neighbour has raised his garden

georgiekent

Morning all
first time posting so hope its in the right place. my garden has a small patio are, then up some stairs to a grassed area which is sloping. 6ft fences on both sides. my neighbour has over the last year leveled his garden up by building three tiers. i hadn't really noticed what he was doing as i travel for work long hours. anyway over the past couple of weeks i have had a chance to see whats going on. now when they stand in the middle of their garden they are at the top of my fence.they have built up by more than 3 feet. looks like i would need fences of at least 10ft for privacy. my questions are,
Should he have got planning permission to build up his garden?
He hasn't put any fences in so the 'construction' is up against my fence so Im presuming this will rot.
im not sure really what to do. i should have spoken to him when he first started but i didn't really get or notice what he was doing.
thanks 

DOH_a

There are works you can carry out under PD that relate to raised decking, etc... up to 300mm but I don’t think that would apply here and is more of an ‘engineering operation’ to which PP would normally be required. That would be my view and if I was in your position, I would get in contact with your LPA to check as well as making them aware.

TheCyclingProgrammer

Are you saying he’s using your wooden fence as a retaining wall (of sorts) for large amounts of soil? If so that’s not going to end well. Or do you mean decking? Can you post a photo?

georgiekent

hi

thanks for the responses. I haven't posted before so taking photos is beyond me at the moment. its not decking he has constructed a large concrete area with steps in the middle. I think he used hard core - its very much a DIY job though does look an ok job. Heard him mention he youtubed how to do it.

I might speak to him and say I am concerned. I feel bad that I have let it go on but I never realised. 

SeaVixen

georgiekent said:

I might speak to him and say I am concerned. I feel bad that I have let it go on but I never realised. 

I don't know enough about this to know your rights, or if the concrete area is likely being supported by your fence.
Just came to say don't feel bad about it - if he is using your fence to support anything, then it would have been courteous at the least for him to have told you beforehand. Even if you are rarely in the property - he could have popped a note through! 

rach_k

You could always mention to him that you're planning to remove your fence (assuming it is yours rather than shared, or his) for painting/repairs/replacement soon.  See what he does/says!

TheCyclingProgrammer

rach_k said:

You could always mention to him that you're planning to remove your fence (assuming it is yours rather than shared, or his) for painting/repairs/replacement soon.  See what he does/says!

OP's next thread..."Neighbour claims my fence belongs to him". 

georgiekent

its my fence - he knows that. I'm more concerned about him raising his garden really - thanks for those who helped anyway 

Davesnave

Raising garden land by more than 0.3m requires planning permission and your neighbour appears not to have obtained  this.. If he has used your fence for support, he has probably created what's known in legal terms as a 'nuisance' as well, since rotting or collapse is likely to follow, as you suggest.

So what to do? My first port of call would be the council's planning department, enquiring anonymously in the first instance to see if they would be likely to do enforcement. For that you will need to be more precise, quantifying the height increase and the approximate time when the work was done. You should also know whether your fence is supplying support. If it were me, I'd be removing a section to determine this.

Going down the official route means you may have to declare a neighbour dispute if you decide to sell, but so will the neighbour, so it's in both of your interests to solve this amicably. Knowing what the council had told me, I'd probably give him a chance to fix this, but I wouldn't hold out too much hope, as there's a lot of material to relocate and work to undo. That's not your fault though and it's entirely your neighbour's responsibility if they've behaved irresponsibly.

georgiekent

thanks for responding. the council will not entertain a conversation without opening an investigation - seems ridiculous as I would like to talk it over with someone. anyway I have written him a letter. he doesn't want to speak to me - cultural differences and invited a conversation. its a massive construction that by the looks of things isn't finished as he has some sort of marble type top still to fit. this is all very difficult for me. I don't really want to upset anyone but just cant leave it and avoid going in my garden

Davesnave

That seems a very fair approach from you. If there are cultural differences, these may well extend to denying the rights of others, including the local authority, to interfere with what's seen as 'private' land. However the planning laws are clear.

I'd give him a week to open dialogue, and then, if there is none, take action. It might be unpleasant, but so is acquiescing to being wronged.