My neighbour's are going to build a 4.8 metre extension under the new laws!!

Mojisola

angie12345 wrote: »

The party wall act says I must allow their builder and surveyor to do works from my side.

Read up more on the Party Wall Act.

Your neighbour will have to pay for a surveyor to look after your interests if you want one.

Vintageryan

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Sympathies.

If there is nothing you can do to stop this, then there's no law against being "awkward".

I would doubt their workers are allowed to disturb any plants in your garden. Can you find some ready-grown large prickly hedge plants you just happen to have decided to plant bang up against your wall (sloes/sea buckthorn/etc).

That's what I would do and then take evidence (in the form of photos etc) of exactly what my garden was like at that point in time...just in case it got ruined by workmens heavy boots or machinery in the future.

I'd express concern to the neighbour (AFTER planting that thorny hedge) that my garden mustn't be damaged and comment on having photos/video of it and tell them if I'd found a way to have a go at them legally for any damage their workmen caused in my garden.

They might as well know ALL the facts relevant to their planned extension;)

Who does that help?


It will not put off the owner building the extension will it. All it does is make the builders life harder and these are not big companies we are talking about. The extension will most likely be built by a very small firm who are completely innocent in the whole planning process and could as easily be working for you.

Very petty and narrow minded thing to do

Wyndham

Have you tried talking to the neighbour about it? You should at least raise your concerns with them (before planting any thorny plants!) If you don't at least try, then it will lead to more problems later on.

ognum

tberry6686 wrote: »

The party wall act only allows them to work from your side if you agree. If you do not agree then they cannot work from your land (although it may need an injunction to stop them).

They only time a neighbour has the right to work from your land is for maintenance not new construction.

the last house I purchased the last owner was in dispute with the adjoining neighbours and did not allow them onto his land to make a good finish to the brickwork of their extension.

This was a very bad move, the bricklayers finished the brick work over the wall and the finish was awfull, when we moved in we suggested for the weather proofing of their extension and for our view of the wall that they send round a bricklayer to point it and finish it properly which they did and we are both more satisfied.

You need to be reasonable for your sake as well as theirs, you will not stop them building so you may as well have a good finish to look at!

spacey2012

Build a pond, a nice deep one.

securityman

Whats the problem? They are not breaking any laws, so why give them a hard time.

Davesnave

ognum wrote: »

the last house I purchased the last owner was in dispute with the adjoining neighbours and did not allow them onto his land to make a good finish to the brickwork of their extension......
.....You need to be reasonable for your sake as well as theirs, you will not stop them building so you may as well have a good finish to look at!

Some people would rather cut their nose off to spite their face.

The same thing happened to a relative of mine. The neighbour has been staring at a un-rendered breeze block wall since 2009.

Last year, an agreement was reached for the wall to be rendered. Scaffolding was erected, but then the neighbour decided they didn't like the colour! The wall remains unfinished.

My relative can't see this wall, and as it's in a sheltered position, it's unlikely to be altered now for many years.

Davesnave

angie12345 wrote: »

If I were buying a house and looked out of the bedroom window to see a hulking great extension next door instead of nice gardens I would be put off! Also the new planning laws are being relaxed until may 2016 only but I expect presedents will be set by then.

No one views a house with an eye to what it's views might have been like in the past. They deal with the here & now.

Where development has taken place, other developments follow. It's likely that your house masks someone else's view too.

So, while this extension may not be what you would have chosen, if it's legal, the best thing you can do is work with the neighbour to ensure it's well constructed and finished. Secondly, you could look for advantages it might confer, such as providing shelter, and maybe alter your outside space to capitalise on this.

yorkshire_terrier_owner

At my old house my neighbour there built a large extension. To be honest I wasn't worried. In fact I allowed his workmen on my land for much of the build and even let him erect temporary fencing and take over part of my patio while the build was going on for access. As a result, he paid his workmen to:
Re-lay my patio (as his workmen had been using it but it was very uneven before),
Re-fence my garden
Paint a couple of walls in my garden for me
Re-build some of my garden walls
Re-do some ornamental brickwork

He put Cotswold stone round the edge of my large patio (as much of the old ugly gravel got displaced in the build), let me choose the colour of the rendered wall that bordered my property and Then he went and bought me a lovely garden wall thermometer and put it up for me on the finished wall of the extension wall bordering my property. The finished product looked lovely and gave me a very private patio.

He had to have the drainage and water pipes moved as part of the build, and we discovered the drain under my patio had collapsed so this was repaired at no cost to me and he also got the plumber to sort out the knocking water pipes in my kitchen.

I even made cups of tea for his workmen when he wasn't there!

All in all I did very well out of it and the whole process was very friendly! I probably had several hundred pounds worth of work (possibly more) done to my garden and property for for free, and we were still great friends at the end of it.

Richard_Webster

If the extension is 4.8m out then the planners will take into account any objections you raise and could refuse it on grounds of loss of light, etc. If you do not object the new rules mean that at the end of the objection period the neighbour can go ahead and build.