New build Driveway Regulations

Bradders7104

Hi,

I am looking for some advice with regards to our driveway.

It is a 2 car driveway that is walled in by the side of our house one side and then a built up wall topped with a fence on the other. The problem we have is that when we have two cars on the drive we can’t open the doors on both sides of the car.

Along with this, we have about another metre or land across from the wall that is within our perimeter but has been “given” to our neighbour. The land is on a different level and has been completely separated from our plot by the wall with fence. This being the case our neighbour has actually dug up the land and had further work done. Fortunately, we get on well and he has agreed that it is ours and that we can have it back but we are still with the problem that it has been separated by the level of land and wall.

I have approached Lovell the house builder who returned one email saying that they have constructed the wall “in accordance with approved drawings”. They have then ignored my follow up emails.

Can anybody help with how and who I complain to so that I can try to move this on?

Thanks in advance

moneyistooshorttomention

Bradders7104 wrote: »

Hi,



Along with this, we have about another metre or land across from the wall that is within our perimeter but has been “given” to our neighbour. The land is on a different level and has been completely separated from our plot by the wall with fence. This being the case our neighbour has actually dug up the land and had further work done. Fortunately, we get on well and he has agreed that it is ours and that we can have it back but we are still with the problem that it has been separated by the level of land and wall.

Thanks in advance

Re the current neighbour "agreeing it is ours and that we can have it back" - it would be just as well to protect yourself by getting something in writing signed by him to that effect.

a. In case he didn't really mean it himself or changed his mind in the future.

b. Because it won't always be him in that house. A new owner of that house might try and grab the land or maybe even honestly think it was theirs.

EachPenny

Bradders7104 wrote: »

I have approached Lovell the house builder who returned one email saying that they have constructed the wall “in accordance with approved drawings”. They have then ignored my follow up emails.

Can anybody help with how and who I complain to so that I can try to move this on?

The local council will specify the minimum size for a car parking space (you'll probably find it in the planning consent documents for the development). Provided that the developer has met this requirement then it is a case of 'buyer beware'... unless your contract with them specifies the exact size of this area and it hasn't been built in accordance with that specification.

Don't assume that a minimum-sized parking space will be sufficiently large to fully open the doors of all cars.

Unless any of the points above apply then the only advice is to make sure when you move next time that you measure the driveway before committing to purchase.

Davesnave

If the land seperated by the wall from the rest of your plot is included within the red line on your title plan, your neighbour has no right to be doing anything to it. He cannot agree to give it back, because he has never had it. It doesn't sound like enough time has elapsed for him to claim adverse possession, so you have no worries there and you don't need anything in writing. You can just get on with doing whatever you want to do with the land within the constraints of covenants in your title documents.


However, I don't understand why you want to complain. If this land is as shown on the original drawings submitted by the builder, on your title plan, and in existence when you bought the house, what do you have to complain about?

G_M

So let me get this straight:

On your land, there is a wall that you don't like or want, and which divides you from another piece of your land.

Correct?

So why do you not simply remove the wall? It's on your land. It's yours. Your neighbour has made noclaim on it. Indeed he agrees the wall is notonly on your land but the land beyond the wall (on his side that is) is also yours.

So what is stopping you? Money? For £12.......


the sledgehammer is £12, not the girl.....

Bradders7104

Unfortunately we couldn’t measure as we bought off plan so their was no physical house or drive to view. Looking down the street our house was built a year after and was built differently as nobody else has a wall and this is what we were told to base the view of our house on.

The plot on paper is sufficiently bigger than what we have and looks more of a case of the builder doing the cheapest thing and instead of raising the land or even sloping it they just built a wall to cover the drop.

Bradders7104

I don’t see why I should have to pay a substantial sum of money to remove the wall and raise the land to be able to use my driveway properly.

Should this not be the builders responsibility to at least do some of this work?

AdrianC

How does your plot differ from the plans that you saw before agreeing to buy?

Is the drive a different size? Was the wall not there?
At what stage did you first have an opportunity to see the driveway laid out on the plot?

mrschaucer

Bradders7104 wrote: »

The plot on paper is sufficiently bigger than what we have and looks more of a case of the builder doing the cheapest thing and instead of raising the land or even sloping it they just built a wall to cover the drop.

Yes but it's now YOUR wall and YOUR drop, so instead of practically gifting it to your neighbour to do whatever he likes, get proactive, deal with the slope and enjoy all of YOUR garden.

Davesnave

Bradders7104 wrote: »

n.
The plot on paper is sufficiently bigger than what we have and looks more of a case of the builder doing the cheapest thing and instead of raising the land or even sloping it they just built a wall to cover the drop.

The only paper which matters in law is the title document and I'm sure its simpler and cheaper to provide a slope,rather than a wall+fence, as a wall needs foundations too. Perhaps there's a reason for not abutting the neighbour directly with a wall?(disposal of groundwater run-off for example.)

We have seen the sort of arrangement you describe before in these pages, admittedly without a gradient, so it's probably not uncommon. I think its the gradient that is the real issue for you here.

davidmcn

Bradders7104 wrote: »

Should this not be the builders responsibility to at least do some of this work?

Read your contract. Have the builders done anything other than deliver what they were meant to in terms of the contract?