Neighbour wants to build an extension, what are my rights?

clairebear1976

Hi all. I hope everyone is keeping well and safe.
My next door neighbour, who I have a very good relationship with, has told me over the weekend that they are planning on building an extension, starting in the next couple of weeks. The gentleman next door is a very good handyman and it seems that he is planning on doing the work himself. 

This put me a little bit on edge, even though I couldn’t put my finger on why. 

It will be a single story extension (we live in adjoining semi detached bungalows), and around half the width of the house so no need for planning permission as I understand it. The issue of the party wall agreement is bothering me. I’m worrying that any digging and laying foundations could affect my property. The planned extension won’t start at our adjoining wall but around 18 inches onto their property. Is this still close enough that they will need to gain a party wall agreement, even though it is 18 inches onto their property and not on the actual boundary or butting up against the joining wall?

03022242

Party wall matters are notoriously expensive if you want to get surveyors involved, it will cost you.. it sounds to me that 450mm is enough for it not be an issue, however just make sure they are satisfying building regulations

DOH_a

The PWA is not related to or cannot be enforced by Planning or Building Regulations. It is up to the person carrying out the works to ascertain whether or not the proposals are notifiable. If you as the adjoining owner would like clarification on that, this flow chart should help.

clairebear1976

Thank for the replies everyone. That flow chart looks kinda complicated! But I guess the gist is it’s only really a problem if they’re going to go deeper than the existing foundations and party wall agreements can be a bit of a faff and expensive. Is that right? As there have been no official plans drawn up I don’t know how deep he’s planning to go but I’ll have a chat with him later today. 

He’s told me 18 inches from the boundary is where the extension is starting but I think he’s used the fence between us as that boundary whereas I was looking yesterday and I’ve noticed that the fence isn’t in line with the actual party wall between the two properties. The fence sits around 4 inches on my side of the divide. That doesn’t sound like a good start! That means they’re going to have to lose a bit of width from the extension or it’ll be even closer to our border. From a building point of view what’s the closest they could build to my property and it not risk any damage? If they want to keep the dimensions as they are I think it’ll be more like 12 inches from the border.

unforeseen

. The fence sits around 4 inches on my side of the divide. 

How long has a fence been in that position? It could now be considered the boundary. 

clairebear1976

Ooh, probably since the houses were built so around 25 years. I’m not massively bothered about where the border is, we do get on really well and I’m confident even if the border is the party wall it’ll still be on their side. I’m just really nervous about them digging down for foundations that close to my property. I can’t really explain why. I’ve been awake a lot of the night thinking about it and imagining cracks appearing in my walls! Probably unfounded, I know, but one thing I’ve become good at during lockdown is worrying lol! 

leew

Hi Clairebear1976, 
I am no expect - in fact we are going through a very similar thing and we like you are worried sick that cracks/damp etc may appear sometime after the extension is completed.
I will be posting my own thread on this so I won't hijack yours but all I'd say is possibly get it in writing that the neighbour will put right any damage caused by the extension, It will be cheaper that way than involving a surveyor although the costs are your neighbours as they are doing the works.

Good luck. 

clairebear1976

Leew 
Thanks for that. It’ll be interesting to see how yours progresses too. I’m going to have a chat with them later and maybe suggest what you said about a written guarantee. 

Glad to know I’m not the only one worried when these sort of things are proposed. I think I may be ok with regards to damp as the extension is going to be from the rear face of their house rather than the actual party wall but I am a bit worried about cracks. This is the first time a neighbour has suggested building anything like this this close to my house and it’s got me very on edge.
Good luck with yours too, I’ll try and find your thread so I can follow it 😊

clairebear1976

Leew 
I’ve just had a look through your thread, I’d say yours definitely needed a party wall agreement in place! My layout is different in that the rear face of the two bungalows is still in line so any extension next door build will just come out at a right angle from their side of the party wall. I’m wondering if it’s close enough that they need to reach a party wall agreement or, if the foundations aren’t going to be that deep, we don’t need to do that. Also, I’m not sure how to bring the subject of building control up with them. I had a very quick word with the lady next door yesterday (after she got me some shopping!) and mentioned it very quickly and she said they didn’t need to do that. I’m not so sure though. There are no exceptions from building control due to size of the structure are there?

DOH_a

So their extension will actually be projecting away and to the rear of the existing wall as opposed to the side, which would normally trigger the PWA? Do you have a drawing or photo of the proposals?