Provisions the documents cite: s.1 (new building on line of junction), s.2 (repair etc. of party wall: rights of owner), s.3 (party structure notices), s.4 (counter notices), s.6 (adjacent excavation and construction), s.15 (service of notices: in person, by post, to a body corporate, by electronic communication where the recipient has stated a willingness, or addressed to 'the owner' and delivered to or fixed on the premises), s.22(4) (extent)
What it requires
A building owner who wants to build a party wall or party fence wall on the line of junction, or a wall wholly on its own land there, serves on any adjoining owner, at least one month before the work is to start, a notice describing the intended wall; an adjoining owner who does not consent by notice within 14 days is taken not to consent, and the wall is then built at the building owner's expense wholly on its own land (s.1(2), (4), (5)); disputes are determined under s.10. Before exercising any s.2 right — for example underpinning, thickening, raising, repairing, cutting into or demolishing and rebuilding a party structure or party fence wall — the building owner serves a party structure notice stating its name and address, the nature and particulars of the work (with plans, sections and loads for any special foundations) and the start date, at least two months before the work begins; the notice lapses if the work has not begun within 12 months and is not prosecuted with due diligence; work may proceed earlier with the written consent of the adjoining owners and occupiers (s.3). An adjoining owner may serve a counter notice within one month (s.4). Where the building owner proposes to excavate, or excavate for and erect a building or structure, within 3 metres of an adjoining owner's building and to a lower level than the bottom of its foundations, or within 6 metres and cutting a 45-degree plane drawn down from the bottom of those foundations, it serves notice at least one month before starting, with plans and sections showing the site and depth of the excavation and saying whether it proposes to underpin or otherwise safeguard the adjoining foundations; an owner who does not consent within 14 days is deemed to dissent and a dispute is deemed to have arisen; the notice lapses after 12 months if work has not begun and is not prosecuted with due diligence (s.6). A notice or other document under the Act may be served on a person by delivering it to them in person, by sending it by post to their usual or last-known residence or place of business in the United Kingdom, or, for a body corporate, by delivering it to or posting it to the secretary or clerk at its registered or principal office (s.15(1)); by means of an electronic communication, but only if the recipient has stated a willingness to receive the notice or document that way, the statement has not been withdrawn (withdrawal is by notice to the person to whom it was made), and it was transmitted to an electronic address the recipient specified (s.15(1A)–(1C), inserted from 6 April 2016 by S.I. 2016/335); and, where it is served on a person as owner of premises, alternatively by addressing it to 'the owner' of the premises (naming them) and delivering it to a person on the premises or, if no one to whom it can be delivered is found there, fixing it to a conspicuous part of the premises (s.15(2)). A posted notice is subject to the Interpretation Act 1978 s.7 (register entry interpretation-act-1978-s7). The Act extends to England and Wales only (s.22(4)).
The instrument itself: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/40. The summary above is our plain-English reading, not the text of the instrument — always work from the source.
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The 4 documents that cite it
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