party wall blues, planning for disabled accomadation

autismmum

planning rejected application.

carpetbelly

Before I start ranting, have you chatted to the neighbours about the extension? Have you seen it from their point of view? Don't get me wrong, from what you've written I'd be right with you but obviously there is their side of the equasion we don't know.

Time to rant now

I'm a very stubborn person and if you're happy where you are why should you move.

Firstly the DIY and noise. Make notes of noises, times and dates. Diarise all this. Phone up the environmental health (or whoever it is) each time they make a noise. If they're going to DIY at stupid times then be a pain back if they haven't responded to just being asked to watch what times they do things.

If this is true...

interestingly they bought it for a very knock down price from thier uncle... tax issues there i believe

then I'd be on the phone to the tax office to let them know. If they've got it at a knock down price then who's to say it wasn't in a higher stamp duty tax braket? What about CGT if it was eligible. Too much to think about but I'd definately be on the blower.

mustrum_ridcully

This sounds like a conflict of interest to me. However before making a complaint I'd think carefully about how the petty neighbours will react. I suspect the reaction would be bad, trouble is they might just get worse over time anyway - so you might end up having to move home either way.

SO personally I'd cut and run, I appreciate that it might be disturbing for you and your two boys but I think problem neighbours never get better so it might be better to do it sooner rather than later.

These organisations deal with complaints about council officials.
The Local Government Ombudsmen http://www.lgo.org.uk/
The Standards Board for England (assuming you live in England of course) http://www.standardsboard.gov.uk/

paddy's_mum

Would it be a viable option to sell your current property and buy another in the same village? That way, you'd have less uprooting and disruption but would be free of these idiotic neighbours.

Neighbours from Hell can, and do, make life miserable and you may think it worthwhile to spend a little of your inheritance to be living a more peaceful life.

autismmum

many thanks for your thoughts on this, well yes the easy option is to move, but with one son at a special school and another on a special placement at the college its a triky thing to move out of area

autismmum

oh and i forgot , i have a diagnosis of fybromyalgia, so moving would be pretty awful for me to do. i'd be ill for a few months after .

paddy's_mum

What a sorry situation! I can understand your feelings but, to be honest, you are probably never going "to get on with them" since their animosity and spite is clearly quite deep rooted.

Think further - even if they now changed their tune and wanted to be on a friendlier footing, would you ever truly trust them again? In your shoes, I suspect that I'd want to keep them at arm's length, whatever they did to try to repair the situation.

Given that it is your council who are making suggestions about a loft conversion, I would be inclined to think that through a little more. Can you explore that possibility with them a little further and see just what it is that they propose, and are willing to fund?

I do take your point that it is a much higher amount of taxpayers' money, but I am also quite sure that it would cost much, much more if you were not caring for the children. Looked at from that point of view, your council may well feel that to help you towards providing the accommodation needed is actually a very sensible investment and probably a potentially huge saving for them.

Remember all those taxes and rates you and I paid? This is exactly what they are for! Good luck.

autismmum

i think you may well be right, thanks

carpetbelly

Let us know how it goes, I've got a younger brother who's autistic to so know exactly the noises they can make. Good luck with it all and dont let the small minded people put you down.

autismmum

the neighbours would appoint their own surveyor, .

autismmum

all sorted now developement starts april, thanks all XXXXX