Housing Association - Garden

GibbsRule_No3

Just over a year ago I moved in to a little Close that has twelve single storey "bungalows" you need to be over 55 to rent them and they are one bedroom. They are in groups of three, though only mine and my two neighbours are not linked to the other nine. The middle of the Close is where all the cars are parked, so Tarmac. Outside each front door is a little garden area. My living room window looks out onto a fence at the back, with a public path behind that and between the fence and living room window a garden area, that was very over grown when I was shown the property and told by the lady showing it to me "this is your garden", sister and friend are keen gardeners, so were really pleased, me at the time not so much but I'm coming round. Here is the rub, the only door in the property is the front door that leads out to the front and car park, so to get to the garden you have to walk round the block. The gentleman next door has his bit of garden and even a small conservatory, so a door out onto his garden, the lady across the way, has a stable door onto her garden and the gentleman behind her also has a door, two other neighbours that have marked off gardens also have doors, so at present five out of the twelve have doors. I waited the year for my assured tenancy to be confirmed and have applied to put a door in from my kitchen, onto "my garden" at my expense with full planning, building regulations. When the housing association surveyor came to see it he tells me I won't be able to have one, as the entire site is "communal" and you are not allowed a door to open onto "communal" areas. When I asked about the five people that already have doors he dismissed my question, with a "perhaps you can ask if they got permission?". Three of the neighbours are over eighty and the other two have not been in very long, maybe five years at most. So I doubt that they all just put doors in. I pointed out that the door would also make the property safer in a fire, as all the windows are top opening, with so called safety latches that you need two thumbs on either side of the window to open. If people wanted to walk behind my bungalow I would have no objections but like the properties behind mine, that also border the public path, over the fence, no one would really want to they don't lead anywhere. The HA gardeners do not maintain those areas, they just sweep the Tarmac and cut the grass as you enter the Close and the drying area. Has anyone come across this "communal door" regulation?

pmlindyloo

GibbsRule_No3 wrote: »

Just over a year ago I moved in to a little Close that has twelve single storey "bungalows" you need to be over 55 to rent them and they are one bedroom. They are in groups of three, though only mine and my two neighbours are not linked to the other nine. The middle of the Close is where all the cars are parked, so Tarmac. Outside each front door is a little garden area. My living room window looks out onto a fence at the back, with a public path behind that and between the fence and living room window a garden area, that was very over grown when I was shown the property and told by the lady showing it to me "this is your garden", sister and friend are keen gardeners, so were really pleased, me at the time not so much but I'm coming round. Here is the rub, the only door in the property is the front door that leads out to the front and car park, so to get to the garden you have to walk round the block. The gentleman next door has his bit of garden and even a small conservatory, so a door out onto his garden, the lady across the way, has a stable door onto her garden and the gentleman behind her also has a door, two other neighbours that have marked off gardens also have doors, so at present five out of the twelve have doors. I waited the year for my assured tenancy to be confirmed and have applied to put a door in from my kitchen, onto "my garden" at my expense with full planning, building regulations. When the housing association surveyor came to see it he tells me I won't be able to have one, as the entire site is "communal" and you are not allowed a door to open onto "communal" areas. When I asked about the five people that already have doors he dismissed my question, with a "perhaps you can ask if they got permission?". Three of the neighbours are over eighty and the other two have not been in very long, maybe five years at most. So I doubt that they all just put doors in. I pointed out that the door would also make the property safer in a fire, as all the windows are top opening, with so called safety latches that you need two thumbs on either side of the window to open. If people wanted to walk behind my bungalow I would have no objections but like the properties behind mine, that also border the public path, over the fence, no one would really want to they don't lead anywhere. The HA gardeners do not maintain those areas, they just sweep the Tarmac and cut the grass as you enter the Close and the drying area. Has anyone come across this "communal door" regulation?

The first thing to do is check your tenancy agreement and see what it says about communal gardens and whether you have a private garden or not.

Secondly, the neighbours may have had the doors fitted because of fire regulations so it may be worth exploring this route by asking your HA for a fire risk assessment by their fire safety officer.

eddddy

GibbsRule_No3 wrote: »

When I asked about the five people that already have doors he dismissed my question, with a "perhaps you can ask if they got permission?".

I think the HA surveyor was suggesting that those 5 people don't have permission.

So either the HA is 'turning a blind eye' (in which case they might 'turn a blind eye' if you installed a door)...

...or now that you've brought those 5 people to the HA's surveyor's attention, they may be told that they must remove those doors.

Or is it possible that those 5 people have bought their homes? If so, the HA may not have as many rights to restrict alterations.

GibbsRule_No3

eddddy wrote: »

I think the HA surveyor was suggesting that those 5 people don't have permission.

So either the HA is 'turning a blind eye' (in which case they might 'turn a blind eye' if you installed a door)...

...or now that you've brought those 5 people to the HA's surveyor's attention, they may be told that they must remove those doors.

Or is it possible that those 5 people have bought their homes? If so, the HA may not have as many rights to restrict alterations.

No one is allowed to buy, they are age related lets. I'm sure he was suggesting they had not got permission but I would think that at their ages not all of them would have put them in without permission, just hope I'm right, because if I am I will be allowed. He was going back to check the "communal part". Because of the ages of the residents, an extra door as a fire escape is probably a necessity. So if they are told to take them out I'm sure that is what they will stress, especially as the 2nd most recent person, before me, was shown the bungalow in its fire damaged state, there had been a fire in the kitchen. She told me that she could at least see how nice it would be after the decorating was done for her, so I wondered if that was when her door was installed, after the old renter moved out and before she moved in. The lady from the HA, when showing us the garden, had a conversation with my sister, who noticed the conservatory right away, and said she hoped he had asked for permission. So she knew about that over a year ago and nothing has been done. It is after all a bit difficult to hide an extra door or conservatory. 😉

Norman_Castle

Ask your neighbors about their doors and who fitted them and with what permissions. Have the properties with marked gardens taken over part of the communal garden, if so is there an area which could be considered yours without complaint from the other residents. If this overgrown area was defined as your garden and maintained by you it could benefit everyone.
Your tenancy agreement may state if the garden is communal or yours.