Passageway and neighbours rights?

Jackinbox99

Not sure if this is the right area to post this, but am hoping someone on here knows the answer!

My parents have a bungalow and there is a passageway between their bungalow and the neighbours bungalow. My parents own the passageway.

The neighbours have just got planning permission to build another floor onto their bungalow and effectively turn their bungalow into a house.

My parents today have had a letter through saying that the builders will put up fencing and effectively block off their passage way, whilst they go into the passageway, take up my parents paving, dig down and underpin the neighbours bungalow, so they can build on top of it.

My parents (and the whole street) were against the plans of turning the bungalow into a house anyway, as its totally out of character for the area and means their front rooms will be in darkness due to the new floor blocking their light and views. But permission got granted on the 2nd time it was submitted. Now they receive this letter saying that the builders are taking over their passageway without asking..

So... does anyone know what their rights are? Can neighbours just take over access to your land without permission? Who should my parents speak to? local council? Can my parents refuse them access?

keystone

Yes they can refuse access and sue for trespass if the builder takes no notice. There is no such thing as "right to a view". Did your parents (and other neighbours) object when given the opportunity when PP was being considered?

Their neighbour should also have served a Party Wall Act Notice on your parents in any event as the work will involve excavations near to your parents property which will inevitable go deeper than your parents foundations. If they have not received a Party Wall Notice they can stop this work going ahead by seeking a court injunction and they should speak to the local BCO asap who will advise them.

Its in the neighbours interest to be nice to your parents in this case BTW.

Cheers

WestonDave

You need to be careful that the neighbours don't have rights of access over the passageway for maintenance etc - it could possibly be argued that the underpinning is effectively maintenance. It may be worth seeing if a local solicitor offers a free half hour advice - take the house deeds with them or get a copy from the land registry website (for registered properties).

Jackinbox99

Thanks for advice. From my perspective I would have thought that the neighbours would have had some sort of rights to the passageway to maintain their wall, but as far as i know there is nothing in the deeds to reflect this. Maybe a land registry search would show this?

WestonDave

If its a registered property you can do a search on the land registry website and download the relevant documents (basically the deeds) which will show any rights - might be worth downloading the neighbours as well to see what theirs say. Will cost you a couple of quid per document - I guess if its definitive and you can conclusively prevent the neighbours doing this it'll be money worth spending.

keystone

WestonDave wrote: »

You need to be careful that the neighbours don't have rights of access over the passageway for maintenance etc - it could possibly be argued that the underpinning is effectively maintenance. It may be worth seeing if a local solicitor offers a free half hour advice - take the house deeds with them or get a copy from the land registry website (for registered properties).

Even if they didn't have that right of access they could still get access under the Access To Neighbouring Property legislation (1992) if such access were refused but thats only for preservation work which they have the right to do. I cannot see how the proposed work constitutes preservation works althouigh it probably would if underpinning were required in the case of subsidence. That, however, does not relieve them of their obligations to serve a Party Wall Notice. Building Control should be the first port of call IMHO.

Cheers

iamcornholio

The neighbours will get rights of access to to this work only if they serve a Party Wall Notice.

If no notice is served, then your parents can rightly refuse access to their property and require that access/egress is maintained

If a Party Wall Notice is served, then this will permit access and will require that the property is protected and things reinstated. Don't think that this is an opportunity to stop the work as it is not.

But if your parents wanted to be awkward, then once a notice is served, they can dispute it and engage their own surveyor to bump up the neighbour's costs - as the neighbour pays all fees

Read up on the Party Wall Act 1996

This is nothing to do with the council planning or building control departments, and they can not/should not get involved

Underpinning so close to another property is risky, so ensure that a PW Notice is served and your parents' surveyor properly surveys their property for existing condition and again after all the work is done. And then you have another look in one years time after any initial settlement.

If no PW Notice is served (and there are specific time limits) then an injunction must be applied for. It will be granted and your parents will get all legal costs back as to not serve a notice where the Act applies, is unlawful

iamcornholio

WestonDave wrote: »

it could possibly be argued that the underpinning is effectively maintenance.

No it can't. Underpinning is a specific process and is classed as new construction work

Any rights of access for maintenance - by deed or via legislation such as the Access to Neighbouring Land Act, is only to maintain existing structures, and not to carry out any new building work

keystone

iamcornholio wrote: »

This is nothing to do with the council planning

Agree.

or building control departments,

Don't agree. The BCO can and should advise the parents with respect to a PW notice and thats all I'm suggesting NOT that they should get involved in the process about which you are quite correct.

Cheers

iamcornholio

keystone wrote: »

The BCO can and should advise the parents with respect to a PW notice

They send out an advisory leaflet with the approval notice. But BCO's are not clued up on the Act other than its existence (hence the leaflet) and are not in a position to comment on it or whether it applies. Even if the BCO knows a bit about the Act because of some previous job he had, he can not advise

If their advice leads to the wrong advice, then the council will have a whacking great bill to pay.

The only advice they can give is "Get some advice"

keystone

OK no probs - we'll just have to agree to differ then. Oh and it most certainly does apply in this case because of the excavations as I first posted and you subsequently confirmed in your post.

Cheers