I know some forum members get a bit of grief from neighbours, so I'd like to share some polite neighbourly news from the other side. Home from work at half one & a knock at the front door, here is my next door neighbour asking me if it would be all right to commence with some party wall drilling & it would last for a couple of hours or so. Absolutely no problem from me.

Aye it's good to have a neighbour like this.

Indeed, the comparison of life with neighbours from hell (of which we had two 20 years ago, one on the floor above and another on the floor above that) and a good "stair" is night and day, the whole"living" thing becomes a pleasure again after the b*st*rds leave (which both did in our case )

A good example set by your neighbour Jim - what goes around comes around in my book...

Nice to see, Here they all keep to themselves and i'm fine with that. There will be a friendly wave, hello at christmas and I buy a bottle of red and white for each next door to me.
We all just want to get on with our lifes I like to think that if there is a problem we can resolve it in a nice way.

Just for reference if you are doing major work on the party wall you have to have written consent from the other party. You can be held responsible for any damage to the other parties wall and full costs. Been there with a neighbour whose builders went through our wall.

Did the research and if no agreement has been approved he was banged to rights. Took 2 yrs to resolve though and that was with a semi reasonable neighbour.

I always call on next door when I'm to do noisy work within the next few days.
He works shifts and has two young kids so with enough forewarning we have always agreed a good time to do the noise so as not to cause undue friction.

Party Wall Act points are well presented - the written notice period before works commences is a minimum of 2 months -, I believe also this can be circumvented for party wall works whenever their is a clear and present danger with an existing structure which requires immediate remedial measures..... even to the point of complete demolition and rebuilding.