Neighbours have built a conservatory attached to my house, what are my rights?

mattastic

Hello Folks,

Regarding my parents house, they have recently heard drilling into their extension wall. They went next door to find out the neighbours have built a conservatory and made a small attachment to my parents extension wall (three screws apparently, waiting to find out more detail) Its pretty much built now. The neighbours didn't warn my parents or make any form of communication before they built the conservatory.

I fell really sorry for my folks, they've been put in a very awkward situation now. They really don't want my neighbours to take the conservatory down, but they also feel quite angry that an attachment has been made to their wall without any warning, and their concerned it will affect any future sale of the house.

Can anyone please advise the best way to go about this? Who to talk too etc?

Many thanks

fluffymuffy

Is your parents' wall on the actual boundary? Do they then have an eaves that overhangs into next doors' garden?

spacey2012

Well they have two choices, like it or cause a fuss.

fluffymuffy

My thoughts are that if the parents' extension, complete with their eaves, lies wholly on the parents' property then next door has not only attached but also encroached. i.e that the boundary is a few inches from the face of the wall.

Alternatively, if the eaves of the extension overhangs onto next door (i.e. the face of the wall IS the boundary) then it would be wise to tread lightly as next door must have given permission for this to happen.

mattastic

Thanks for the replies.

The wall of my folks extension is paralell with the boundry I think, no overlap.

aliasojo

fluffymuffy wrote: »

then it would be wise to tread lightly as next door must have given permission for this to happen.

Not necessarily. It wont be the first time neighbours have pushed their luck.

OP I think I'd be checking the situation with the council. I personally would not be happy with this in the slightest.

mattastic

Also, the brickwork on my parents wall will need flashing apparantly to accomodate the glass for the conservatory.

fluffymuffy

aliasojo wrote: »

Not necessarily. It wont be the first time neighbours have pushed their luck.

How would the neighbour's have pushed their luck by allowing the OP's parents' to overhang their eaves?

fluffymuffy

mattastic wrote: »

Also, the brickwork on my parents wall will need flashing apparantly to accomodate the glass for the conservatory.

There is a right to flash into nextdoors' wall. But no right to attach for support of the structure.

aliasojo

fluffymuffy wrote: »

How would the neighbour's have pushed their luck by allowing the OP's parents' to overhang their eaves?

That's not what I mean. I'm talking about using the wall.

Even if the OP's parent's were on the neighbour's side just a tad, there would have to be some sort of communication about this surely?

Should the party wall aspect come into play now that technically the properties are joined?

I have no idea, I'm not an expert. I just believe things should be checked as neighbour's don't always do things by the book.

RJS86

fluffymuffy wrote: »

There is a right to flash into nextdoors' wall. But no right to attach for support of the structure.

I wouldn't consider 3 screws as a support personally, probably more of a tie. TBH they may even be building the conservatory to hide the existing extension wall, but I guess that's not really important.

They should have issued a party wall notice 1 month prior to the works for the flashing and tying into the party wall with the screws. However if they had issued this and explained the situation to the OP's parents they may have consented and allowed the build to go ahead sooner than a month. I don't think the OP's parents could have stopped them building it, only made them wait 1 month before starting.

I wouldn't worry about it myself, however I believe the OP's parents neighbours should have talked to the OP's parents before starting so any confusion could have been avoided. It's also the polite thing to do.