We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum... Read More »
PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING: Hello Forumites! In order to help keep the Forum a useful, safe and friendly place for our users, discussions around non-MoneySaving matters are not permitted per the Forum rules. While we understand that mentioning house prices may sometimes be relevant to a user's specific MoneySaving situation, we ask that you please avoid veering into broad, general debates about the market, the economy and politics, as these can unfortunately lead to abusive or hateful behaviour. Threads that are found to have derailed into wider discussions may be removed. Users who repeatedly disregard this may have their Forum account banned. Please also avoid posting personally identifiable information, including links to your own online property listing which may reveal your address. Thank you for your understanding.
We're aware that some users are experiencing technical issues which the team are working to resolve. See the Community Noticeboard for more info. Thank you for your patience.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
Air conditioning unit on side of neighbour's house - best approach?
Options
Comments
-
Good to hear that.ispookie666 said:
Most of the current crop of Aircons are Inverter Air conditioner Heat pumps👻. Hence they qualify for 5% VAT and not the 20% .Doc_N said:
A useful post for a change, which might help the OP with his question. Getting a bit dull and boring here with all the moaners and whingers constantly carping on because they haven't a clue what it's like to live somewhere outside a city, a town, or a huge housing estate.ispookie666 said:A bit late.
I recently installed 2 Aircon in our house. Applied for planning permission, discussed with the neighbours. I had to remove the larger 7.1kw unit as the planning officer/environmental agency required Noise assessment.
Planning permission is not needed if you are only installing one unit, the unit size is less than 0.60cubic m, not in a conservation area. The installers had no clue about this, the council were mewh..
One thing to note - these are very very quiet units but as time goes, anything with a fan can become noisy.
Adding a few more lengths of coppertubing should not be problem, but it is likely that they would not want to do this, lower condenser would be close to things in the garden. The only thing I could suggest is some sort of two sided enclosure to cover the ugly thing.
Interesting comments on noise, though I don't think the OP has said much about noise so far? I'd assumed they were noisy, but maybe not from what you say.
As you'll see from various posts above though, you still need permission, even for one unit - the exemption you mention is for heat pumps - not AC units. The confusion has been caused by AC sellers deliberately misleading people.
In the dead of the night, I can hear the fan when I stand right next to the unit. I doubt the fan motor will have to work hard, as we hardly get high temperature for long.
They’ll still need PP though because even heat pumps aren’t exempted unless they’re used solely for heating purposes.“In addition, the following conditions must also be met. The air source heat pump must be:
- Used solely for heating purposes
- Removed as soon as reasonably practicable when it is no longer needed for microgeneration
- Sited, so far as is practicable, to minimise its effect on the external appearance of the building and its effect on the amenity of the area.”
0 -
As loopholes are used elsewhere in law. How would you be able to prove or disprove that an outdoor unit is not only used for heating? Outdoor units for both Heat Pumps and AC can look almost identical.
Or if questioned you just state its only used for heating even if it has cooling functionality. How would that stand I wonder...
Thus if it is only used for heating, is exempt.0 -
I imagine a quick check by the enforcement team on the installation paperwork, and the installation, would establish whether it was used only to heat.Adsta said:As loopholes are used elsewhere in law. How would you be able to prove or disprove that an outdoor unit is not only used for heating? Outdoor units for both Heat Pumps and AC can look almost identical.
Or if questioned you just state its only used for heating even if it has cooling functionality. How would that stand I wonder...
Thus if it is only used for heating, is exempt.0 -
Or would it work like the TV license, if it's capable of cooling (even if it's not used) then it would need PP. Right now there is a lot of fingers in the wind...Doc_N said:
I imagine a quick check by the enforcement team on the installation paperwork, and the installation, would establish whether it was used only to heat.Adsta said:As loopholes are used elsewhere in law. How would you be able to prove or disprove that an outdoor unit is not only used for heating? Outdoor units for both Heat Pumps and AC can look almost identical.
Or if questioned you just state its only used for heating even if it has cooling functionality. How would that stand I wonder...
Thus if it is only used for heating, is exempt.Nothing is foolproof to a talented fool.1 -
Make no mistake this is an aesthetics issue first and foremost for the OP and other half, PP comes after with the hope it is torn down/ repositioned to somewhere that doesn't show from their 'windows'.Doc_N said:
Maybe because it’s a relevant issue for people buying and selling houses, particularly in view of the planning issues raised which could impact on both buyers and sellers? And maybe because there isn’t a more appropriate category?Hugh_Jarce said:I may have missed this being pointed out in the previous 16 or so pages but it just occurred to me why the hell is this thread in House Buying, Renting & Selling section?
Does it matter? It seems to have created a lot of interest and informed people’s knowledge of planning law.
It will be interesting on the outcome as I'm leaning towards it will remain.
A picture of would be nice or not nice depending which side of the window(s) you are on.4 -
I suspect that you are in the same situation that happens when a room is redecoratedmetron said:Our new neighbours have decided to have air conditioning, and have had the external unit fixed towards the top of their house. It's pretty ugly looking, and will doubtless produce some noise, but although technically it probably requires planning permission (https://www.revk.uk/2018/07/air-conditioning-at-home-planning.html) I'm not keen on making a fuss about it.
My wife, however, is deeply upset by it - it looks hideous and has wrecked the view from most of our windows.
Any suggestions for persuading them, peaceably, to have it moved to ground level where it would be far less obtrusive? I favour a chat, but I'm very keen to avoid falling out - no winners if that happens!
Do these things have to be mounted half way up a wall, or do they work just as well at ground level? Not my area of expertise - I just want to find some way of keeping my wife from being so upset without antagonising the neighbours. Resorting to threats of retaliation or talking to the planning department can only make matters worse.
For the first week you will see every flaw which stands out like a sore thumb
After the first week you stop noticing them
( We had the same with our log cabin Partner said "far too big ruins the garden " but now it looks like it was always there
0 -
What matters is if the planning department do anything about the complaintDoc_N said:
The problem is that people phone planning departments tend not to get put through to actual Planning Officers - just support staff with a limited knowledge.elsien said:
But there are people who are also saying they've checked with their planning department and been told in their circumstances that they don't need it.doodling said:Hi,
Ignoring this particular case, I note that people in this thread are still stating that air-conditioning does not need planning permission. This is wrong. If the system has a cooling function then it needs planning permission.
The law (well, GPDR) was changed to permit the installation of heat pumps for heating only.
Out of interest, if there was a dispute in these circumstances and the planning department had given incorrect information, how would this stand?
What actually matters is not what individuals say, but what tbe law says, and the law is crystal clear.
I hope the OP is aware that they are not obliged to take any action if they don't want to0 -
OP, as others have said, if your wife goes up in arms on something so trivial I dare think you have bigger problems than the neighbour's aircon: has she always been like this? Is she so bored with her life? Is it something else she's really worked up on, not the aircon?As for the aircon itself: most installations in England are not compliant (no idea about rules in Scotland Wales NI).IN THEORY, you need to show, with a professional assessment, that the external unit produces a noise which is 20 dB < than the normal background noise. If you install it on a noisy A road or in a huge garden which is very far from the neighbours ( the assessment should take into account the noise perceived by your neighbours, so is affected by distance walls etc), fine; otherwise, the only way to do it is to put the external unit in one of those huge, ugly and expensive noise-dampening boxes.The only other alternative is an internal water-cooled condenser: instead of having an external unit which cools down the mechanism with a fan, you have an internal unit which cools it down with water. Since it's all internal, no planning permission is required.I chose an internal condenser because my loft reaches 32C when outside it's 20C, and because my neighbour is like your wife, I knew she would have complained. I had no idea if the council would have taken action but I wasn't going to risk it.0
-
How do businesses then get to install huge units pretty much next to houses, footpaths, pavement etc“Don't raise your voice, improve your argument." - Desmond Tutu
System 1 - 14 x 250W SunModule SW + Enphase ME215 microinverters (July 2015)
System 2 - 9.2 KWp + Enphase IQ7+ and IQ8AC (Feb 22 & Sep 24) + Givenergy AC Coupled inverter + 2 * 8.2KWh Battery (May 2022) + Mitsubishi 7.1 KW and 2* Daikin 2.5 KW A2A Heat Pump0 -
Like I said, most aircon installations are non-compliant.As for business, like I said it's to do with the noise: if the closest neighbours of a business overlook a busy A road, chances are that the noise of the aircon will be much lower than the noise of traffic.Lots of people install one anyway and get away with it. I wasn't going to chance it, especially with a neighbour from hell, and especially with something as expensive as air conditioning.A quick search on the planning portal of any council will show applications for air conditioning, with noise assessment etc - even for residential installations.view associated documents - reports - noise impact etcAFAIK these are England-wide rules but you are welcome to contact your council to check.
0
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 351K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 453.6K Spending & Discounts
- 244K Work, Benefits & Business
- 598.9K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 176.9K Life & Family
- 257.3K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards