Get party wall notices and awards sorted for your shop or office

Parade of three high-street shops with striped awnings, teal party walls between them and an award certificate with a gold seal

For landlords, tenants and owners of commercial property in England and Wales building, refurbishing or fitting out next to other occupiers. Compare quotes from party wall surveyors who work around trading.

Commercial buildings are often terraced, stacked or connected to other premises, so the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 can apply just as it does to homes. A shopfront in a parade, an office refurbishment in a shared building, a mezzanine fixed to a shared wall or a kitchen extract duct through a boundary wall can all need notice in England and Wales. The difference is the people involved: landlords, tenants, managing agents and neighbouring businesses, each with leases, trading hours and insurers. A party wall surveyor works out who must be served, records the neighbouring premises and writes an award that aims to limit disruption to trading.

How a professional can help

Fit-out and refurbishment work: Cutting into shared walls for steel, new openings, ducts or services, or fixing mezzanine floors and shopfront posts to them, can trigger notices. A surveyor checks the fit-out drawings against the Act.
Landlords, tenants and occupiers: A landlord, a long leaseholder and a tenant may all be affected. The surveyor works out who counts as an owner for notice purposes, and reads the lease obligations that sit beside the Act.
Awards that allow for trading: Working hours, noise and dust controls, deliveries and access routes are set to suit neighbouring shops, offices and restaurants, so they can keep operating as far as possible while work goes on next door.
Conditions recorded for business premises: Recording the neighbouring unit’s walls, ceilings, shopfront and finishes, including shop floors, stores and plant rooms, so later claims can be judged against a fair record.
Acting for an adjoining business: If your neighbour is refurbishing or extending, a surveyor can review the proposed work, protect your premises and your tenants, and make sure the award reflects how you trade.
Records for lease events and sales: When a lease is renewed, assigned or ended, or the building is sold or refinanced, solicitors may ask what was done to shared walls. Notices, awards and condition schedules answer that.

Is this right for you?

You own or rent a shop, office or restaurant unit that shares a wall or floor with other premises and plan structural work.
You are a landlord who needs to know your position when a tenant or a neighbouring business starts building.
You are developing a mixed-use building with homes above and units below.
A neighbouring business has served a notice on you and you need to protect your premises and your trade.

How the project usually runs

Review the works and the leases: The surveyor studies the fit-out or construction drawings and the lease structure, to find which work touches shared structure and which owners and occupiers need notice.
Serve notices: Notices go to each owner in the right form and with the right notice period, taking account of any landlord’s consent that your lease requires separately.
Inspect and record: Where surveyors are appointed they inspect the neighbouring premises and record them in a schedule of condition, arranging access around opening hours.
An award with commercial terms: The award sets the work, working hours, noise and dust limits, access, protection and how damage is dealt with, drafted to suit the way neighbouring units trade.
Re-inspection when the work ends: On completion the surveyors walk the neighbouring units again, including stores and shopfronts, and settle any damage or making good with the occupiers.

What affects the cost

The number of neighbouring units, owners and occupiers affected, including landlords and tenants.
The scale of the work, from a single steel beam to a major refurbishment or redevelopment.
Whether neighbouring occupiers agree quickly, or an award has to be negotiated around their trading.
The size and type of the neighbouring premises that must be recorded and inspected.
Out-of-hours access or phased working that has to be arranged around trading hours.

Landlords, leases and where the Act applies

The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 applies in England and Wales and covers commercial buildings as well as homes. Scotland and Northern Ireland have different rules.
Where your lease needs the landlord’s consent for alterations, get it in writing and keep it with the party wall papers. The two approvals are separate and neither replaces the other.
Planning permission and Building Regulations approval, or a building warrant in Scotland, are separate from the Act, and a change of use brings its own rules.
Party wall surveyors work across the UK. For a business with premises in several nations, a surveyor can tell you where the Act applies and where it does not.

Questions people ask

Does the Party Wall Act apply to shops and offices?

Yes. The Act applies to buildings generally, not only to homes, so shared walls and boundaries in commercial property can be covered in England and Wales, and so can floors between units reached by separate entrances or staircases. A party wall surveyor can say whether your particular work needs notice.

Who is the owner when premises are leased?

It depends on the lease. Freeholders and long leaseholders can count as owners under the Act, while someone on a short tenancy may not. Your surveyor reads the lease structure and decides who needs to be served.

What happens if my landlord or tenant is also affected?

Landlords and tenants each have their own interests and lease terms. The surveyor works out who must be served, and the lease may require consent or notice that sits alongside the Act. Telling your landlord or tenant early helps avoid surprises.

Does the Act cover disruption to my trade?

The Act says a building owner must not cause unnecessary inconvenience to neighbouring owners or occupiers, and must compensate them for loss or damage caused by the work. Whether a particular loss counts is for the surveyors to consider, or a solicitor if it goes further.

Do I need an award if I am only fitting out an internal unit?

Only if the work touches shared structure, for example cutting into a party wall for services, steel or a mezzanine. Internal partitions and finishes inside your own unit usually do not. Share your drawings with a party wall surveyor to confirm.

Available across the UK

Party wall surveyors cover the whole of the UK. The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 applies in England and Wales; Scotland and Northern Ireland have different rules, and a professional can tell you what applies to your property.