Loft conversion and extension, neighbour dispute

BabblyDom

Hello everybody,

Was wondering if you could advise me. I have posted in this forum previously and received extremely good advise which in turn has allowed me to give some, through experience.
My husband and I, we bought a 1950's bungalow on an estate, where all sorts of house have been build and extended.
We took an architect and though we might as well do the loft conversion and the extension that we wanted to do sooner.
We spoke to our neighbour, they looked really happy about us upgrading the old house. they requested us to pull some trees out to give them our shed. They were very happy that we put the garden in order. We put our plan forward to the planning permission and they opposed to everything we would like to do.
To our face they told us that they didn't want a window to look into their garden. WE are doing a loft conversion but we are raising the roof by less than a meter and effectively a window will slightly overlook into their garden. We said that we would speak to our architect and that we would make changes to our design to accommodate them but when we look at their comment on the planning permission board, in fact they claim we are building a 2 storey extension and that it should not be allowed at all at it should remain a row of bungalow and that's the way they want it. They also spoke in their comment in the name of all the neighbour. Unfortunately I need the space upstairs. We were devastated because they didn't tell us that to our face.
They also said that they don't need to put a fence as they wasn't one in the first place, so we seem that we have a boundary issue. The problem is that the husband say one thing and the wife another thing. They lie all the time.
Then we saw that in fact they put their house for sale a few weeks ago. They want to put pressure on the planning permission office saying that we are pushing them out of their house.
I have to mention that it is a fully detached house with lots of space and that we will overlook slightly into their garden and we made sure not to put any window upstairs on the side of the house in order not to overlook onto them and make sure that they would keep their privacy.
I am really devastated by such a negative attitude, particularly that we are willing to please them. What are our option now ? we still haven't heard anything from the planning permission but we are worried that we are going to be refused. Thank you very much for reading and helping.

Doozergirl

The reality is that neighbours have very little sway on planning decisions. If they object, the objections have to fall within strict criteria that the planning officers are already qualified to look at.

Suggesting that they are being driven out of their home isn't one of them!!

You'll be assessed against what currently exists in the street in terms of ridge height, I suspect.

Putting a window in the back of your house at first floor level, directly overlooking your own garden is perfectly fine, in theory and would ordinarily sit within 'permitted development'. It's the ridge height that would need planning permission.

It is upsetting when people don't speak honestly to your face, but that is the nature of some. If they don't understand process (which your neighbours don't if they are trying to persuade planners by putting their house on the market) then they may also not understand that you can see exactly what they've said.

One letter of objection counts as one objection. Speaking for 'all the neighbours' doe not count at all.

Don't worry about it. The planners will make their own decision based on legislation which your architect should also know.

Freecall

I should not worry too much, your Architect will have designed the work to comply with your Local Planning Authority's planning policies.

Your neighbours do not have a veto on your application but can merely draw the attention of the planners to any conflicts they believe that your proposal may have with their published policies.

Much of what you describe would be considered Permitted Development anyway and the planners will have to take into account what is known as your 'fallback' position (what you would be allowed to do without permission).

I would simply sit tight and await the arrival of the decision notice.

BabblyDom

thanks thank thank, I have lost sleep over this.
It is great relief to have your answers.

Slinky

Look on the bright side also, if they've put their house up for sale and move, you could get nicer neighbours.

BabblyDom

Just wanted to let you know, that we were refused today, on grounds that totally unjustified but that's the way. I am very sad.
I don't know what is the best course of action, got the feeling that things were not as straightforward as they should be.
I have strange suspicion.
Anyway, we were looking at doing that build to try to have something for our retirement, we don't have a pension and I am really discouraged.
Thanks to all of you for your kind advise.

RichardTheComic

really sorry to hear that. Do you think there's any grounds to appeal the decision, or can your architect modify your design in such a way that'd it be approved?

Madmel

Might it be possible to speak to the local planning officer? If they can come to you, they can advise you what might and might not be acceptable.

We objected to some run-down stables being converted into a house, next door but one to us, not because we have an issue with it, but because the plans implied access rights which did not exist. If the landowner submitting the plans had come out to talk to us, we could have worked it all out amicably, which happened in the end, but via the local council first. The stables have been bought by a young couple building their first house and living in a caravan on site. It looks fabulous, but our new neighbour has been very smart in seeking the advice of the planners at every turn. When the initial plans were drawn, he went for an informal chat with the planning officer. When he visited a home-build exhibition and wanted to tweak things, he went for a cuppa with the planning officer and they discussed it. The planning officer has been incredibly helpful and given our new neighbour some great advice.

In your situation, a chat about what may be possible would surely be more cost-effective than having lots of plans drawn up professionally that may come to nothing.

BabblyDom

@Madmel,
We have been advised by our architect to absolutely not talk to the planning officers at we would just hastle them? So we just stayed in the dark, didn't ask anything. I suspect this wasn't the case as far as our neighbour was concerned. They went out there and spoke to them, they look for support with other neighbour and we are not even doing anything bad or wrong. They lied on their objection saying we were doing a 2 storey house, we are absolutely not doing that, we are just adding a bit of height on one part of the roof to do 2 bedrooms we didn't need to ask for planning if we had done a loft conversion and put 2 dormers, it is just that I wanted something different, something nicer.

ManuelG

You may think there's no issue, your neighbour clearly does and, if it's been refused, so does planning.

One thing's for sure, making it personal with your neighbour won't lead to peace of mind.

Go through the processes, talk to the officers who can advise, but hope rather than expect.

princeofpounds

Hello BabblyDom,

Firstly, try not to take objections personally. The only purpose of objections is to notify the planners of potential breaches of planning policy; the fact that someone complains is in itself of little relevance. All it can really do is make sure the planner concentrates on any particular issues they might otherwise be less stringent on.

So in some ways, forget about the neighbours. If their exaggerations are not shown in the plan, the planning officer will not take any notice.

Now you have to understand why your proposal was refused. There should be a decision notice. Read it, it will tell you why.

You may not feel it is logical, but the job of the planning officer is to enforce policy, not logic.

IF you don't understand, speaking to the planning officer is not a bad thing, but you must be respectful. Do not get emotional about their decision and listen to what they say. Ask questions, but not loaded questions that imply criticism. Many applications are not passed first time, it is not the time to make it confrontational.

Obviously if you have the architect talking to planning leave it to them

So... Can you give us any info into the grounds for refusal?