Neighbour's Extension

Samsonite1

We recently bought a house which is perfect for our needs - main reason for moving was to be near good schools as we were not well-placed before. We had to move before the end of the year too.

One thing that came up on our survey was a question about whether or not the neighbours had planning permission to build their garage/extension as it is about 1 inch from our outside wall. We did notice this when we viewed it and thought it was a shame, but as it was single storey and other houses on the road seemed to have done the same, we thought it was not enough to put us off. We did not want to persue the issue further as we wanted the house and location anyway.

Slightly stranger than having the neighbours butting up against our house is the fact that the facade for their garage actually goes into our property by a few inches (about 6 inches), while the wall of their garage runs along the boundary and inch away from our outside wall.

While none of this really affects us in any way, we still wonder why the neighbours have done what they have done - they must have asked the previous owner permission to build into the front garden you would have thought as it would be quite rude otherwise! One thought on this is that there would be an "ugly" 1 inch gap down the side of the properties, so this bit of facade probably makes it more attractive in a way, then above the extension there is a large gap between the houses. If the neighbours had not been allowed to build so close then the gap would have been alright (e.g. our house has a good 3 foot gap on the other side with a gate and path down the side. The "oversized" neighbours have no access down either side...

Presumably we could find out about planning permission? Having said that, I am not sure what we would do about it anyway - it would not doubt make living next to them awkward if we made them take down a large extension (it is the full length of a large house.

Just wanted thoughts and opinions or if anyone has had something similar. As mentioned, many houses have butted up to one neighbour, but they nearly all have at least one side access.

Thanks

brodawel

Could you extend yours, like a mirror image of theirs?

somethingcorporate

You can check planning permission on a councils website - should be easy enough to find out about.

On the local one applications up to 15 years ago are still visible (I know because I just applied and got PP for an extension and the previous extensions on this house were still visible from 2002/3).

Samsonite1

brodawel wrote: »

Could you extend yours, like a mirror image of theirs?

Not sure - ours is massively extended too. There are about 10 houses in a row which started out as 3 bed detached with wide plots and a garage. Our house knocked down the garage and built a large two-storey extension, but leaving a good sized gap with wide path down the side. The other side (next to aforementioned neighbours) has not been extended as it would be the property boundary. It seems as though the neighbours knocked down their extension and built a slightly smaller two storey extension but crammed in a small garage (not big enough for a vehicle) which comes right up to our property and behind their garage, the extension runs all of the way to the extended back of the house - not sure of construction materials but it has rendering and double glazed patio doors at back, rendering and garage door at the front and a flat roof all the way along.

It would not really be a mirror image as all properties had the same "garage on left, house on right" layout on the plots. But it would have been possible to fit the same extension work in physically.

Samsonite1

Ok, so checked the planning permission - they had two different applications, both approved 10 years ago. No mention of proximity to neighbours just plans to build a single storey extension right next to our house - I guess I have no specific reason to be surprised that this was allowed but when I owned my old detached house 10 years ago - I was told that I could only extend within a certain limit from neighbouring properties, even though on all sides were just gardens. I guess you learn something new every day.

There was no building control certificate - it said "Work Uncomplete" (good spelling there!) under this section.

The overhang of the garage front into our property is not present on their plans as you can imagine, but it probably does look better than having the 1 inch gap visible.

I suppose it is good to know it is above board(ish), but it does seem a shame that councils will grant such extensions without batting an eyelid.

Fuzzyness

Samsonite1 wrote: »

Ok, so checked the planning permission - they had two different applications, both approved 10 years ago. No mention of proximity to neighbours just plans to build a single storey extension right next to our house - I guess I have no specific reason to be surprised that this was allowed but when I owned my old detached house 10 years ago - I was told that I could only extend within a certain limit from neighbouring properties, even though on all sides were just gardens. I guess you learn something new every day.

There was no building control certificate - it said "Work Uncomplete" (good spelling there!) under this section.

The overhang of the garage front into our property is not present on their plans as you can imagine, but it probably does look better than having the 1 inch gap visible.

I suppose it is good to know it is above board(ish), but it does seem a shame that councils will grant such extensions without batting an eyelid.

if both applications were approved there isnt much you can do from a planning perspective as the applications were both considered by the council and ulitmately granted planning permission. the only thing you may have is that they havent built in accordance with their approved plans but for this to have any traction you need to establish when the extension was built. due to the passage of time i'd say you might be out of luck on this front. if you do want to pursue it you'll need to go down a landownership/boundary route which could get messy and would as you allude to make relationships frosty.

in response to your point about not be able to build up to the boundary, permitted development rules (development that doesnt need a planning application) set out how close to a boundary you can build without need planning permission. if you want to build close to a boundary you can apply for planning permission and if granted you can build closer than the permitted development rules would allow.

Samsonite1

Fuzzyness wrote: »

if both applications were approved there isnt much you can do from a planning perspective as the applications were both considered by the council and ulitmately granted planning permission. the only thing you may have is that they havent built in accordance with their approved plans but for this to have any traction you need to establish when the extension was built. due to the passage of time i'd say you might be out of luck on this front. if you do want to pursue it you'll need to go down a landownership/boundary route which could get messy and would as you allude to make relationships frosty.

in response to your point about not be able to build up to the boundary, permitted development rules (development that doesnt need a planning application) set out how close to a boundary you can build without need planning permission. if you want to build close to a boundary you can apply for planning permission and if granted you can build closer than the permitted development rules would allow.

Thanks - if it comes up as a "thing" if/when we sell in 20 years, at least I can say that it as all approved - I could even keep copies of the approval for reference I suppose.

somethingcorporate

It's not your approval anyway - the council would keep records which I am sure any solicitor would be able to get hold of.