Neighbour Consultation Objection

niranhopper

My neighbour was planning a 6m rear extension and had applied for permitted development. There was neighbour's consultation and I had objected to the plans and the council rejected his application. Later he talked with me politely and said that he will alter the plans to be 4m on my attached end and 6m on the detached one. It seems an amicable solution and he reapplied with the new plans reflected on his application in the planing portal.

Now having been granted the permissions, he is indicating his intentions to build 6m on my end which I had previously objected. I contacted the council and they are telling me that he has the right to do it although his application contained a different plan. The plan on his application is not relevant. I feel i have been tricked by my neighbour. The council seems to understand my situation but they cant do anything to stop him.

I urgently need advice on what to do. He also has plans to build another 6m rear outbuilding and it is going to end up with a long wall on one side of my property which is unsightly.

moneyistooshorttomention

1. Do you have his promise to you down in writing?

2. Have you checked whether you could go over the Council's head - Local Government Ombudsman for instance?

Guest101

niranhopper wrote: »

My neighbour was planning a 6m rear extension and had applied for permitted development. There was neighbour's consultation and I had objected to the plans and the council rejected his application. Later he talked with me politely and said that he will alter the plans to be 4m on my attached end and 6m on the detached one. It seems an amicable solution and he reapplied with the new plans reflected on his application in the planing portal.

Now having been granted the permissions, he is indicating his intentions to build 6m on my end which I had previously objected. I contacted the council and they are telling me that he has the right to do it although his application contained a different plan. The plan on his application is not relevant. I feel i have been tricked by my neighbour. The council seems to understand my situation but they cant do anything to stop him.

I urgently need advice on what to do. He also has plans to build another 6m rear outbuilding and it is going to end up with a long wall on one side of my property which is unsightly.

What's there at present?

loveka

Exactly the same happened to me. He said he would do one thing then did another. The council did nothing. It seems the neighbour consultation is a pointless process. My neighbour also didn't apply for a party wall award. Council could not have been less bothered.

The only concession I got was that he agreed to paint the wall white. It has totally ruined my garden.

moneyistooshorttomention

In hindsight Loveka - is there anything you think you would have done differently in those circumstances (ie besides not believing the neighbour in the first place)?

adonis

If the council had rejected the original plans the council should stop him otherwise why reject the application in the first place?

Davesnave

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

In hindsight Loveka - is there anything you think you would have done differently in those circumstances (ie besides not believing the neighbour in the first place)?

Loveka could have taken out private injunction in this circumstance.

It is not for the council to intervene in disputes over land; indeed they lay themselves open to problems if they do.

In a case I've quoted several times before, a neighbour made a claim that my family was beginning to build on his land. The council guy turned up and 'advised' us to stop work and we told him to clear off! He did, because he knew he had no authority to tell us to stop.

Building is expensive. That build was well out of the ground by the time the boundary matter was setttled and the neighbour withdrew his claim, offering no evidence. If we'd stopped on 'advice,' it would have cost thousands.

Davesnave

adonis wrote: »

If the council had rejected the original plans the council should stop him otherwise why reject the application in the first place?

It does seem illogical. The rules for PD changed, so it's possible the first application was made under the old rules and the second under the current ones, but that would involve quite a long time scale.

Neighbour consultation looks rather vague on the Planning Portal. If it's seen as merely mediation, then it could be argued that's happened, but it still doesn't explain the logical inconsistency of the decision making.

Thrugelmir

niranhopper wrote: »

There was neighbour's consultation and I had objected to the plans and the council rejected his application.

Did the Council solely reject due to your objection. Or were there other reasons.

lwhiteman88

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Did the Council solely reject due to your objection. Or were there other reasons.

This is a neighbour consultation application so it would have been refused if a neighbour objected. This falls under permitted development where the government has relaxed the distance to 6m for attached properties and 8m for detached. So this is not an application which is reviewed by the council in terms of loss of light etc unless a neighbour objects.

On the decision notice for the application it should state something like the following:
'The development shall be carried out in accordance with the information that the developer provided to the local planning authority, unless the local planning authority and the developer agree otherwise in writing.'

Strictly speaking if your neighbour is not building according to the drawings then they will not have permission. However in the application form it will have the question 'How far will the proposed extension extend beyond the rear wall of the original dwelling measured externally?' Your neighbour probably answered 6m here and not 4/6m. So again strictly speaking the information they submitted allows them 6m albeit contrary to the drawings.

Under this scheme the extension has to be built by May 2019 and once it has been built the neighbour has to ask the planners to come out and check it has been built according to the drawings (another condition which will be on the decision notice). They MAY then retract the approval but would not likely issue an enforcement notice because it would be too expensive for the council.

All you can really do is explain to them the risks your neighbour is taking (potentially not gaining the approval when they inspect) and hope they agree.

EDIT: The condition of completion is actually a form confirming completion is submitted not about the inspection itself. So there is chance the council may not actually come out to check completion.

Thrugelmir

lwhiteman88 wrote: »

This is a neighbour consultation application so it would have been refused if a neighbour objected.

Surely this would just be a factor in the outcome though. If this was the case nothing would get built at all.