Party walls and boundaries
A slipped tile sits on the party line and the neighbour's loft was not entered. Can the survey instruct the neighbour to share the repair?
No. The survey cannot instruct the neighbour to share the repair. It can record a slipped tile on the party line, seen from the side that was inspected. It cannot enter a loft that was not opened, serve a party-wall notice, or order the neighbour to pay or to do the work. Sharing a repair, if it arises at all, is a matter for the titles, the owners and any party-wall process, not a sentence in a home survey. The far side of the tile was not seen. The finding is a slipped tile on the line, nothing more decisive than that.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
Party-wall rules, as GOV.UK explains them, are about notices and disputes when certain work is done to a shared wall. They are not a power handed to the surveyor who notes a slipped tile. One owner's loft does not show the neighbour's battens, their felt or whether the tile has slipped on their side as well. The inspection describes the defect from the access it had. Instructing the neighbour would need a different role, and this visit did not take that role.
Tell your solicitor where the tile sits and that the neighbour's roof space was not entered. The solicitor can advise whether the neighbour should be approached and on what basis. A party-wall surveyor, if one is needed later, is a separate appointment from this home survey. The report has not allocated cost and has not specified who may walk on which roof. Get the slipped tile made weathertight by a roofer instructed in the ordinary way while the sharing question is sorted.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Did you see the slipped tile only from this side of the party line?
- Have you avoided instructing the neighbour, because that is outside the survey?
- What could you not see because the neighbour's loft was closed?
What are the typical next steps?
- Record the slipped tile without ordering the neighbour to share the cost.
- Ask the solicitor how the party line affects any approach to the neighbour.
- Have a roofer make the tile weathertight without waiting for the survey to compel anyone.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
If the tile is wholly on our slope, can the neighbour be ignored?
The survey has not decided whose slope the tile belongs to. It saw a slipped tile on the party line and did not enter the neighbour's loft. Ignoring the neighbour is a solicitor's question, not a finding the inspection made.
Can the surveyor go back and serve a party-wall notice?
No. A home survey is not a party-wall notice, and going back to look does not create that role. Notices, if they are needed, follow the party-wall process, which this report has not started. Asking about it again later still leaves this notice point outside what the survey decided.