DO I NEED A PARTY WALL AWARD? If you receive a notice you have 2 practical options: 1) Consent subject to a Schedule of Condition of your property to ensure that any damage caused can be identified. The Advantage of this is that it minimises cost to your neighbour whilst giving you necessary protection and you retain the right to appoint a surveyor should a real 'dispute' later arise. We recommend this option if you are happy that the works will be done properly but want to ensure that if any damage is caused to your property there will be no 'misunderstanding'. 2) Dissent to the notice and appoint a surveyor – The surveyor would make a Party Wall Award - This includes the Schedule of Condition and the surveyor would make a detailed review of the design information (and would have the right to request information or to require changes to the design). The Award would include precautions and obligations that the surveyor judged necessary. The Advantage of this is that the more onerous scrutiny of the information is made and requirements are made legal obligations. This is valuable if you think the works may be poorly designed or executed (Most of the considerations that would be included in an Award would be standard practice to a considerate and competent contractor). We advise adjoining owners to consider option 1) - some surveyors advise otherwise (fees for Awards are much higher)