Neighbour changing use of garage

thriftylynny

I am looking to nip this situation in the bud before it escalates & hope someone may have some advice.....situation is we live in a small mid terraced house, my next door neighbour's detached tandem length garage runs halfway length ways along the bottom of our 30ft garden ,the wall of which is directly at the bottom of our garden as a boundary, the other half of their garage runs length ways at the end of their garden similarly with a dividing fence boundary in between our gardens, their is an access side door to their garage on their side but no window or anything on our side , just brick wall. Last week my neighbour casually dropped into the conversation over the fence that their adult son would be moving back in with them & that they would be converting their garage into some form of.living accommodation for him . Before we could think over this, during the last couple of days they have moved very quickly & have already started clearing out their garage & it looks as if a family friend who is into property maintenance will be possibly carrying out the works as his van has been outside , no notification to us of course . I feel as if we are being taken advantage of having being friendly neighbours prior to this . i am worried obviously that if we want to sell our home at some future date a potential buyer is bound to ask what the building is at the end of the garden & i will be obliged to say well umm someone lives there at the bottom of our very small garden !!! I would also add that they are the sort of neighbour's that will turn nasty when challenged over this ... anyone experienced similar situation please?

AdrianC

They need planning permission to turn a garage into accommodation - and will need BR sign-off, too.

Obvs, you have the opportunity to object to the planning app.
And, obvs, if they do it without, then it'd be a pity if the local authority found out and requested a retrospective application.

onwards&upwards

Sounds like their adult son has fallen on hard times.  I can't see many people wanting to go and live in their parents' garage unless they had absolutely no option.  Maybe leave it for a bit and see if it actually does cause you any disruption?  

If it does you have the ace up your sleeve of informing the council. 

greatcrested

OP says 'nip in bud' and I agree.

Once it's done, yes, council can insist on retrospective Planning, but reality is they often grant this where they might not have initially granting Plnning consent up front...

onwards&upwards

greatcrested said:

OP says 'nip in bud' and I agree.

Once it's done, yes, council can insist on retrospective Planning, but reality is they often grant this where they might not have initially granting Plnning consent up front...

Not in my experience, I've seen the council here force people to tear down structures or make significant alterations at great expense if they chanced starting work without PP.  I suppose it may vary by council to council though, so maybe the OP should speak to people locally to get a feel for how strictly his own council enforces. 

thriftylynny

Thank you for your comment onwards & upwards & yes son is on hard times & i understand of course ,neighbour has a spare ensuite bedroom but husband & wife want to sleep in separate bedrooms . My main concern is if i want to sell my house with someone living at close proximity, virtually 30 ft from my own bedroom !

macman

If this consists of cooking, washing and sleeping facilities, then it becomes a separate dwelling unit, and would almost certainly be turned down for PP. It would also be liable for CT.
Do you know what it's actually being converted to? A full conversion would require power, water supply and sewage, which requires some major work.

thriftylynny

From what was related to me over the fence it is bedroom space planned ...for the moment .., but as i am imagining this could well change over the months into full blown whats short of becoming a one bed bungalow .

Falafels

Planning issues apart... how does this affect you directly, if there’s no window facing into your garden? Will the building be any different, from your point of view, from the way it is at the moment - whereby you can tell any prospective purchaser that the building at the bottom of your garden is the neighbours’ garage? Even if this hapless bloke does live there for a while, it doesn’t sound like a permanent arrangement. I think you need to find out more about what’s actually going on before jumping to any conclusions or contacting the council.

If it isn’t going to affect you, is it really worth getting into a dispute with your neighbour? Because that is very likely to affect any future house sale. 

onwards&upwards

It may well be a very short term plan

thriftylynny

I totally agree Falafels with what you are saying & a possible dispute on record is not a good thing when selling for sure ... on the other hand i don't feel it would be in my best interest to lie about it being a garage when it's not ? Also i do not feel at present that this will be a temporary arrangement but more a convenient one ?