To Move Or Not To Move

more_money_for_me

Just looking for opinions really as seem to be going round in circles.
We have lived in a house we like on a street we like with neighbours we like for the past 11 years or so. Our family has grown in that time from no children to 3 children, so space starts to become an issue. As we liked where we were we felt that a loft conversion would be a good option as it would give us at least another 5-7 years before we would need to move due to a house full of teenagers. We had some plans drawn up by an architect and these were passed as requiring only building regs. We had talked in the past with neighbours and foresaw no real problem as our attached neighbour has already converted their loft.....how wrong we were. They have decided they won't sign a party wall agreement as they don't like our plans. Now I know I can just get a surveyor to deal with stuff, but it will cost more and there will probably be ongoing bad feeling. They want us to significantly reduce the size of our conversion, something that just isn't practical for us. As an aside they never showed us any plans for their conversion, nor did they serve a party wall agreement, but thats just me being bitter.
So do we say stuff it, sell (if we can) and move on now, or do we convert and stay put for next x years then sell. Issue with sellingnow that I see, is that we would have to declare a neighbour dispute which isn't great. Any thoughts appreciated.

ognum

I would not worry about the party wall dispute when selling, by that time the building will be up and it will be water under the bridge

have you considered whether your extension is overly large or dominating, is there a small compromise you could make for the sake of good relations. can you sit down and have a chat with them?

RenovationMan

I'd look to move on. In the past we have done a loft conversion and ground floor extensions and I have to say that we were really disappointed with the loft conversion. You never gain as such space as you think you will once you put in the required insulation and storage (custom fitted wardrobes), plus you have to factor in the space lost when installing a stairway.

I speak from experience when I say that teenagers take up a LOT of space, especially when they start having their mates sleep over. It's also nice if the house is large enough that it has more than one reception room so that they can have privacy with their friends and they're not hogging the tv.

Plus when you downsize back to a smaller place once they have flown the nest, you get to release some tax free equity to help fund your retirement.

more_money_for_me

Thanks for the replies, the neighbours concern is that because the dormer would come to the back of the house the windows could overlook their conservatory if they changed the plastic roof for a glass one. They want the dormer set back far enough that the windows can't overlook their rear garden at all. Obviously we have windows in the back of the house that have a view over their property anyway, and the conversion would be tiny if they did what they wanted. I am tending to sway towards selling, that said however, as they won't sign the party wall notice we automatically go into "dispute" over the building work, so we can't really sell it with the plans, although obviously any searches would show that they existed. If we employ a surveyor to resolve the dispute and do the building work we could then of course sell without an issue as dispute would have been resolved but seems a bit long winded. Bit of a catch 22.