Planning Permission, Extensions & the Law - Advice Please

sneekymum

savedalot wrote:

Yes, planned to do something like that. What do you all think about me putting up a fence on my side of the boundary just to establish the existing boundary? Neighbours own the existing fence and I'm just thinking of pre-empting a situation where the fence is taken down, nothing marks the boundary and I could lose some of my garden and end up with a legal battle to get the rightful boundary established again. Like your neighbour, Frequent, these people are liberty-takers and I wouldn't trust them to be honourable about anything.

More useful (if your neighbours are thieves) would be to pave the area right up to the boundary with at least a double row of slabs. They will have to remove any fence you put up (and put it back) - and they will have to remove one row of paving slabs against the boundary but they will need to fit them back exactly where they belong.

sneekymum

never_enough wrote:

I'm really surprised at the replies to this, quite shocked actually that a neighbour would have the right to put their foundations in your garden & have guttering overhanging into your garden.

There is no right to have guttering overhanging your garden - just the foundations - and only then if they don't need to be reinforced.

marybishop

Contact the RICS https://www.rics.org and ask for phone numbers of PW Surveyors in your area that give 30 mins free advice over the phone. Contact one of them and put the question to them re foundations and PW Notices. This can be the cause of long-running boundary disputes if not resolved at the outset as can building right up to boundaries, etc. We have clients who have ended up with exactly this sort of problems because neighbours think they can do whatever they like and ignore the PW Act. One has ended up in Court costing thousands of pounds, has been on-going for nearly two years and is still not resolved.

savedalot

Thanks, marybishop. That's brilliant - I'll do that. Am I right in thinking that the Planning Dept are not concerned with party wall agreements and it's up to me make sure I have one and also the only redress I would have if the other party breach the agreement is through the courts? As you wisely say, best to get it right at the outset rather than end up with an expensive nightmare.

Also, can I just say thanks to all who've contributed to this thread, especially sneekymum for taking all that time and trouble to post the information - it's been a great help and is much appreciated.

marybishop

It's actually up to the person doing the building work to make sure they comply with the PW Act (Planning/Building Control usually mention it as part of the permission if granted but it's not up to them to enforce it). From what we have seen people are often misguided by builders (sorry!) who say it's not necessary or they choose to ignore it (if they are told about it) as the cost of both surveyors (yours and theirs) is down to the person having the work done (i.e. your neighbour). If you do speak to a PW Surveyor please report back what's said - it might help other people to see what's meant to happen in this sort of situation.