After years of advising homeowners across Kent and London on party wall matters, the team at ALD Surveying has seen the same mistakes appear time and again. Most of them are entirely avoidable. The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 is not especially complicated legislation, but it does require attention, and the consequences of getting it wrong can be costly, time-consuming, and stressful. Here are the seven errors we see most frequently, and what you can do to avoid them.
1. Assuming the Act Doesn’t Apply Because the Work Is on Your Own Land
This is perhaps the most widespread misconception. Homeowners frequently assume that because the trench, the wall, or the structure is within their own property boundary, the Act doesn’t come into play. In reality, the Act triggers based on proximity and impact, not land ownership. Section 6, for example, applies whenever excavation falls within three or six metres of a neighbouring building, regardless of where the boundary sits.
The same logic applies to chimney breast removals and roof alterations involving a shared chimney stack. The question is always whether the work affects a party structure, not whether it stays on your side of the fence.
2. Treating a Verbal Agreement as Sufficient
“My neighbour said they’re happy for us to crack on” is a sentence that has preceded more party wall problems than almost any other. Verbal agreement carries no legal weight under the Act. Even the most cooperative of neighbours needs to provide written consent for works to proceed without a formal Award. Without written consent on file, you are technically proceeding without authority, and if anything goes wrong, you have nothing to fall back on.
3. Serving the Notice Too Late
The Act specifies minimum notice periods: two months for party structure works and one month for line of junction and excavation notices. These are minimum periods, not targets. Serving a notice the day the statutory minimum allows before your planned start date leaves no buffer for dissent, appointment of surveyors, production of an Party Wall Award, and agreement on its terms. In reality, getting the Award in place can take four to ten weeks after notice is served.
We always recommend beginning the party wall process as early as possible, ideally at the same time as you are developing your architectural drawings.
4. Using the Wrong Notice Type
Three different notices apply under the Act, each for different types of work. Using a Party Structure Notice where an Adjacent Excavation Notice is required, or vice versa, can invalidate the notice entirely. A fresh notice would then need to be served, restarting the clock and delaying your build programme. This is a particularly easy mistake to make when a project involves multiple trigger types, for example an extension that both cuts into a party wall and involves deep foundations near the neighbour’s building.
5. Skipping the Schedule of Condition
The Schedule of Condition is the pre-works photographic and written record of the adjoining property’s condition. Without it, any claim by a neighbour that your works caused cracking or damage becomes very difficult to contest. It doesn’t matter how careful your contractor is. Pre-existing cracks in old masonry, settlement marks on walls, and movement in floors are common features of older properties. Without a Schedule of Condition, proving that these features pre-dated your works is almost impossible.
6. Appointing a Party Wall Surveyor Who Isn’t Genuinely Impartial
The party wall surveyor role is a statutory one, not a commercial advocacy role. A surveyor who is already engaged on your project as a structural engineer, architectural technologist, or project manager cannot act as your party wall surveyor as they have a conflict of interest. This is a trap that some builders inadvertently set for their clients by suggesting they can handle the party wall process as part of a broader package. Always appoint a surveyor who has no other involvement in the project.
7. Ignoring a Counter-Notice
When an adjoining owner serves a counter-notice under Section 4 of the Act, they are requesting additional works or modifications to your proposed works, usually to ensure their own property benefits from or is properly protected during the development. Counter-notices are valid and legally significant. Ignoring one, treating it as optional rather than a formal response requiring action, can derail the process and create grounds for dispute.
In most cases, a counter-notice requests something entirely reasonable. Engaging with it promptly and professionally, through your party wall surveyor, is almost always the most efficient path forward.
Putting It All Together
The party wall process is genuinely manageable when approached correctly. The mistakes above don’t reflect carelessness on the part of homeowners. They reflect a lack of information at the point where it would have been most useful. Getting professional advice before works begin, even just for an initial consultation, prevents the vast majority of these problems from arising in the first place.
For comprehensive guidance on the Party Wall Act and what it means for your project, visit our Party Wall Act service page.