Neighbour changing use of garage

Slinky

If asked by a prospective purchaser what it is, it's an 'outbuilding' belonging to the neighbour. Lets face it, garages rarely have cars in them these days.

Samsonite1

Slinky said:

If asked by a prospective purchaser what it is, it's an 'outbuilding' belonging to the neighbour. Lets face it, garages rarely have cars in them these days.

Exactly this - there is no obligation to tell prospective buyers what you think the building is.  On plans it is a garage - who cares what goes on in there.  Also would you rather have loud noises of someone working on a car or DIY than someone sleeping?
I would just stick a nice fence along the brick wall.

Davesnave

carefullycautious said:

A friend converted her garage into a play room. As she had a suspended floor put in she did not need planning permission. She also had the garage door bricked up and window put in. The garage was at the front of her property though.
I thought that if you did not put any toilet/shower in and the person used the main houses for this no planning was required?

You are correct on everything except the suspended floor There is nothing about one of those that exempts one from planning, or indeed building regs, but if the room created is just used as ancillary accommodation for sleeping/kids to play in /watching the sunset, or whatever, then there's no need for council involvement. Start popping in an en-suite and a kitchen sink and the situation changes.

carefullycautious

Thank you Davesnave I think maybe the floor was put in so that it could be converted back to a garage if my friend wanted to sell in the future and I have misunderstood why this was done.

rik111

Not sure what you want to achieve here apart from pee your neighbour off. All they need is building control to ok the conversion as it goes along, no planning required, nothing you can do except fall out with your neighbour. It’s their land, their building and nothing to do with you. I presume it was there when bought the house so best get over yourself....

Scotbot

Slinky said:

If asked by a prospective purchaser what it is, it's an 'outbuilding' belonging to the neighbour. Lets face it, garages rarely have cars in them these days.

If I were a prospective buyer and saw a building which appeared to be in the garden I would assume if was part of the property and ask to see inside it. On discovering it belonged to next door I would  almost cetainly decide against buying it. It would be irrelevant to me what the building was used for

davidmcn

Scotbot said:

Slinky said:

If asked by a prospective purchaser what it is, it's an 'outbuilding' belonging to the neighbour. Lets face it, garages rarely have cars in them these days.

If I were a prospective buyer and saw a building which appeared to be in the garden I would assume if was part of the property and ask to see inside it. On discovering it belonged to next door I would  almost cetainly decide against buying it. It would be irrelevant to me what the building was used for

I suspect it's actually pretty obvious that it's a neighbour's garage, and not "in the garden" at all.

macman

rik111 said:

Not sure what you want to achieve here apart from pee your neighbour off. All they need is building control to ok the conversion as it goes along, no planning required, nothing you can do except fall out with your neighbour. It’s their land, their building and nothing to do with you. I presume it was there when bought the house so best get over yourself....

At this stage, there is no evidence to show that any BC approval is even needed. The neighbour may simply be putting in facilities for someone to sleep in the garage, but use the main house for cooking and washing. It's only once they start doing any structural work that BC need to be involved. 
If they start excavating for water supply and drainage, then clearly rather more is intended, and that's the point at which PP becomes relevant.
Once you formalise a complaint, you are required to inform any potential buyer of your own property of the dispute, so it shouldn't be done until it proves necessary.

happyandcontented

We converted our garage into a playroom/games room and that is detached from our house. When they were teens the kids had sleepovers there. I can't see an issue with it. We didn't need PP.

It could be worse they could have barking dogs, pigeon coops or ferrets in there!!

Davesnave

happyandcontented said:

It could be worse they could have barking dogs, pigeon coops or ferrets in there!!

Excuse me, but ferrets are relatively quiet and benign as neighbours; certainly nothing loud like barking dogs and cleaner than pigeons.