About PartyWallChecker
A free tool that tells homeowners and their neighbours what the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 actually requires — in plain English, in about 90 seconds.
Who's behind it
PartyWallChecker is built and written by Chris Rafferty. Not a party wall surveyor — and that's the reason the site works the way it does. Rather than lean on professional judgement it doesn't have, every legal statement here is traced to a numbered section of the Party Wall etc. Act 1996, or to the government's explanatory booklet, and written down in a reference document before any page quotes it.
That has a useful consequence: where the Act genuinely says nothing — how long an award takes, what it must contain, how much security a neighbour can ask for — the honest answer is that the law doesn't say, and you'll read exactly that instead of a confident guess. When a question needs a professional, the tool says so and points you to one.
How the verdict is decided
The result comes from tested, deterministic code that follows the Act and the government's explanatory guidance — not from a chatbot guessing. When anything is unclear, it errs toward caution and tells you to confirm with a surveyor, rather than risk a false "no notice needed".
What's free, and what isn't
The full verdict is free, always — no signup. If you want the paperwork done for you, an optional £39 pack generates your ready-to-serve notices. And if you'd rather hand it to a professional, we can introduce one vetted local surveyor, free to you.