Common misconception re Local Authority Planning and Building Control Departments

John_Pierpoint

How near is near ?
How high are the windows?
Are the windows near enough to obtain "Ancient Lights" over your land?
Is it a unitary authority?

I had a similar problem only worse: my house is the last as a town lane peters out into countryside. One section of the authority was responsible for generating 500,00 tonnes of "inert" waste and the same authority was responsible for authorising its disposal - they came up the the idea of building a steep embankment of the stuff alongside my home ( about 50 yards away in theory for safety reasons -Aberfan here we come (?)) and the site would be completed and landscaped within 5 years, and might well then be made into a public space.
That was one hell of a Sampson and Goliath battle for me.

Unless you want to spend a small fortune on advice to see if the authority has broken the letter of the law or their own procedures [Some authorities have an overlooking rule of 45 degrees (if the new development is within x of your boundary it cannot have windows from which someone looking sideways at an angle of 45 degrees can look down into your garden)].
or
You want to put your life on hold
and
You have a sympathetic politician preferably several, on your side
then
I would not give much for your chances.

Basically your property has a right to light and "quiet enjoyment" but nobody has a right to a view.

doboy110

My friend had an horrendous time with a so called builder Carlin&co ltd. he built an extention that cut off my neighbours window and destroyed the foundations down the side of his fence line without the courtesy of even asking , he also took 5 years to finish this bodged up extension to which my neighbour suffered for years , it was supposed to be against the Unitary Development plans, but the council let it go to the cost of my friend losing the right to light.

John_Pierpoint

Did the property owner (C&co ?!!?) obtain a party wall agreement, before starting work?

http://companycheck.co.uk/company/05776679
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2013/mar/14/home-extensions-plans-party-wall

This sounds like the very situation for which the law was created?
Your friend can be given a right under law, but he has to stand on his own two feet and use it.

There has been some sort of talk recently amongst the government, about removing the historic legal "ancient lights"

doboy110

no my neighbour was not consulted regarding the party wall act and complained but nothing was done about it

John_Pierpoint

The Party Wall Act gives the next door owner, whose property might be threatened by development, legal rights.
To enforce our civil legal rights we have to go to court.
If we have some sort of civil litigation insurance that might put up the money otherwise your friend, who presumably has net worth in their property, needs to have or borrow the money to get legal/surveyor advice and start proceedings.

The ability to put up or shut up is the price we pay for living in a free democracy.

mr-bob_2

Would building regs be needed for removing a non-load bearing wall that is splitting a dining room and kitchen and contains an archway. The joists run the same way as the wall and weren't lined up with the wall - so it wasn't holding anything up at all.

Also same question for bricking up a side door.

Thanks very much.

50Twuncle

Does the direction of the new extension have any bearing on whether PP is required or needs to be applied for ?
We have a neighbour who is rumoured to be planning a kitchen extension - the house is a semi - and is to the south of our half...
ie) The sun will be cut off from our back room/conservatory completely if he goes ahead !!
If we were to follow him and build a full width extension across the back of our house - the light would not be affected at all as far as he is concerned ...

John_Pierpoint

I am a little at a loss to understand how a single story extension will deprive your single story extension of its sunshine completely.

I have just had a look at this site on your behalf:
http://pveducation.org/pvcdrom/properties-of-sunlight/sun-position-calculator

Roughly speaking the sun at noon just before Xmas is 25 degrees above the horizon and in mid summer it is 62 degrees above the horizon.

In rough terms that is less than one third up and nearly two thirds up towards overhead.

I know where you are coming from, my son bought a house, backing onto some allotments, not realising that Sainsbury's were soon to build a supermarket. After the supermarket had been built it was (say) 150 yards away.
In summer that was no problem. Sainsburys had no windows above ground floor to overlook the back garden.
In winter it was most frustrating, the back garden and rear facing living room window got no sun, but for half an hour between 10:00 and 10:30 as it peeped between two buildings, before spending the rest of the day just out of sight behind the huge hipped tiled roof of the supermarket. The first floor bedroom got lovely sun all day even in mid winter.

So Sainsbury paid all the residents in the terrace compensation ? Get real !

I notice that the Government, in its latest announcement on permitted development, seems to be about to repeal the concept of "ancient lights" (not ancient sun); perhaps this is because it cannot be long before there is going to be a court case along the line of "My neighbours two story extension has stolen £1,000 a year of my tax free electricity generation income".

shays_mum

With these new PM rules already in, if your neighbour objects to an extension the council get involved & can still stop you building, so what exactly has changed in the new scheme of things, beyond it being free now?!.

50Twuncle

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

I am a little at a loss to understand how a single story extension will deprive your single story extension of its sunshine completely. .

OK Maybe not completely - but considerably - since our conservatory is already in the shade - apart from between sun rise and approx. 1pm (at the moment - mid summer) - so, depending on the height of his kitchen - it will prevent the sun at least half of this time......