what are the rules for house building in your own garden

meercatsunited

no problem with access, it would not be shared and access will come from the avenue at the side which is wide, long and only used by other residential properties and is not a through rd.

Richard_Webster

OK so then you come down to closeness to other dwellings, potential overlooking and loss of privacy for them, and general local policies about density etc. Will vary from area to area.

meercatsunited

the property to be built would be a bungalow as are all the others and surrounded by a 2m high fence but would only be about 1.5m from the closest conservatory but about 4m from their actual bungalow.

RAS

Your Council will publish basic guidelines on-line. Check their web-site.

When I did something similiar there had to be a one metre strip round each side and the front facade could not be forward of the building line on the side street.

Check with your Council as their rules may be different.

Richard_Webster

but would only be about 1.5m from the closest conservatory but about 4m from their actual bungalow.

That sounds a bit tight.

phoebe1989seb

Our last house which was a detached Tudor property on a corner plot, had a huge garden till around 20 years ago at which point the then owners built a bungalow to one side and sold off a further plot that was accessed from the road to the other side.

The second plot was built on about 8 years ago and the new chalet bungalow was approximately 1.5m from the existing conservatory on what was to later become our house. There was a high hedge between the front of our conservatory and the side of that property but nonetheless it seemed way too close. It almost put us off buying the house but otherwise the property seemed perfect for our needs so we went ahead.

Neither of these new properties had windows overlooking the house we bought, but the whole garden and house itself did feel closed in and overshadowed by the proximity of the two newer houses.......and that was despite them both being chalets/bungalows.

Although ths wasn't the overriding reason for us deciding to move, it did lead us to make the conscious choice not to buy anywhere that had new properties built (or the potential to be built) in existing garden plots adjacent to our new home.

If the plot is large enough it can work, and we obviously chose to buy the house with the new additions already in situ - but I would be mighty cheesed off if a neighbour wanted to build that close to my house in the future......:o

planning_officer

meercatsunited wrote: »

the property to be built would be a bungalow as are all the others and surrounded by a 2m high fence but would only be about 1.5m from the closest conservatory but about 4m from their actual bungalow.

Do you mean the proposed bungalow would be 1.5m from the nearest property, or from the side boundary fence? Also, what's the 4m referring to? Do you mean the rear garden will only be 4m deep? These dimensions do sound like the bungalow will be squeezed into this plot, which could be objectionable. Unless I'm misunderstanding the dimensions...

meercatsunited

planning officer, you are understanding it correctly.

since posting I have been following the advice posted and discovered that there is a possibility of building but it would come under a new scheme that allows this type of build where local housing needs have to be met, its a scheme devised by the governement and would mean any property to be built would in the future only be sold for 60% of the market value and as our reasons for building are not to make lots of lolly would be a bit concerned that it could cost more to build than the value it can be sold for and we could still end up with a mortgage and in a smaller property.
we were just looking at options to be mortgage free in retirement and be able to remain in the same locality.
thank you all for your help, greatly appreciated.

planning_officer

To be honest, I would say that a 4 metre deep garden is woefully inadequate and highly likely to be refused due to poor amenity for future residents. That would certainly be refused at my authority.

Also, being so close to the rear boundary could give rise to issues of the proposed dwelling appearing overbearing or intrusive when viewed from neighbouring properties.

I presume this scheme to which you refer is a local scheme in your area? We certainly have no such scheme in my District. If you're referring to affordable housing, then maybe your local planning policies are less restrictive, but any new dwelling would still need to respect the character of the area and the amenities of neighbouirng and future residents.

propertyman

So you are building a "beds in a shed", but yours will be nicer :eek:

What you are overlooking that the overall density and the existing rights to light will still come into play, and that they are talking about extensions, not physically and legally separate dwellings.

Now if you built a granny annex which opens into the main home and later secured the door for your privacy and " as it is too much to cope with" rented out the main house as a "pension fund" income that is another matter.