Boundary issue

Ehwhat

Hi All,

First posting here so a little nervous.

I used to live in one of a pair of semi-detached houses, this changed when my neighbour converted their's into two one bed flats. They still live in the ground floor flat, the upstairs flat they have just sold. They had permission to do this and to put a large extension at the rear of the ground floor flat. This extension is approximately 30% of the floor area of the flat.

Last week when I was away from my home, my neighbour took the opportunity to install between the side of their extension and the fence line between the properties the framework for an external store. They forgot to mention this prior to me going away and it isn't the first time that they have forgotten something like that. The framework is wooden and attached to their extension and one of the roof trusses is resting against my house. The structure is some 9ft high and it is built to the fence line, but the fence line is wrong and when I saw them this evening they admitted this and said that the true boundary is some 3-4inches towards their extension. They also said that it is due to be clad in corrugated roofing plastic both side and roof, with the roof tapering back towards the houses! Both large uprights and a roof truss are in what should be my garden.

I am not best pleased about this and I have politely spoken to them this evening. I have arrange to meet them and their builder on Monday, I have said that it will need adjusting to say the least, but what applies here? Planning permission for example. Does anyone have any helpful words of advice?

I will be digging out the deeds asap.

Many thanks
Ehwhat?

TBeckett100

Unless your other half moans about a missing few inches, perhaps you should avoid the conflict for what really is a small piece of land. as I say to the wife, it isn't the size, it's how best you use it.

moneyistooshorttomention

The thing is this isn't the first time they've done something like this and they've picked the stereotypical timing for "grabbing a bit" (ie when the person concerned is on holiday).

If nothing got said this time either - then how many more times are they going to go in for try-ons?

maddermanblue1_2

How far does taking inch by inch of land take before you deem necessary to take action?

I'd say it stops now and you want those inches back with no compromise. It may sound petty but where does it end?

It might not be a problem now but when you come to sell, it may well be.

I'd get the council to have a nose around.

Also I'm not sure if any structures should rest on your house walls (roofing structures can be very heavy) as it may cause problems in the future as the new roofing structures could be pushing in your wall that holds the house up, walls are designed for heavy structures like the roof to be rested on from the top not sideways unless these walls are reinforced. Just saying.

moneyistooshorttomention

I couldn't understand why my nfh was being an "incher" (ie trying and trying to make out that literally inches of the side of my garden is hers).

I then sat down and thought through exactly how much she seemed to be after, as far as I could work out (which was all a bit vague) and asked myself not so much what she would gain from "grabbing a bit" of mine - but what I would lose if she managed it. Because I've got my garden shed bang up against our boundary - it turned out that even a few inches getting "whipped" would have involved me in quite a noticeable bit of hassle and expense to accommodate the theft - ie having to demolish my shed and lose hundreds of £s.

I came to the conclusion that it wasn't so much about a few inches she wouldn't even have any use for - it was about control and being able to re-arrange my garden to suit herself (rather than me:cool:).

Doozergirl

maddermanblue1 wrote: »

How far does taking inch by inch of land take before you deem necessary to take action?

I'd say it stops now and you want those inches back with no compromise. It may sound petty but where does it end?

It might not be a problem now but when you come to sell, it may well be.

I'd get the council to have a nose around.

Also I'm not sure if any structures should rest on your house walls (roofing structures can be very heavy) as it may cause problems in the future as the new roofing structures could be pushing in your wall that holds the house up, walls are designed for heavy structures like the roof to be rested on from the top not sideways unless these walls are reinforced. Just saying.

It's going to be a lean to with a plastic roof. You'd put more stress on the wall by leaning against it yourself!

OP, Google the planning portal for requirements for outbuildings before even considering phoning the council about planning and building control. It sounds like permitted development to me.

It also sounds like you're meetig the builder for him to move the frame over to a better position.

kaya

So work out what your land costs per sq ft and size it down to fit the land they have "grabbed" , give them a bill and tell them to get their solicitor busy on the paperwork to pay you for the land they wish to purchase and use or move their structure , even if it's only a few hundred quid they will get the point, any questions just say "well I only want to be fair" to them

Doozergirl

kaya wrote: »

So work out what your land costs per sq ft and size it down to fit the land they have "grabbed" , give them a bill and tell them to get their solicitor busy on the paperwork to pay you for the land they wish to purchase and use or move their structure , even if it's only a few hundred quid they will get the point, any questions just say "well I only want to be fair" to them

Really?

Some of the 'advice' here is terrible.

moneyistooshorttomention

It seemed quite logical to me to do that bill scenario. I took it that they wouldn't want to buy this smidgen of land and would backtrack if they received it and not try to acquire any more land from OP.

It seemed like one possible strategy to me.

Doozergirl

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

It seemed quite logical to me to do that bill scenario. I took it that they wouldn't want to buy this smidgen of land and would backtrack if they received it and not try to acquire any more land from OP.

It seemed like one possible strategy to me.

That doesn't surprise me.

The probable reality is that the builder was told to 'put it there' and no one has really thought about making sure it was 3-4 inches from the boundary.

*most* people don't do things maliciously.

The neighbours aren't disputing the boundary, in all reality they can all meet pleasantly meet with the builder, ask them to move it a few inches and that will be that.

Being passive aggressive, drawing wild conclusions and starting mind games is only going to end one way.

The best way to deal with anything is like a responsible grown up. Behave like it was a genuine mistake and it will be dealt with like that.

I have given a pointer for planning and building regs and suggests the OP looks at that too.

Ehwhat

Hello All,

Many thanks for the replies. They are all appreciated. I will be phoning the local planning dept. tomorrow and meeting with the builder.
Today I have overheard my neighbour telling their family that the structure will be completed tomorrow, and that I had been in their words 'whinging' about it. It is good to know that they are taking it seriously. I rather suspect that this could drag on.

Regards
Ehwhat