes hands, the outgoing and incoming owners must agree how it is apportioned.

Does the seller stop being liable once they sell?

No. In Selby v Whitbread & Co [1917] 1 KB 736, McCardie J held that the person who serves the notice remains liable for the results that follow from it, even after parting with the land in question. Lewison LJ set that reasoning out again in Power and Kyson v Shah [2023] EWCA Civ 239.

So a building owner selling up should take an indemnity from the buyer, and a buyer should establish exactly what has been done and what is still outstanding.

What should a buyer check before exchange?

Treat party wall material as a due diligence item in its own right. Ask your conveyancer to obtain and review:

1. Every notice and award, including any addendum, plus the surveyors’ appointment letters
2. The schedule of condition and the photographs referred to in it
3. Correspondence between the surveyors, which usually reveals whether anything was contentious
4. Evidence that the works were completed in line with the award
5. Confirmation that all fees and any compensation have been paid, since unpaid sums are recoverable as a civil debt under section 17
6. Whether any damage was reported, and if so how it was made good

Also ask whether anything was done to the shared wall that nobody served notice for. A chimney breast removed or a loft converted with no paperwork is a live risk.

If a survey missed structural movement a schedule of condition would have flagged, that raises a separate question of surveyor negligence. We also advise on construction disputes where the contractor rather than the neighbour is at fault.

What if the works were done without a party wall award?

In Power and Kyson v Shah [2023] EWCA Civ 239, the Court of Appeal held that the section 10 procedure is not engaged at all where the building owner served no notice. An award produced in those circumstances was null and void. The adjoining owner is not left without a remedy: the usual common law claims in trespass, nuisance and negligence remain available, along with an injunction where appropriate.

The government booklet notes that the Act contains no enforcement procedure for a failure to serve notice, so an adjoining owner who wants work stopped has to go to court.

For a buyer, where no notice was served find out whether the previous owners complained, whether there is visible cracking or movement, and when the works were done. Timing matters, because a six-year limitation period applies to actions to recover sums recoverable by statute under section 9 of the Limitation Act 1980.

Where works crossed the boundary line, you may be dealing with trespass or a boundary dispute rather than a party wall issue.

How long does a party wall award last, and does it expire?

The notice has a statutory time limit. A party structure notice ceases to have effect if the work has not begun within 12 months of service and is not being carried on with due diligence, under section 3(2)(b). The same 12-month rule applies to an excavation notice under section 6(8).

The award itself has no expiry date written into the Act. In practice, surveyors frequently include a clause providing that the award lapses if works do not start within a set period, commonly 12 months. Whether that applies to a particular award depends on the wording of the document.

How do you appeal a party wall award?

Section 10(16) says the award is conclusive and cannot be questioned in court except as the section allows. The exception is narrow and the deadline is short.

Under section 10(17), either party has 14 days beginning with the day the award is served on them to appeal to the county court. The court can rescind the award, modify it as it thinks fit, and make whatever costs order it considers appropriate.

Once that window closes the award stands, and for a buyer it has almost always closed long before the paperwork is seen.

What should a seller disclose?

The property information forms completed in a normal conveyancing transaction include questions about disputes and notices, and party wall matters fall within them.

A seller who was the building owner should hand over the notices, the award, the schedule of condition and evidence that fees and compensation were paid. An adjoining owner should disclose any award served on them and any damage claim, settled or not.

The transaction should deal with two points:

• Keep the award with the deeds, as the government booklet recommends once works are complete.
• Deal with indemnities and apportionment in the contract, because the Act does not address what happens on a sale.

A soured neighbour relationship is also disclosable. We advise on neighbour disputes, including easements affecting shared structures.

How we can help

Our property litigation team advises buyers, sellers, building owners and adjoining owners on party wall awards, unpapered works, appeals under section 10(17), and claims in nuisance and trespass where the Act was never invoked. We work alongside our residential conveyancing solicitors so party wall risk is dealt with before exchange.

If you have an award in front of you and are unsure what it commits you to, we will read it and explain it to you. Call us on 020 7485 8811 or fill in the contact form below.