🏢 Serving Party Wall Notices in Multi-Owner Buildings
By Lee Kyson
Disclaimer: This is a reasoned interpretation, not legal advice. Each case must be judged on its own facts. There is no known court precedent that directly confirms or contradicts this view.
📜 The Core Question
When a building has multiple owners (e.g., flats with leaseholders & a freeholder), who should receive the Party Wall notice?
Many assume all owners must be served. I suggest a more practical reading of the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 (the “Act”):
Serve one relevant adjoining owner (often the freeholder)
All others remain protected under sections 6(10), 7(1), and 7(2) of the Act
⚖️ Legal Basis
"Any" vs "All"
Section 3(1) states:
“...a building owner shall serve on any adjoining owner a notice...”
The word “any” is singular and context-dependent — it does not automatically mean “all”.
📚 In Balfour Beatty v Grove [2016] EWCA Civ 990, Lord Justice Jackson clarified that “any” does not always mean “every”.
🛡️ Protection for All Owners & Occupiers
Even if notice is served on just one adjoining owner:
Section 7(1): No unnecessary inconvenience to any adjoining owner/occupier
Section 7(2): Compensation for loss or damage to any adjoining owner/occupier
Section 6(10): Liability for injury to any adjoining owner/occupier remains
This means leaseholders and occupiers benefit from the same protections, even without being directly served.
💰 Avoiding Costly Over-Servicing
Serving notices on every leaseholder can cause:
Multiple surveyors appointed (one per owner)
Several awards for the same works
Conflicting repair instructions and disputes
Unnecessary costs for the building owner
Example: A job for 3 steel beams once resulted in 5 awards and 5 surveyors — a process that two surveyors could have handled.
🛠️ Practical Clause Suggestions for Awards
To reassure leaseholders, clauses could include:
All damage repaired in matching materials, or cash in lieu
Copies of the Award to leaseholders within Section 6 distance
Explicit references to Sections 6(10), 7(1), 7(2) protections
Clear process for claims to be handled by the appointed surveyors
💬 Analogy
“If I hold out five pencils and say ‘you shall take any pencil’ — you’d probably take one, not all five.”
📌 Conclusion
From a Building Owner’s perspective, the Act is enabling; from an Adjoining Owner’s perspective, it is protective.
Serving notice on a single, appropriate adjoining owner (often the freeholder) can satisfy the Act’s requirements and keep all other owners/occupiers protected — without multiplying costs and complexity.
“Analogy: If I held out five pencils and said ‘you shall take any pencil’- how many would you take? I doubt you would start to distinguish between them and doubt very much you would take all of them, probably just one on the basis that I said pencil in the singular.”