Browse all adjoining-owner guidance in one place.
Receiving a Party Wall notice can make damage feel inevitable. In Coburns’ experience, the actual risk in routine projects is often much lower than adjoining owners initially fear.
Read article →Before appointing a surveyor, check whether the paperwork makes you personally liable for fees that are not awarded. A promise that “your neighbour pays” is not enough.
Read article →Administrative, nuisance, access, protective, design-change and safety breaches do not all deserve the same response.
Read guide →It is often easier — and better for everyone — to overlook as much as reasonably possible and concentrate on the breaches that genuinely matter.
Read guide →A breach does not automatically justify escalation. Start by asking what has happened, what consequence it has caused and what outcome you need.
Read guide →An appeal is court proceedings, not a routine way of obtaining a second opinion because you dislike part of an award.
Read guide →If the works on site differ from the award, first identify the difference and decide whether it actually affects your property or the statutory protections.
Read guide →An award can regulate the statutory works and determine matters within the surveyors’ jurisdiction. It is not a general building contract.
Read guide →Surveyors make awards; they are not a general enforcement agency. Serious non-compliance can ultimately require court involvement.
Read guide →Three comparable quotations are a useful practical method of testing the reasonable cost of repair, but they are not a magic statutory formula.
Read guide →Act quickly, calmly and proportionately. The priorities are safety, evidence, clear communication and preventing further loss.
Read guide →If responsibility for damage is accepted, decide whether you want the building owner to arrange repairs or whether you prefer a reasonable payment.
Read guide →A schedule of condition does not prevent damage, but it can make later questions about damage much easier to resolve.
Read guide →In Coburns’ experience, routine work often carries less risk than owners fear. Assess the particular project and take proportionate precautions.
Read guide →A strained relationship can still become worse, and a merely imperfect relationship can often be preserved.
Read guide →Being the adjoining owner does not mean every obstructive or defensive step improves your position.
Read guide →Consent can be an opportunity to agree practical safeguards before the matter becomes a formal surveyor dispute. It should not be used as a ransom demand.
Read guide →Consent can create an opportunity to agree sensible practical protections before a dispute and surveyor appointments become necessary. It should not be used to demand unrelated concessions.
Read guide →There is no legal rule that Party Wall costs are “paid back” later. But neighbours remember how a previous project was handled.
Read guide →If your concern is the size, appearance, layout or general design of the development, the Party Wall process is usually the wrong place to fight that battle.
Read guide →The Act gives you protection from relevant risks. It does not make you the project manager.
Read guide →Do not assume that consent can simply be withdrawn whenever you wish. The answer depends on what was consented to and what has happened since.
Read guide →If work has started and you think notice should have been served, first establish what work is actually taking place and whether the Act applies.
Read guide →Consent and dissent are not measures of whether you like the project. They are different procedural choices.
Read guide →Design changes during a project are common. The important question is whether the change materially alters the notifiable work or the basis on which the notice or award was made.
Read guide →Consent usually means you are allowing the relevant notified work to proceed without requiring the statutory surveyor dispute-resolution process at that stage.
Read guide →A notice is the formal starting point for many Party Wall matters. It should tell you what statutory work your neighbour proposes.
Read guide →Before consenting, dissenting or appointing anyone, make sure you understand what has actually been served.
Read guide →A simple overview of the usual route from receiving a notice to completion of the works.
Read guide →A plain-English introduction to what the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 does, when it applies and what it means for an adjoining owner.
Read guide →The Act is not there to give you control over your neighbour’s project. It gives you notice, a structured process and practical protections while allowing lawful development to proceed.
Read guide →Understanding the limits of the Act is just as important as understanding the rights it gives you.
Read guide →The Act gives adjoining owners a structured process, information and practical protections — but those protections have limits.
Read guide →Arriving halfway through the process? Use the stage you are at to find the next useful step.
Read guide →The important question is not how dramatic the proposed work looks. It is whether the proposed surveyor has given you enough confidence to trust them to act competently and impartially for both owners.
Read guide →“The building owner pays” is not a good enough answer. Ask what the surveyor expects the matter to cost before appointing them.
Read guide →Good party wall advice should leave you better informed, not simply more frightened.
Read guide →A statutory appointment is not the same as employing an ordinary consultant whom you can simply replace if you become dissatisfied.
Read guide →Choosing two surveyors creates a third-surveyor mechanism, but the existence of that mechanism should not automatically be treated as an extra layer of protection for the adjoining owner.
Read guide →A practical checklist for deciding whether a proposed surveyor is someone you should trust with the statutory process.
Read guide →Use these short scenarios to test whether you can spot the difference between useful professional behaviour and warning signs.
Read guide →Choose on evidence: the notice package, response to enquiries, relevant experience, reputation, approach to awards and intended fees.
Read guide →The common statement that “the building owner always pays” is too simple and can give an adjoining owner a false sense that every decision is cost-free.
Read guide →Party Wall Awards vary enormously in length and detail. Ask a proposed surveyor to explain their approach before you appoint them.
Read guide →Appointing the most combative person is not the same as appointing the person most likely to protect you.
Read guide →The fact that the building owner commonly pays reasonable adjoining-owner surveyor costs does not make price irrelevant.
Read guide →Reviews are not proof of competence, but they are one piece of evidence available to an adjoining owner deciding whether to trust a proposed surveyor.
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