Party Wall Surveyor Kensington: How to Request Quotes
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.
Post a Party Wall job for a Kensington property. The administrator reviews the complete enquiry and could invite suitable qualified surveyors where the job and current participation allow when the comparison service is available. Submission does not guarantee an invitation, quote or introduction.
Post your Kensington Party Wall job — free
Kensington is a locality, not a planning designation
An address described as Kensington may sit in Kensington, Kensington Court, Kensington Palace, Kensington Square or another conservation area. The distinction is not cosmetic. Each appraisal identifies different building forms, views, gardens and details that the planning authority will consider.
The council’s current conservation appraisal directory records four useful dates:
- Kensington Conservation Area Appraisal — adopted 3 February 2017;
- Kensington Court — 31 March 2016;
- Kensington Square — 23 November 2017; and
- Kensington Palace — 17 July 2025.
The council describes Kensington Conservation Area as the largest in the borough. It runs from busy shopping streets to quiet residential cul-de-sacs and contains buildings from early Georgian development through to the present. That variety is why this page does not label every Kensington house Georgian, Victorian or terraced.
The address check also has a current limitation. In an update of 16 April 2026, the council warned that its planning maps were not up to date following the previous year’s cyber attack and might not always be available. Use the published maps and appraisals, but do not treat a failed map search as proof that a property has no designation. The council’s open planning data or direct confirmation may be needed for a disputed boundary.
A basement needs planning permission across the Royal Borough
The borough-wide basement Article 4 direction came into force on 28 April 2016. It removes the permitted-development right in Schedule 2 Part 1 Class A for:
basement development, lightwells or any other development below the dwellinghouse or its curtilage
across the Royal Borough. The direction applies to the specified right for dwellinghouses. Flats do not acquire householder permitted-development rights through it, and the direction does not prohibit a basement: it means that planning permission is required.
There may also be address-specific Article 4 controls relating to other alterations. Conservation area status and an Article 4 direction are separate, so check both.
The wider Kensington and Chelsea Party Wall guide explains the borough framework. For a Kensington job, state the exact address and named conservation area rather than relying on the district alone.
What Policy CD11 asks of a basement
The RBKC Local Plan 2024 was adopted on 24 July 2024. Policy CD11 requires all basement development to:
- occupy no more than 50 per cent of each garden or open part of the site;
- comprise no more than one storey;
- leave at least one metre of soil above any basement beneath a garden;
- provide sustainable drainage and protection from sewer flooding;
- safeguard the host building, nearby buildings, tunnels and the highway; and
- avoid excavation underneath a listed building, including vaults.
The garden and single-storey criteria allow exceptions on large sites. Paragraph 6.99 says these are generally new developments in a commercial setting or covering an entire or substantial urban block. The criteria should not be published as absolute limits for every development. The listed-building criterion is expressed differently and should be checked at the start of a project, particularly where pavement vaults or historic foundations are involved.
A basement application requires a construction method statement and a draft construction traffic management plan. The Basements Supplementary Planning Document, adopted 14 April 2016, says the method statement must be signed by the applicant’s Chartered Civil Engineer or Chartered Structural Engineer and include a non-technical executive summary.
The planning requirement for that engineer is not a rule about who may act as a surveyor under the Party Wall etc. Act 1996. The two appointments have different purposes.
The council recommends early neighbour discussion
Paragraph 6.112 of the Local Plan advises a basement applicant to discuss the proposal with affected neighbours, commence party wall negotiations and discuss the scheme with the council before the planning application is submitted.
That is strong advice, not a requirement to secure the adjoining owner’s consent before applying for permission. Paragraph 6.113 then separates the regimes: structural stability of the development is addressed through Building Regulations, while the plan says the Party Wall Act is better suited to damage-related issues.
Planning permission therefore does not decide whether notice is required, and written consent to a notice does not grant planning permission.
The excavation test depends on foundations, not the postcode
Section 6(1) applies only where both parts of its test are met: the proposed excavation is within three metres of a neighbouring building or structure and will extend below the bottom of that building’s foundations.
Section 6(2) is separate. It concerns excavation within six metres where part of the excavation will pass below the downward 45-degree plane drawn from the bottom of the adjoining foundations in the statutory direction.
Being within three metres is not enough on its own. Nor can the answer be inferred from a property’s age. Plans and sections should identify the proposed depth; the adjoining foundation level may need investigation. Where section 6 applies, notice must be served at least one month before excavation and accompanied by the plans and sections required by the Act.
Work to an existing party structure follows section 2 and normally carries a two-month notice period under section 3. A new wall at the line of junction follows section 1 and normally carries one month. The party wall notice guide sets the routes out separately.
Floors can be party structures
At Census 2021 the Royal Borough recorded 66,884 households. Of those, 37,911 were in purpose-built blocks of flats or tenements and 15,720 were in converted or shared houses, compared with 8,561 in terraced houses.
These are borough figures, not a Kensington-only count. They do show why an enquiry form should not assume that the relevant structure is a flank wall. The Act’s party-structure definition can include a floor or other structure separating parts of buildings approached by separate staircases or entrances.
The building stock is also old at borough level. The Valuation Office Agency recorded 55,850 properties built before 1900 and 2,140 from 1900 to 1918, from 89,250 at 31 March 2025. These are Council Tax list dwellings, rounded to the nearest ten; the census counts households, so the two denominators must not be combined.
Older construction does not prove foundation depth, listed status or structural condition. Those require address-specific evidence.
Explain the Kensington property and the work
Provide:
- the complete property address and outward postcode;
- the named conservation area, if known, and whether either building is listed;
- whether the property is a house, purpose-built flat or converted flat;
- the freeholder and leaseholder interests that may need to be considered;
- the wall, floor, ceiling or other structure affected;
- whether the job concerns proposed work or a notice received from a neighbour;
- for excavation, the proposed depth, distance to the neighbouring structure and any known foundation information;
- whether a basement, lightwell, vault, rear extension, loft structure or chimney breast is involved;
- drawings, structural information, notices and responses already available; and
- intended dates and any access constraints.
The project label does not decide whether the Act applies. A rear extension, loft conversion or chimney-breast removal is not automatically notifiable; the proposed operations must fall within section 1, 2 or 6.
For the neighbouring locality, use the separate guide to Party Wall surveyors for Chelsea properties; the borough-wide controls may be shared, but conservation designations and the exact address context are not.
Compare the proposed appointment
If the adjoining owner consents in writing to a valid notice, the Act does not require surveyors simply because the property is in Kensington. If a dispute arises or is deemed to arise, the owners may concur in one agreed surveyor or appoint one each under section 10.
Each quote should identify the proposed appointing owner and scope. Depending on the dispute, that can include checking notices and drawings, recording condition, agreeing working protections and preparing an award. A schedule of condition is commonly useful but is not a separate statutory prerequisite in every case.
The Party Wall surveyor guide explains the appointment process, and the Party Wall surveyor cost guide identifies factors that may affect a proposed fee. The Party Wall surveyor west London guide covers the wider regional context.
What happens after you post
The administrator reviews a verified request manually and could invite suitable qualified surveyors where relevant participation exists when the comparison service is available. Submission does not guarantee an invitation, quote or introduction. Before selection, an invited surveyor receives a restricted, non-identifying brief rather than the requester’s full contact details.
If a quote is presented, compare its proposed scope, price, VAT position, timing and documentary checks. If the administrator makes a confirmed introduction, the selected surveyor receives the contact and property details. The professional appointment and payment terms are then agreed directly with that surveyor.