Guide
What happens if your neighbour dissents, or ignores the party wall notice
Updated
Dissent, including silence, does not give your neighbour a veto. It moves the decision to surveyors, whose award lets compliant works proceed. Here is the sequence and what it costs.
First: dissent is normal, not hostile
Dissenting is simply the mechanism that brings the Act's protections, a surveyor, an award, a schedule of condition, into play. Many neighbours dissent on advice, precisely because the building owner normally pays the surveyor costs. Don't read a dissent as a declaration of war.
The sequence when there's no consent
- Day 0: you serve a valid notice, see the notice guide.
- Day 14: no written consent within 14 days means a dispute has arisen under the Act. Silence counts as dissent, for section 2 notices you can serve a further 10-day letter asking them to respond before appointments proceed.
- Appointment: each owner appoints a surveyor, or both agree one, see agreed surveyor vs two surveyors. Appointments must be in writing and cannot be rescinded.
- If they refuse or do nothing: you write requesting they appoint a surveyor within 10 days. If they still don't, you may appoint a surveyor on their behalf (section 10(4)), the process cannot be stalled by ignoring it.
- The award: the surveyor(s) produce a party wall award setting out what work may happen, how and when, usually with a schedule of condition of the neighbour's property. Works then proceed under its terms.
What it means for your budget and timetable
- Cost: dissent converts a free consent into surveyor fees, typically £700–£1,000 for an agreed surveyor or £1,000–£1,500 per surveyor where each side appoints (typical 2026 quotes), normally paid by you. See the full cost breakdown.
- Time: allow several weeks from dissent to award for straightforward jobs, longer for basements or slow correspondence. Serve notices as early as your design allows.
- Appeal: either owner can appeal an award to the county court within 14 days. Appeals are rare and need real grounds, but don't start notifiable work inside that window without advice.
And if the works started without a notice?
The adjoining owner can seek an injunction to stop unnotified notifiable works, and the building owner loses the Act's protections. Retro-fitting agreement is harder and dearer than serving notice properly, if you're mid-works and unnotified, get a surveyor involved immediately.
The 14-day response window, the 10-day appointment letter and the section 10 machinery are all in the government's explanatory booklet (gov.uk).