Air conditioning unit on side of neighbour's house - best approach?

Carrot007

calleyw said:

Carrot007 said:

What can you practically do?

1. Move. Find a nice house away from people by at least 10 metres all round. They exuists and seem to be what your wife needs.

2. Get a divorce/New wife.

or number 3) the wife gets a grip as I don't get why she is in tears over a beige box!!!!

That hardly seems practical though ;-)

AdrianC

metron said:

AFF8879 said:

If it requires planning permission then, unless you have evidence that they have disregarded that then there isn’t really much you can/should do. I’m not sure if this type of planning decision would be publicly available, but doesn’t hurt to check your local council website.

I’m curious to how it’s “wrecked the view”. Does it block an otherwise uninterrupted view of the countryside, etc? If it’s just that you think your neighbours’ house looks uglier then that comes under the category of “too bad”… (assuming of course you don’t live in a conservation/protected area, but if you did it’s virtually impossible they would have received planning consent for a big ugly unit sticking out).

There's definitely no planning permission - I check all local applications weekly.  This is the sort of unit we're talking about - but only the one.

Wrecking the view is an exaggeration on my part - but that's the way my wife sees it, unfortunately, and she's in tears about it.

They might well get PP of course, retrospectively, but shifting it might be a simpler option from their point of view, and they do seem to have limitless funds (tens of thousands spent replacing items in a house built just 5 years ago for example).  

Just to clarify, is that your photo? Because it seems to be the one from the blog you linked to, and it doesn't appear to go with the "house built five years ago", given the bricked-up door or window behind the lower unit. Nor does it appear to be a recent install, given the lichen build-up.

AFF8879

metron said:

AFF8879 said:

If it requires planning permission then, unless you have evidence that they have disregarded that then there isn’t really much you can/should do. I’m not sure if this type of planning decision would be publicly available, but doesn’t hurt to check your local council website.

I’m curious to how it’s “wrecked the view”. Does it block an otherwise uninterrupted view of the countryside, etc? If it’s just that you think your neighbours’ house looks uglier then that comes under the category of “too bad”… (assuming of course you don’t live in a conservation/protected area, but if you did it’s virtually impossible they would have received planning consent for a big ugly unit sticking out).

There's definitely no planning permission - I check all local applications weekly.  This is the sort of unit we're talking about - but only the one.

Wrecking the view is an exaggeration on my part - but that's the way my wife sees it, unfortunately, and she's in tears about it.

They might well get PP of course, retrospectively, but shifting it might be a simpler option from their point of view, and they do seem to have limitless funds (tens of thousands spent replacing items in a house built just 5 years ago for example).  

You’re perfectly within your rights to complain to the council if your neighbour has breached planning regulations. Whilst I personally wouldn’t do it myself over an AC unit, I also wouldn’t feel bad about it as you’re probably not the only house on the street who noticed/ is miffed about it. If you don’t complain somebody else probably will.

Though, with the greatest of respect, if your wife is not going through the change /time of the month/ some other emotional turmoil then I’d suggest it’s not rational to be crying over such a minor thing - and I say that not to be intrusive, but to make sure you know that you shouldn’t make decisions based on/cater to irrationality 

user1977

AdrianC said:

metron said:

AFF8879 said:

If it requires planning permission then, unless you have evidence that they have disregarded that then there isn’t really much you can/should do. I’m not sure if this type of planning decision would be publicly available, but doesn’t hurt to check your local council website.

I’m curious to how it’s “wrecked the view”. Does it block an otherwise uninterrupted view of the countryside, etc? If it’s just that you think your neighbours’ house looks uglier then that comes under the category of “too bad”… (assuming of course you don’t live in a conservation/protected area, but if you did it’s virtually impossible they would have received planning consent for a big ugly unit sticking out).

There's definitely no planning permission - I check all local applications weekly.  This is the sort of unit we're talking about - but only the one.

Wrecking the view is an exaggeration on my part - but that's the way my wife sees it, unfortunately, and she's in tears about it.

They might well get PP of course, retrospectively, but shifting it might be a simpler option from their point of view, and they do seem to have limitless funds (tens of thousands spent replacing items in a house built just 5 years ago for example).  

Just to clarify, is that your photo? Because it seems to be the one from the blog you linked to, and it doesn't appear to go with the "house built five years ago", given the bricked-up door or window behind the lower unit. Nor does it appear to be a recent install, given the lichen build-up.

As said above "this is the sort of unit we're talking about - but only the one."

NeverTooLate

AdrianC said:

metron said:

AFF8879 said:

If it requires planning permission then, unless you have evidence that they have disregarded that then there isn’t really much you can/should do. I’m not sure if this type of planning decision would be publicly available, but doesn’t hurt to check your local council website.

I’m curious to how it’s “wrecked the view”. Does it block an otherwise uninterrupted view of the countryside, etc? If it’s just that you think your neighbours’ house looks uglier then that comes under the category of “too bad”… (assuming of course you don’t live in a conservation/protected area, but if you did it’s virtually impossible they would have received planning consent for a big ugly unit sticking out).

There's definitely no planning permission - I check all local applications weekly.  This is the sort of unit we're talking about - but only the one.

Wrecking the view is an exaggeration on my part - but that's the way my wife sees it, unfortunately, and she's in tears about it.

They might well get PP of course, retrospectively, but shifting it might be a simpler option from their point of view, and they do seem to have limitless funds (tens of thousands spent replacing items in a house built just 5 years ago for example).  

Just to clarify, is that your photo? Because it seems to be the one from the blog you linked to, and it doesn't appear to go with the "house built five years ago", given the bricked-up door or window behind the lower unit. Nor does it appear to be a recent install, given the lichen build-up.

I don't think that is the OP's photo - he said earlier

"This is the sort of unit we're talking about - but only the one."

AdrianC

user1977 said:

AdrianC said:

metron said:

AFF8879 said:

If it requires planning permission then, unless you have evidence that they have disregarded that then there isn’t really much you can/should do. I’m not sure if this type of planning decision would be publicly available, but doesn’t hurt to check your local council website.

I’m curious to how it’s “wrecked the view”. Does it block an otherwise uninterrupted view of the countryside, etc? If it’s just that you think your neighbours’ house looks uglier then that comes under the category of “too bad”… (assuming of course you don’t live in a conservation/protected area, but if you did it’s virtually impossible they would have received planning consent for a big ugly unit sticking out).

There's definitely no planning permission - I check all local applications weekly.  This is the sort of unit we're talking about - but only the one.

Wrecking the view is an exaggeration on my part - but that's the way my wife sees it, unfortunately, and she's in tears about it.

They might well get PP of course, retrospectively, but shifting it might be a simpler option from their point of view, and they do seem to have limitless funds (tens of thousands spent replacing items in a house built just 5 years ago for example).  

Just to clarify, is that your photo? Because it seems to be the one from the blog you linked to, and it doesn't appear to go with the "house built five years ago", given the bricked-up door or window behind the lower unit. Nor does it appear to be a recent install, given the lichen build-up.

As said above "this is the sort of unit we're talking about - but only the one."

Yes, I thought as much - but other replies seemed to believe it was yours.

Would you be willing to post a photo of the one in question?

theoretica

Would painting it be an option?  Less work than moving it and might make it look less prominent.

68ComebackSpecial

If the picture is representative of the size of unit then it's hardly huge - height of 10 courses of bricks = circa 80cm. I wouldn't call that much more obtrusive, or any uglier, than a Sky dish.

SuperHung

Is it more than 1 meter from their boundaries? If they get retrospective planning permission, there's nothing to you can do except destroying the neighbourly relationship.

WaywardDriver

There'll be an indoor unit with a limitation on the distance between both units so it's possible installing at ground level would exceed this.