Next door's conservatory...

ruby-roo_2

Andypandyboy wrote: »

Not an echo, but clearly someone who cant read a sentence and deduce the stress on the word will?;)

Where have I been confrontational? You on the other hand....

You seem to think that marching round and in your words "telling" them rather than my plan to "discuss it" (albeit at different points in time) shows you to be more reasonable.

Again, I think we differ. I do agree that one of us is wrong though.:D

Making an effort to inform neighbours by telling them of your plans in advance of starting anything, gives them the chance to raise concerns with you and to talk things over. 9/10 you can put their minds at rest or agree on small compromises if needed. It doesn't come down to being heavy handed and disregarding them, but shows respect and manners.

Andypandyboy

Dan-Dan wrote: »

Andy , what is your thoughts on the OP being bold enough to phone building control about it , but not to have a chat about it face to face with the neighbour concerned?

Does not sit well from where i am (or for the potential neighbour), personally

Phoning for guidance from building control is a wise thing to do. What point is there mooting a course of action with the neighbour or starting one which is not permitted? Regardless of which tack the OP chooses with regard to involving the neighbours she now knows what she is allowed to do. That doesn't mean she is going to do it.

MrsFingersCrossed

All very interesting. Thank you all for your opinions. Fivetide - earlier in the thread I did actually thank everyone even though we wouldn't necessarily be acting on their advice.


We will speak to our neighbours, of course we will. We are friendly, sociable, reasonable (not passive-aggressive!) people. But we won't be bothering them with some hypothetical situation when we haven't even exchanged contracts.


We rang the planning office to find out what we are allowed to do, as advised by our solicitor and surely what any sensible person would do before paying hundreds of thousands for a new home.


The day after we've moved we will pop round and say hello, to both our immediate neighbours and maybe the people opposite as well. By that time I expect the plants in pots and potting bench we're taking will be standing on our patio. Those neighbours will see shapes and shadows new on our side and realise that a family has moved in. That's the way things will be - a normal, family home, with hubub and fresh life going on. Life will be different for both neighbours who for a long time have had an empty house between them.


Sidefx, I imagine at the moment they hop over the wall to clean their windows on our side. I relayed what Planning said because I found it so extraordinary.

moneyistooshorttomention

Fingers crossed it will all work out well anyway.

My feeling would be they quite likely have been used to just doing a "hop over the wall" to clean the other side of their conservatory windows.

I know my nfh had clearly been used to just coming into my garden without bothering to even ask permission of the house-owner - and I was shocked to find that she expected to carry right on coming and going on my property without bothering to ask my permission for anything
- well she did.....:cool:.

It soon had to be made plain that I expected "standard practice" - ie being asked.

Kathy535

The situation you are describing sounds much like mine. In my case, I live in the house with the conservatory with frosted glass looking out onto the neighbours' side. The told us they were putting up a fence the night before they did it, which I was a bit miffed about because, while I completely understood their desire for more privacy I was worried about the light issue and would have preferred that they put up trellis as a half way measure (did ask, they said no). However, while we did lose some light, the advantages not feeling overlooked ourselves have massively outweighed the slight disadvantages and I'm glad they did it (although I am wondering how to dig out a large weed/tree thing that is growing between the conservatory and their fence!). We soon got used to a frosted fence panel as a view! Ironically, we'd been considering offering to go halves with them on some fencing, had they told us sooner they could have halved both their costs and their workload.

Discuss it with them, they may not mind at all!

MrsFingersCrossed

Thanks, Kathy - that is great to know.

Davesnave

I haven't read this thread in depth, but it seems to me that a bit of compromise all round would result in a better property for both neighbour/potential owner.

The conservatory wall, whether it's made of glass or cream cheese, is a party wall, which the OP has the right to build up to if they buy, but rights and practicalities of the situation are different things.

For this reason, a conversation with the neighbour is needed, now.

You only have to look at this forum to see that some people are very capable of initiating that conversation, or of receiving it graciously, with due consideration, while others may be less skilled or open-minded. There's therefore no sure way to know where the conversation will go, or what the outcome could be, but by having it, the OP will be in a much clearer place to make a decision.

The physical job of changing things to the eventual benefit of both parties is likely a simple one, but if I were the OP, I'd be expecting to pay for it.

MrsFingersCrossed

We absolutely would expect to pay for whatever changes we might (or might not) make to our garden. Where we are now we offered to pay for and did the actual manual work of replacing our next door neighbour's fence which was falling down. He didn't mind it covered in ivy and falling down, (he's not a gardener) but we didn't like the way it looked and it was collapsing into our flowerbeds, so we offered and were happy to replace at our cost. He was a friend before and he is still a friend now.

System

Davesnave wrote: »

The conservatory wall, whether it's made of glass or cream cheese, is a party wall, .

It is NOT a party wall. Unless I have misread the OP then the wall abuts the boundary I.E. the whole structure is completely on the neighbours property tight to the boundary. This does not make it a party wall.

However the Party Wall Act may come in to force for any work required on the boundary due to the closeness of the building.

MrsFingersCrossed

Correct, !!!!!!. We hope to put a pergola there, projecting out from our rear wall / patio doors, set a few inches inside the boundary so the posts won't disrupt neighbour's conservatory foundations.