HELP! 'Shed' with people living in built against my wall - no PWA

cappyston

Hope you can help answer my questions numbered below. Sorry this is a bit long, it represents a year and a half of frustrations.

BACKGROUND: My property is a very small (1 up, 2 down) end terrace house near the end of our road, off a main road. It's a change of use property - converted from a small bakery by the previous owners. What used to be the back yard has since being converted into the kitchen, bathroom, diner in a single story extension to the main house. Consequently I've no garden as the whole house is on the whole plot. I've never had rear access from my property.

The garden of a neighbour from round the corner, on the main road, runs along the back of my house. My back wall runs along maybe half of his garden. This neighbour's main house and mine do not meet, we're not terraced together. He has built a large brick 'shed' in his garden, but onto my back wall, i.e. 3 walls and a roof using my wall as a 4th wall. Admittedly I did get a letter saying he was planning to build this 'shed', but ignored it, not thinking he would be builing on and drilling directly into my wall. (He had already built other extensions in his garden not affecting my property).

I used to get on with this neighbour, but now haven't spoken to him since I discovered the build. Partly because I didn't know my rights or whether talking about this constituted a dispute that I'd have to disclose if selling. Partly because I feel vulnerable as a woman living on my own. Seems he's done the work whilst I've been out at work. His home is also a chip shop on the main road and other neighbours have told me that due to money problems he's resorted to renting out parts of his property.

Over the last 18 months, the council have been useless. Would not come out when I asked them to when I discovered the build was underway. I visited building controls and planning a few months later. They agreed that what I described was not what he had permission for and asked me if I thought people were living there, even though pictures in the file clearly show the 'shed' kitted out as a living space! The file not a - party wall award - also had pictures of my house and a place for my signature - which was obviously missing. More recently I called building controls who said their only concern is that it's built to standard, irrespective of whether it's legal.

Now I hear noises of people living there (e.g. radio, talk) or occasional knocking or drilling - indeed more noises than anything I hear from my adjoining terraced neighbour, so the 'shed' neighbour must hear me. Whilst his main house is separate from the 'shed'; my kitchen, lounge and diner is open plan and now 'attached' to the 'shed' and I feel easily heard now.

ISSUES AND QUESTIONS
1. My external wall has now become his internal wall. He's even built over my bathroom airblock. Surely this is wrong?

2. To build against my wall seems wrong - if I wanted to be joined to other residential neighbours I'd have bought a terrace, not end of terrace. Does this affect the status of my house?

3. I feel I have no privacy now, e.g. I do not speak on the phone downstairs any longer. Isn't privacy protected in some way?

4. I wanted to sell my house anyway, but now am extra concerned about this 'shed' building. What would a surveyor say? And what are the consequences of me knowing but not disclosing the building to future buyers?

5. If this neighbour sold up first - does the responsibility to sort this out lay with the new owner?

6. My preferred option is that he take down the building, make good my wall and rebuild it - if he wants - but in his own garden, NOT against my wall.

7. How can the council help me - although I've lost confidence in them

8. Does the fact we're not side-by-side terraced neighbours having any bearing?

9. I've never received anything to do with PWA and my neighbour has never spoken to me about the build - does this count for anything?

10. In short, what are my options and is there anything else I need to consider before acting?

Really hope you can help, people. Thanks in advance.
C

diable

I'd hassle the council if I was you.

Flyboy152

What a horrible position to be in, my sympathies are with you.

First off, building controll is correct in that they are only concerned with standards of build. It is the planning department who are the ones who need to give permission on whether the structure meets its intended use and construction. I am flabbergasted at their attitude to your requests, whenever I have work done to a property, I can't get rid of them. You'll have to let me know which district they are in. Joking aside the main issue seems to be, should he be allowed to build directly onto your wall without your agreement: Without your express permission, on a party wall award, the provisional answer would be, "probably not." This alone is what the local planning department should be concerned about. What steps have you taken to force them to act? When you received notice, how long after did work commence and did you raise any objections at the time?

diable

Also "knock" through the air holes. Where are your neighbours from, I hazard a guess.

Doozergirl

Your local MP will have a surgery. Go and see them and ask for help. Also local district councillors, parish council? You need as many friends as you can get.

If PP is for a shed then aside from it having the wrong kind of PP it will not meet building regulations for a habitable building if it is a rudimentary build against your garden? wall.

Planning is definitely where you push first and hardest.

Flyboy152

diable wrote: »

Also "knock" through the air holes. Where are your neighbours from, I hazard a guess.

I imagine they are from next door.

tony6403

If you cannot resolve the matter with the council ,you should consider complaining to the Local Government Ombudsman(LGO).
Your local council will give you the form which they will keep in stock to enable you to do this.
Have a look at the LGO's website. If there has been maladministration the LGO can usually sort things out.

panchenlama

I think you need to find out who owns this wall. It will be on the plans for your house and should be clear to you when you review them. If it's yours then he needs your permission (I would suspect) to attach anything to it. If taht is the case then add legal cover to your home insurance (if you don't have it), leave it a short while and then get in touch with that sevice and ask them to commence proceedings against the neighbour. You'll need to think about what you want as an end result though i.e. do you want the structure taken down etc.

Re planning, he won;t necessarily need permission depending on dimensions etc.

If the wall is a 3rd party wall i.e. one side his one side yours then I suspect there will be little you can do (assuming he doesn't need planning permission). You could be awkward and ask for surveyors to assess the risk to the wall (and thus your property) e.g. whether the foundations etc are deep enough but if he is classifying it as a 'shed' they are very unlikely to have been sunk lower than yours etc. If you progress this though it would be a nightmare and unlikely to end well.

if you want to get awkward with him you could presumably report him to other parts of the council e.g. council tax offices etc (as people as resident there) but again this would be hard to prove if they are transient. Another option if you want to be really awkward would be to start to enjoy loud music right next to that wall very early in the morning and late a night and see what happens....

Doozergirl

panchenlama wrote: »

I think you need to find out who owns this wall. It will be on the plans for your house and should be clear to you when you review them. If it's yours then he needs your permission (I would suspect) to attach anything to it. If taht is the case then add legal cover to your home insurance (if you don't have it), leave it a short while and then get in touch with that sevice and ask them to commence proceedings against the neighbour. You'll need to think about what you want as an end result though i.e. do you want the structure taken down etc.

Re planning, he won;t necessarily need permission depending on dimensions etc.

If the wall is a 3rd party wall i.e. one side his one side yours then I suspect there will be little you can do (assuming he doesn't need planning permission). You could be awkward and ask for surveyors to assess the risk to the wall (and thus your property) e.g. whether the foundations etc are deep enough but if he is classifying it as a 'shed' they are very unlikely to have been sunk lower than yours etc. If you progress this though it would be a nightmare and unlikely to end well.

if you want to get awkward with him you could presumably report him to other parts of the council e.g. council tax offices etc (as people as resident there) but again this would be hard to prove if they are transient. Another option if you want to be really awkward would be to start to enjoy loud music right next to that wall very early in the morning and late a night and see what happens....

If there is a habitable room propped up against a neighbours wall it will need planning permission. There is no permitted development, from my recollection for a building within 1m of a neighbouring boundary.

Everything about the shed is just wrong. If it's been built up against a garden wall and has pretty much appeared, there is not a cat's chance that it meets BR either.

Think the advice is there - LGO sounds like a great idea, and I hope the MP, local councillors idea is also helpful.

The advice about home insurance is poor. First thing they will do is check when this started and see from the record of her complaints to council etc. that it pre-dates any claim.

dander

It would make a difference if the 'shed' is fitted out to be independent from the main house - ie. if it has kitchen and bathroom facilities of its own. If so, then it would need planning permission and you've got a clear way to complain. If it's just being used as an extra bedroom or something, then you might find you've only got legal technicalities to complain about, which could cost you money without any guarantee of a result.

dander

Post crossed with Doozergirl's. She knows more than me about this kind of thing, so don't take mine as an argument, just less-informed!