The part of the Act that reaches a roof
The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 lists the work a building owner may carry out on a party wall, and in return the owner has to serve notice on the neighbour. Section 2(2)(g) is the paragraph that lets an owner cut away a footing, or a projecting chimney breast along with its jamb or flue.
That is the paragraph that matters on a roof job. A breast built into the wall you share with the house next door is part of the party wall. Taking it away, or cutting into it to bring a stack down, is work of a kind the Act names, and the Act's procedure then follows.
Section 2(2)(g) is about cutting away, not about re-covering a slope. A set of slates replaced on your own side, or flashings renewed, is not what that paragraph names. That is why a shared chimney is the roof job to watch for.
Whether your particular job falls inside the Act is a question for a party wall surveyor, who can read the plans and the wall rather than guess from a description. A roofer can describe what is planned, but the surveyor decides whether it triggers the Act.
Notice, and the two-month period
Section 3(2) sets the notice period. The owner must serve notice at least 2 months before the date on which the proposed work will begin. Dover District Council gives the same figure for its own area, in its building control pages: at least 2 months before the work starts, although the neighbour can agree to let it begin earlier, which is the route to take if the date matters.
| Point | What the Act says |
|---|---|
| Notice period | At least 2 months (s3(2)) |
| Earlier start | With written consent (s3(3)(a)) |
| No reply | Not agreement |
| Disagreement | A surveyor must be appointed |
Two months matters when you plan the work. If a chimney is coming down in the same job as a re-roof, the notice has to go out well ahead, and the roofer cannot simply start when the scaffold arrives. A notice left to the last moment holds up the job, and a scaffold standing idle for weeks costs money on its own.
Consent, silence and disagreement
Section 3(3)(a) leaves one door open. Nothing in the Act stops work that goes ahead with the consent, in writing, of the neighbouring owners and of their occupiers. Written consent from the owner and from the occupier, if they are different people, lets the work start before the 2 months are up.
Silence is not consent. GOV.UK's guidance warns that a neighbour's silence cannot be taken as agreement, and that where the two sides do not agree, a surveyor must be appointed.
So the usual order of events is a notice, a reply, and then either consent or the appointment of a surveyor. Each step is recorded in writing, and each is worth keeping with the contract for the roof.
Dealing with a neighbour about a chimney is easier when they hear it from you first, before the notice arrives. Agree who tells them what, and when, before the scaffold date is fixed. A neighbour who is worried about noise, dust or access to their own garden is easier to reassure with a plain explanation than with a form.
Who to ask, and what is separate
Party wall questions go to a party wall surveyor, not to building control. The two do different things, so keep the questions apart. A call to the wrong one costs a week while you wait for an answer that was never theirs to give.
- Party wall surveyor: whether the Act applies, the notices and any dispute.
- Building control: Building Regulations approval, which chimney breast removal always needs.
- Planning: if the outside changes, or if a designation applies to the address.
Get the surveyor's answer on paper and file it alongside the roof contract, so that the roofer, the scaffolder and the neighbour all know whether a notice has gone out and when the earliest start falls.
Our guide to chimney breast removal covers the structural side, and the answer on CDM rules for homeowners covers who carries the safety duties on the job.
For general roof work around Margate and Thanet, we say at the survey if a chimney is involved and whether it is shared. If a party wall notice is needed, the job waits until it has run or the neighbours consent in writing, and the quote is written with that delay allowed for.
