The short answer
For a simple matter where the neighbour engages, allow roughly one to two months from serving notice to a completed award. If your neighbour consents, it can be quicker; if they dissent or stay silent, the surveyor process adds time. Basements, multiple adjoining owners and genuine disputes take longer. Build it into your programme early, because you cannot lawfully start notifiable work until it is resolved.
Why it matters
The process runs in stages:
- Notice period — one month for a line of junction or excavation notice, two months for a party structure notice. You cannot start until it passes.
- Response window — the adjoining owner has 14 days to consent or dissent.
- If they consent — no award is needed and you can proceed (still take a schedule of condition).
- If they dissent or do not respond — surveyors are appointed, a schedule of condition is taken, and an award is drafted and served, often within a few weeks.
A silent neighbour adds a short step: you request that they appoint a surveyor, and if they do nothing for 10 days you may appoint one on their behalf. Complex works and difficult parties extend things, and there is a 14-day window to appeal an award once served. The single biggest lever you control is serving notice early.
What to do now
- Narrow the points in dispute. The more the owners can agree between themselves, the less the surveyors have to resolve — which keeps fees proportionate.
- Where a surveyor is needed, a single agreed surveyor acting for both owners is usually quicker and cheaper than two — the route Coburns recommends.
- Serve notice as early as you can in your planning.
- Where possible, agree a single surveyor — it is usually faster.
- Have your drawings ready so notices and the award are not held up.
- Do not book the builder to start before the period and any award are complete.
Common mistakes
- Leaving notice until the last minute.
- Booking the build to start during the notice period.
- Assuming dissent automatically means months of delay — it often does not.
- Forgetting the 14-day appeal window after the award.
When to call Coburns
Tell us your target start date and we will work back from it. Serving the right notices promptly, and agreeing a single surveyor where we can, is the simplest way to keep your project on time.