Search for a template and you will find plenty, most of them a mixture of a notice, a consent letter and an award, with the three doing quite different jobs. It is worth being blunt about which is which, because downloading the wrong one and sending it to a neighbour is a good way to turn a straightforward job into a disputed one. The notice you may well write yourself. The consent is a short letter. The award is a surveyor's document, and no free download makes you competent to publish one.
What a free party wall agreement template is good for
Seeing the shape of the document. An award sets out the work that is authorised, the way and time it may be done, the condition of the adjoining owner's property before it starts, access arrangements, working hours, how damage is made good, and who pays for what, including the surveyors' fees. Reading a specimen before your surveyor drafts yours means you can ask for the conditions you actually want written in, rather than discovering after the event that nobody thought to limit the working hours.
What no template can give you
Authority. An award has effect because it is made by surveyors appointed under section 10 by the two owners, and it binds them both, subject to a short right of appeal to the county court. A document the two owners sign between themselves is a private agreement: it may be a perfectly sensible thing to do where everybody is friendly, but it is not an award, it does not carry the Act's machinery, and it does not resolve a deemed dispute. A printable party wall agreement template uk that promises otherwise is overselling itself.
The party wall template a surveyor actually starts from
Practices work from their own precedent, adjusted for the job: the recitals naming the owners and the property, the schedule of the authorised works, the schedule of condition, the special conditions, and the fees. The variable part is the special conditions, which is where your job's particulars live, and it is the part worth spending your attention on. The worksheet on this site sizes that document from your own figures so you can see what you are commissioning.
Questions people ask about party wall agreement template uk
Can my neighbour and I just sign something between ourselves?
You can agree things privately, and where the neighbour consents in writing to the notice no award is needed at all. What you cannot do is create an award without appointed surveyors. If the relationship is good, written consent to the notice is the simple route, and it costs nothing.
Is a template award valid if we both sign it?
It is a contract between you, not an award under the Act. That may be enough for a small job with a cooperative neighbour, and it is worth knowing that is what you have, rather than assuming the Act's protections come with it.
What should I insist is in the award?
Working hours, access dates and how access is arranged, protection of the neighbour's property and garden, how debris is cleared, and a clear schedule of condition with photographs. Those are the conditions people wish they had asked for.