Neighbour wants to convert garage that is attached to our property

lstar337

nolabels wrote: »

To all those saying labels don't matter: they may not wherever you live, but they do in our area.

I didn't say the labels didn't matter, I said that nothing much is changing. Anybody who looks at the outside will still see a garage. If somebody looks at you house, the only way they will even know is if they a) look in your neighbours too, or b) your neighbours stand in the garden shouting that the garage is fake and they have a sneaky room behind it.

If somebody (such as yourself) can believe that a house that is linked on both sides is truly detached before, then somebody can believe it again.

Now if the neighbour was replacing the garage door with a window that would clearly make both your houses semi's, I could understand your problem. But it sounds as if the neighbour is trying to do you both a favour by trying to keep both your houses link-detached. You think he is being cheap, I think he is trying to preserve the nature of both your houses.

Your neighbour seems like a very decent person, you could do a lot worse! Just look at what some of the people on this very forum have to put up with!!

lstar337

Loanranger wrote: »

I think that you should explain to the neighbour that he will devalue HIS property by making HIS house a semi.
This may make him realise he needs to build his own wall for his extension and have clear air between the two properties.

I think you should simply ask that he consider internal insulation (minimum 100mm, 150mm+ would be better) to help with noise transfer to and from your house.

nolabels

uselessaver wrote: »

I have to say that 2.5m is a very small space; no wonder he doesn't want to put in a new extra wall, taking even more off his intended new room. I would certainly object to his plans given what you've said about the impact of noise - washing machine vibration? No thank-you!

Exactly, thank you!!
Yes, 2.5m is not a lot of space but even a narrow extension can be made super functional (perhaps they should hire me to design the space for them ). We wouldn't even mind if they built their own wall very close to our house as there are products that can effectively seal a narrow gap between two buildings without having to cut into or permanently fix to either building in order to weather proof the gap.

nolabels

Loanranger wrote: »

I think that you should explain to the neighbour that he will devalue HIS property by making HIS house a semi.
This may make him realise he needs to build his own wall for his extension and have clear air between the two properties.

Yes we've put this point across to him for consideration. Really hoping he sees sense beyond wanting to simply get his extension up on the cheap at the expense of our house values!

EssexExile

The more I read this thread, the less I understand.

The main complaint seems to be about property value, but the OP is talking about building their own extension sometime in the future.This suggests that they don't intend selling anytime soon, so value will be irrelevant for some considerable time. Lots can happen in that time to change the property value more than the described works.

A secondary complaint is noise. Noisy goings on occur in garages as well as rooms, I listed several earlier.

By all means if you can persuade the neighbour to build what you want rather than what he wants, then well done. I just wouldn't get too excited about it.

wellused

So he builds a new room where his garage used to be and then he's going to want to fix a tv to your wall or spotlights and switches where your wall has to be channeled out for wiring, a picture or two, surely he won't want to be looking at a blank wall in his new extension where he didn’t have to build a wall?

Muds1

does his garage touches your House wall ? or your garage wall ?
if its your house I am afraid you are not living in detached anyway and your neighbour can do whatever he wants to inside. you can complain if they are noisy but I don't think you got much to fight about.

lstar337

Muds1 wrote: »

does his garage touches your House wall ? or your garage wall ?

Shown previously:

nolabels wrote: »

Muds1 wrote: »

if its your house I am afraid you are not living in detached anyway and your neighbour can do whatever he wants to inside. you can complain if they are noisy but I don't think you got much to fight about.

I agree, link detached is the best you can claim.