Neighbour's Extension Changed Approved Design

PTRB7

Hi,

My neighbour is currently building a very large extension to their house (over doubling the size). We both have detached houses but their house is at a slightly higher level (approx. 2 feet higher) to ours therefore meaning that the extension to the side and back is coming close towards our back garden border at a higher level. 
When we received the planning permission letter I checked the drawings and there was 1 large window and 1 small windows on the lower floor and none on the 1st floor on our side so I decided not to query this as this felt fine as the small window is the closest to our patio but with it being small it is less intrusive .
Their design was approved and they are now building the extension and will move in once complete. 
As they are building the blockwork up i have noticed that they have built 2 large windows on this elevation, in which one of them is directly pointing at my patio and as they are 2 feet higher than us they can also see easily over the fence. This room will be their living room and I feel as though i will not have privacy when i walk out my back door. 
- Firstly, are they allowed to just change the approved design? I have checked the planning portal and there have been no amendments? 
- Secondly, what can I do about this without causing issues with our brand new neighbours before they have even moved in?
I spoke to them about it as thought this would be more neighbourly than calling planning or anyone. They have only just started doing the blockwork and he was suggesting they put a trellis on the top of my fence, but this doesn't feel adequate and enough to me. Would appreciate any guidance please. Thank you.

ElephantBoy57

PTRB7 said:
I spoke to them about it as thought this would be more neighbourly than calling planning or anyone. They have only just started doing the blockwork and he was suggesting they put a trellis on the top of my fence, but this doesn't feel adequate and enough to me. Would appreciate any guidance please. Thank you.

If it is not approved by planning, you could say that you will be doing them a favour if you inform planning, because when they come to sell it in the future, it will be a problem for them.

sew_what

Has the panning permission been granted for obscured glass facing your house if it's near the boundary?
I'd speak to them again to be clear of their intentions - and gently point out that their builder has strayed from the plans that you thought were OK, but you don't feel comfortable being over looked.  Time for more tea & cake!

Doozergirl

Photos, please.  

Mistral001

If they are not building in accordance with planning permission, they could not only have trouble selling the house, but might be ordered to partially demolish the building and rebuild it, or face a criminal proscecution.

Doozergirl

Mistral001 said:

If they are not building in accordance with planning permission, they could not only have trouble selling the house, but might be ordered to partially demolish the building and rebuild it, or face a criminal proscecution.

Wildy optimistic (if you're the one not liking what they see). Fifteen years on this forum, not seen any evidence of any of those things happening to anyone.  

The reality is that they'll demand obscured glass if the window is on a side elevation.  

Davesnave

If you aren't comfortable and it's a deviation from the plan you were happy with, now's the time to make that crystal clear. It's unlikely they'll want to alter anything, but it's unlikely you'll be happy with a bit of trellis either, so this is where negotiation happens.

How much leverage you'll have is impossible to say, especially without a picture, but if there's scope for a large window, there may be scope for you to have a tree. If there is, you can discuss the species with them, or there's the council and obscure glass.

Everyone still has choices.

sgun

If you are going to go back to the planning department its important to get on to them immediately - this happened to my sister and by the time the planning officer had come out he said it was too late to do anything. Now we all knew that this wasn't strictly true but with planning not prepared to take any action my sister was left with a much larger building overlooking her back door and kitchen vents over her patio. She didn't have a good relationship with the neighbours to begin with (they tried to refuse a party wall surveyor, tried to build over the boundary and put scaffolding in her garden when she was out which they had to remove after they had damaged all the stonework, and they broke her shed with no apology offered) If you have a good relationship then I would really go down the route of being very clear with them where you think they have deviated and what the options are to get it sorted. My sister has put in a row of amelanchier (tree/shrub) but you may not have the space for this option.

PTRB7

Thanks everyone. I was worried that this sort of change to design was actually allowed post planning approval so glad to see that this is not the case! 
So far the relationship with the new neighbour has been 'ok' and reasonably friendly but I do not feel that I can trust him as feel he is only being nice when he wants something!!
I don't want to go down the reporting route unless i need to as don't want to start off on the wrong foot with them, maybe I need to suggest and be clear that I want obscure glass in that window at a minimum as @Doozergirl and @Davesnave suggested. I definitely don't want to experience what your sister has been through @sgun !!!!
Unfortunately I have no scope to plant anything like a tree along that line as it is patio on my side and their window is only 1.5m from the fence line so not really enough space for them to plant anything of a decent height either.

sgun

PTRB7 said:

Thanks everyone. I was worried that this sort of change to design was actually allowed post planning approval so glad to see that this is not the case! 
So far the relationship with the new neighbour has been 'ok' and reasonably friendly but I do not feel that I can trust him as feel he is only being nice when he wants something!!
I don't want to go down the reporting route unless i need to as don't want to start off on the wrong foot with them, maybe I need to suggest and be clear that I want obscure glass in that window at a minimum as @Doozergirl and @Davesnave suggested. I definitely don't want to experience what your sister has been through @sgun !!!!
Unfortunately I have no scope to plant anything like a tree along that line as it is patio on my side and their window is only 1.5m from the fence line so not really enough space for them to plant anything of a decent height either.

You know, she is kind of ok with it now. The extension is up, she has her trees, future purchasers of her house probably wont even notice the enormous size of the extension. She did end up refusing them access so they had to do a build over which means the brickwork and pointing is appalling and the builders have done something weird with the side of the roof which means they have a damp patch all down their side wall and haven't asked her if they can scaffold up to try and fix (which she would be happy for them to do if they asked first). Now, I'm definitely a "sort it through talking" type but in this situation it just wasn't possible. When her neighbours had Covid a few weeks back they sat right next to sisters fence and coughed loudly for days on end - these sorts of disputes never go away so sort it amicably if you can. 

Mistral001

Doozergirl said:

Mistral001 said:

If they are not building in accordance with planning permission, they could not only have trouble selling the house, but might be ordered to partially demolish the building and rebuild it, or face a criminal proscecution.

Wildy optimistic (if you're the one not liking what they see). Fifteen years on this forum, not seen any evidence of any of those things happening to anyone.  

The reality is that they'll demand obscured glass if the window is on a side elevation.  

The breach seems to be more than just a few extra windows facing the the OP's property.  The exention has doubled in size and is also higher.  The criminal courts frequently deal with people who have breached planning permission, even though offenders might not frequent this forum.