Party Wall Agreement Template: Award or Written Consent?

If you are looking for a party wall agreement template to download and fill in, first identify the document you need. The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 does not prescribe one document called a “party wall agreement”.

The phrase is commonly used for two different things:

• an award made by surveyors appointed under section 10 after a dispute has arisen or is deemed to have arisen; or
• a written consent or owner agreement recording that identified work is accepted.

An award has no prescribed form and is not written by either owner. A written consent can be recorded by the owners, and the GOV.UK booklet publishes example acknowledgments and responses. Neither is a universal form that can be copied safely without checking the notice, people, properties and work involved.

What a party wall agreement actually is

The Act never uses the phrase “party wall agreement”. Section 10(1) applies where a dispute arises or is deemed to have arisen between a building owner and adjoining owner about a matter connected with work to which the Act relates.

A deemed dispute after no timely consent to a party structure notice is one example under section 5; section 6(7) supplies the corresponding route for an excavation notice. A later difference connected with the work can also engage section 10 even where the neighbour initially consented.

Once section 10 applies, the owners either concur in appointing one agreed surveyor or each appoints a surveyor and those two select a third.

The appointed surveyor or surveyors then settle the matter by award. An agreed surveyor has the same power as the separately appointed surveyors. On the separate-appointment route, section 10(10) requires the three surveyors to settle the matter and permits “the three surveyors or any two of them” to make the award.

This is why an owner cannot complete an award template for themselves. Section 20 defines a surveyor as a person who is not a party to the matter and is appointed or selected under section 10 to determine disputes. An owner can record consent or another private agreement, but that does not turn their document into a statutory award.

What an award may decide

Section 10(12) sets the boundaries:

An award may determine— (a) the right to execute any work; (b) the time and manner of executing any work; and (c) any other matter arising out of or incidental to the dispute including the costs of making the award;

There is no prescribed award form. The RICS Party wall legislation and procedure standard gives professional guidance and a suggested draft award. Depending on the dispute, an award may record the appointments, authorised work, time and manner of execution, protection, access, making good, costs and an appended schedule of condition.

Section 10(2) adds something worth knowing before you appoint anyone: all appointments “shall be in writing and shall not be rescinded by either party”. You cannot dismiss the surveyor you appointed.

Once served, section 10(16) makes the award “conclusive”, and section 10(17) gives each owner fourteen days from service on them to appeal to the county court. The what the Act calls an award guide covers the document in more detail.

The document you can actually write: a consent

Where owners want to record agreement without an award, the relevant document may instead be a written consent.

Where written consent leaves nothing in dispute, no section 10 appointment or award is required at that point. Either owner may still choose to pay for advice, and a later dispute can still arise. The written response is something the relevant owner can provide rather than an award they write themselves.

The following consent routes do different things.

Consent in response to a notice. Section 5 provides that if an owner served with a party structure notice or counter-notice does not serve a notice indicating consent within fourteen days, they are deemed to have dissented and a dispute is deemed to have arisen. Section 6(7) supplies the corresponding rule for an adjoining owner served with an excavation notice. A timely consent therefore avoids that deemed-dispute route for the notified work.

Consent that removes the need for a party structure notice. Section 3(3)(a) goes further. It provides that nothing in that section shall

prevent a building owner from exercising with the consent in writing of the adjoining owners and of the adjoining occupiers any right conferred on him by section 2

Read that carefully, because it is easy to get wrong. It requires the consent of the adjoining owners and the adjoining occupiers. Where a property is let, the tenant’s consent may be needed as well as the landlord’s. And it applies to section 2 rights only — there is no equivalent provision in section 6, so an excavation notice must still be served even where consent is expected.

A useful written record identifies the properties and work, the person giving consent, and the date. The exact statutory route still determines whose consent is needed and whether notice remains required.

One thing consent does not do. The GOV.UK explanatory booklet says a notice of consent confirms only that nothing is in dispute at that time; if a difference arises later, the dispute procedure can apply. Consent also does not switch off the building owner’s duties under section 7, including avoiding unnecessary inconvenience and compensating adjoining owners or occupiers for qualifying loss or damage.

Why downloaded samples carry a risk

A downloaded “party wall agreement” might be an award from another property, a notice, a consent letter or a private agreement. Identify which document it is and which statutory route, if any, it is meant to serve before relying on its wording.

No downloaded document should be assumed safe to reuse as it stands. An award is specific to particular properties, works, dispute and appointments, and it derives statutory force from the section 10 route rather than its layout alone.

There is a harder point behind this. In Power v Shah [2023] EWCA Civ 239, decided on 7 March 2023, the Court of Appeal held on the facts before it that, where no party structure notice had been served, section 10 was not engaged and the purported award was null and void. A document that looks like an award does not acquire statutory force unless the Act’s gateway has been satisfied.

Legal effect does not come from the template alone. It depends on matters including valid notice, a dispute within section 10, proper appointments and the surveyors’ jurisdiction. The no party wall agreement guide covers what happens when that route is skipped.

A schedule of condition is not required by the Act

RICS recommends recording relevant adjoining-property condition before work and appending the schedule to an award, but the Act does not require one. It is a dated record of defined, visible condition rather than automatic proof of what caused a later change. The schedule of condition guide explains the appropriate scope, photographs, access limitations and the separate lease and dilapidations uses of similar documents.

What to do instead of looking for a template

If consent is expected, use the correct statutory route and obtain the relevant written response. Consent itself does not require a section 10 appointment or award, although either owner may seek professional advice.

If a valid notice is followed by dissent or a deemed dispute and the building owner intends to proceed, section 10 provides the appointment route and the appointed surveyor or surveyors determine the dispute by award. A later difference connected with the work may also require the dispute procedure even after initial consent.

The party wall notice template guide covers the document you do have to write yourself — the notice — and what each type must contain. Other related topics are listed in the guides index.

Current service: you can submit and verify a request for administrator review. Invitations, quote comparison and introductions are not currently available. A request does not guarantee a quote or local availability.

If you have reached the point of needing an award, you can post your Party Wall job — free. An administrator manually reviews each complete request and could invite participating surveyors whose stated service coverage and profile fit the brief, when the comparison service is available and suitable surveyors participate. Submission does not guarantee an invitation, quote or introduction.

A note on sources

The statutory statements were checked on 24 August 2026 against sections 3, 5, 6, 7, 10 and 20 of the revised Act on legislation.gov.uk. Power v Shah was read from the approved judgment published by the National Archives. Practice statements were checked against the GOV.UK explanatory booklet and the RICS Party Wall standard. The booklet identifies itself as general guidance rather than an authoritative legal interpretation. The Act extends to England and Wales only under section 22(4).