My neighbour wants to build a massive extension? WHAT CAN I DO?

sooz

qwertyzxcvb wrote: »

Hello,

I have just received a letter from the council about the application for planning permission of my neighbour. Apparently he wants to build extensions in front and at the back of the house which will make our house much darker and generally less pleasant. I reckon the rear one would be ok, but the front one is a disaster for us.

Can we object to it at all? What can be done? What can I do to block his plans? If he builds it, value of our house will go down surely.
Rear extension: single storey, 3.7m long, width of the house
Front extension: single storey, 1.6m long, width of the house
House: semi detached (we share it with them)

Please tell me something can be done...

apply to do the same thing to your house. If they are allowed to extend so greatly, the ability to do the same could add value to yours.

qwertyzxcvb

sooz wrote: »

apply to do the same thing to your house. If they are allowed to extend so greatly, the ability to do the same could add value to yours.

thought about the same :rolleyes:
but have JUST finished (last weekend!) major renovation work downstars :mad:

sarah_elton

googler wrote: »

"I don't think your loss of light is a valid objection."

It is according to previous planning apps in my county. Plenty of planning decisions where the planning officers have commented on the presence or absence of 'harmful overlooking' of neighbouring properties.

Playing devil's advocate, I would take the above to mean instances where the extension included windows that looked into the neighbour's property. I.e. overlooking as in loss of privacy, not light....

Pee

I think it is worth writing. I did and the only decent ground we had was right to light and the council rejected their application and they then agreed something much smaller that didn't bother me at all. I was more concerned about the garden being overlooked than the light, to be honest.

Planner

qwertyzxcvb wrote: »

Can we object to it at all? What can be done? What can I do to block his plans? If he builds it, value of our house will go down surely.
Rear extension: single storey, 3.7m long, width of the house
Front extension: single storey, 1.6m long, width of the house
House: semi detached (we share it with them)

Please tell me something can be done...

Could you upload us a rough scetch of the proposal? showing your property and theirs and the proposed extensions?

Poppy9

I objected to neighbours loft conversion application which included 4 dormers on the grounds of loss of privacy as the two rear would look into my garden. Neighbour otherside objected to side dormer as it would look onto their front door (which is actually on side of house) and neighbours opposite to the front one as they would lose privacy (due to houses being built on an incline). Plus we all objected on the ground that they would be out of keeping with the style of the houses which at present all look identical, loss of symetry etc. and the appearance of the houses is a major selling point (I had details from EA of how they described these 20 houses when they come up for sale). Our houses are 1950s traditional build but acredited to one builder who people seemed to think is a God of house building locally.


Their application was turned down. Eventually they did have PP for a small dormer on the side with a tiny window (frosted glass) and a small dormer on the back with again a tiny window.

Imp

1) Get a copy of the plans
2) Sort out you objections on planning grounds
3) Go and speak to your neighbours about the objections you are going to make, and why
4) Make your objections in writing to the council
5) Try and keep friendly with the neighbours throughout the construction period and beyond

qwertyzxcvb

Planner wrote: »

Could you upload us a rough scetch of the proposal? showing your property and theirs and the proposed extensions?

Hello,

here are three links for pictures of the front (all different angles since I dont have a single one which would show the entire house):
Picture 1
Picture 2
Picture 3

My house is on the right hand side (the one with the "sold" sign).

And here is the planned development - from the council website - apologies, it's 1.3mb:
Planning application plan

What I'm concerned about is the "existing front elevation" (top left picture) vs. "proposed front elevation" (the one below) and how this extension (which will be 1.6m into the garden) will affect what we can and cannot see from the lounge window.

Thank you for your efforts.

Poppy9

Looking at those I would say that you have little chance of sucess with regard to the rear extension. Not sure about the front one.

pinkshoes

3.7m front extention?!?! I see why you're objecting!

If it does go ahead, at least you'll have a new wall to play tennis against...