Your legal rights
| Right | What it means | Section |
|---|---|---|
| Compensation for loss or damage | The building owner must compensate any adjoining owner and occupier for loss or damage resulting from work executed under the Act | s.7(2) |
| No unnecessary inconvenience | Work must not be done in a manner or at a time that causes unnecessary inconvenience | s.7(1) |
| Protection when your property is laid open | The building owner must provide and maintain proper hoarding, shoring or temporary construction at their own expense | s.7(3) |
| Making good | Where the Act gives a building owner a right to do work, they must make good resulting damage to your property | s.2(5) and related subsections of s.2 |
| Payment in lieu | You can require the cost of making good to be determined by the surveyors and paid to you instead of the building owner doing the work | s.11(8) |
| Fair allowance for disturbance | Where your premises are laid open under s.2(2)(e), a fair allowance for disturbance and inconvenience must be paid | s.11(6) |
Step-by-step: making a claim
- Record the damage immediately. Dated photographs, close-ups with a ruler or coin for scale, and a wide shot showing location. Note when you first noticed it and what work was happening.
- Notify in writing. Email or write to the building owner and, if there is an Award, to the surveyor(s). Describe the damage and ask for an inspection.
- Allow an inspection. The surveyor(s) will compare the damage with the Schedule of Condition. Under most Awards, inspections of this kind are part of the building owner’s costs (s.10(13)(b)).
- Agree the remedy. Usually the building owner’s contractor makes good. If you would rather use your own contractor, you can ask for the cost to be determined and paid to you (s.11(8)).
- If there is disagreement, the surveyors decide. They can make an addendum Award on liability and the amount. In a two-surveyor case, an unresolved point can go to the third surveyor (s.10(11)).
- Keep receipts. For consequential loss, such as cleaning, redecoration or temporary accommodation where genuinely needed, keep evidence of what you paid.
If you consented without an Award
Consent does not waive your rights. If damage occurs and the building owner does not accept it or put it right, a dispute arises in respect of a matter connected with work to which the Act relates. Surveyors can then be appointed under s.10(1), and they can award compensation. This is where a Schedule of Condition, taken before the work, is invaluable. Without one, the surveyors must rely on other evidence of the earlier condition.
What surveyors look for
- Is the damage new? Compared with the Schedule of Condition, your own photographs and the age and appearance of the crack (fresh, clean edges versus dirt-filled or painted-over).
- Is it consistent with the works? A crack along the line of a new beam bearing, or in a wall near an excavation, is far more likely to be connected than one at the far end of your house.
- How severe is it? Most party wall damage is cosmetic: hairline cracks, plaster cracking, sticking doors. Structural damage is rarer and calls for an engineer.
- What is the fair remedy? Filling and redecorating the affected area, usually to a reasonable extent such as a full wall or ceiling, rather than the whole room in every case.
Common problems
- Leaving it too late. Report damage as soon as you see it. Delay makes causation harder to prove.
- No “before” record. The most common reason claims become contentious.
- Claiming for old defects. Surveyors will not award for damage that was already present, although work that makes an existing crack worse can be compensable to the extent of the worsening.
- Builder carries out poor repairs. If making good is not to a reasonable standard, raise it with the surveyors, or consider asking for payment in lieu.
Mr I’s neighbour builds a rear extension with s.6 foundations. Mr I consented subject to a Schedule of Condition, which recorded a sound kitchen ceiling and a hairline crack above the back door. Three weeks into the work, a diagonal crack opens above the back door and the kitchen ceiling cracks near the party wall. He photographs both and emails the building owner and the surveyor who did the Schedule. The building owner disputes the ceiling crack, so a dispute arises and the parties concur in appointing an Agreed Surveyor. After inspection, the Agreed Surveyor’s Award finds both cracks attributable to the works (the existing crack having clearly widened), and directs a payment in lieu of making good, as Mr I requested under s.11(8), so he can use his own decorator.
This is an illustrative scenario to show how the Act works in practice. It is not a real case, and the outcome on any real project depends on its own facts.
Damage claim checklist
- Photograph damage the day you notice it, with dates.
- Locate your Schedule of Condition and compare.
- Notify the building owner and surveyor(s) in writing.
- Arrange an inspection.
- Decide whether you want making good or payment in lieu.
- Keep receipts for any consequential losses.
- If the matter is disputed, ensure surveyors are appointed and an Award is made.
Related: damage from the building owner’s side, Schedules of Condition and appealing an Award.
Key points
| Issue | Position under the Act |
|---|---|
| Who is liable? | The building owner (s.7(2)), whether or not there was an Award |
| Who decides if disputed? | Surveyors appointed under s.10 |
| Repair or cash? | Your choice: making good, or payment in lieu (s.11(8)) |
| Who pays the surveyors? | Normally the building owner (s.10(13)) |
| Best evidence | A Schedule of Condition made before the works, plus prompt dated photographs |
Where the damage is serious, such as significant structural cracking, movement of a party wall or flooding from an excavation, tell the building owner and surveyors immediately and ask for work in the affected area to pause. The surveyors can require an engineer’s inspection and remedial measures, and the building owner must maintain proper protection where your property has been laid open (s.7(3)).
Damage from work outside the Act
Not every problem caused by building work next door falls under the Act. Damage from work that was not notifiable, such as general noise, dust or a dropped skip, is a matter of ordinary civil law. Surveyors appointed under the Act deal only with matters connected with notifiable work (s.10(10)).
Making good: what is a reasonable standard?
Making good means putting the damage right to a reasonable standard, matching existing finishes as closely as practicable. For a cracked ceiling, that usually means filling, lining where needed and redecorating the whole ceiling, so a patch does not show. Surveyors will not normally award the cost of redecorating an entire house for one crack, but nor should you be left with a visibly patched wall.
How we can help
We have handled party wall matters on more than 750 projects, acting for building owners and adjoining owners. If you have received a notice, we can prepare a Schedule of Condition of your property, act as Agreed Surveyor for both owners, or act as your own surveyor. In the normal case the building owner pays the reasonable surveyors’ fees, including ours when we act for you (s.10(13)). Call free on 08000 487897 or see your options as a neighbour.
- Received a notice? Your options as an adjoining owner
- Fixed fees: party wall agreement cost
- Do I need a party wall agreement? (1-minute check)
Areas we cover include Party Wall Agreement Birmingham · Party Wall Agreement West Midlands · Party Wall Agreement East Midlands and more.
Sources: Party Wall etc. Act 1996 (legislation.gov.uk) · The Party Wall etc. Act 1996: explanatory booklet (GOV.UK). Last reviewed 27 October 2026. General guidance on the law in England and Wales, not legal advice.