Building Surveyor Salary Index

Party wall notice calculator

Last reviewed September 2026

Work out the deadlines that follow a notice under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 in England and Wales: when the adjoining owner must respond, when a dispute arises, the earliest date work can start and when the notice lapses, plus surveyor appointments, appeals and notices of entry. Each date shows the section of the Act it comes from.

Notice deadlines

Enter the date the notice was served to see its deadlines.

Appointing a surveyor

Once there’s a dispute, either owner can serve a request on the other to appoint a surveyor. If they don’t appoint one within ten days, the owner who asked can appoint a surveyor for them.

The same ten days apply to a request to a surveyor who neglects to act (s10(7)) and to a request to select a third surveyor (s10(8)).

Appealing an award

Notice of entry

Before workmen enter neighbouring land or premises to carry out work under the Act, or a surveyor enters to inspect, the building owner must serve notice of entry on both the owner and the occupier (s8(3) and s8(6)).

How the dates are worked out

  • Periods run in calendar days, including weekends and bank holidays. The Act doesn’t extend a deadline that falls on a weekend.
  • Where the Act says a period “beginning with the day” something is served, the day of service counts as day one. So 14 days from a notice served on a Monday ends on the Sunday of the following week.
  • A month runs to the same date in the next month. Where that date doesn’t exist, as with 31 January, the calculator uses the 1st of the following month for start dates, so it never gives a date that’s too early.
  • Use the date the notice was served, not the date it was written or sent. A posted notice is treated as served when it would arrive in the ordinary course of post. Notices can only be served by email if the recipient has said they’ll accept them that way (s15(1A)).

Before you rely on a date

This calculator is a guide to the time limits in the Act, not legal advice. It doesn’t check whether a notice is valid, whether it was served correctly or whether the Act applies to the work. If a date matters, check it against the Act and take advice from a party wall surveyor. For further reading, the books list includes the standard party wall texts.

Sources

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