Neigbours Air vent blowing into my property

Whatdoidonow12221

Where do I begin.
Last year I got plans drawn up for a garage extension of about 1metre. The current garage roof ends about a metre from the edge of mine and my neighbours building. I put the plans together and gave them to my neighbour and we had a catch-up and discussion about them. They provided some feedback on the look of the proposed works and i undertook changes to them as they had asked. These plans were submitted into the council and eventually approved, no objections all smooth. A couple of months before i started work on the plans, my neighbour knocked on my door and advised that he was putting in a vent through the wall. I was working and admittedly didn't think much of it at the time as I was on a work call when he knocked, but i did advise that as long as it is above the roof line and doesn't affect our plans then that's fine. I then went back to work. At the end of the day when I looked outside he had drilled a hole through the wall and put in an exhaust vent from their toilet right on the roof line and venting into my property and towards my kitchen door. I knocked on his door and asked him why is that there and his response was "there was no where else to put it". There was never any consultation, discussion, plan, let alone any formal agreement for this going in. What is most shocking about it is that they had a copy of the plans and knew exactly where we were looking to build out and they went and did this. They have refused to move the vent as "there is no where else it can go" and it is directly in the way of the roof line along the party wall. I offered to move the edge of the proposed extension inwards so that there would be a gap available still and got a barrage of that's not permittable, we will speak with planning and building control if you try to change what we agreed to. So now I have issued a party wall notice and they have advised of the surveyor they want to use of which i spoke to and he has assured me of his impartiality i am inclined to just have the 1 to reduce the costs (as the work is not much to do). I have spoken with various building control, council planning, environment offices and all of them have said that there is nothing i can do about the vent. For bathroom vents apparently there is no regulations or requirements that restrict where they can go. I raised it as statutory nuisance but again its not covered in any regulation or legislation. I have raised the issue with my local MP that as to how can i have no say on someone putting a vent from their toilet into my private space. I am still at a loss that they would do this as they knew full well what they were doing the problem it will cause. Anyone know how this is going to sit with the Party wall surveyor? Am i going to be liable to have to move a vent that i never wanted or agreed to? Will they use the vent as a reason to say my plans are no longer valid and need to be altered? will this be able to stop me from building. I am still in a stunned state that after being open and forward through out the planning process and being so excited to get this work done that they would do this. It feels like a direct attempt to impede the works and deliberately cause problems for us. 

Rosa_Damascena

Whatdoidonow12221 said:

Where do I begin.
Last year I got plans drawn up for a garage extension of about 1metre. The current garage roof ends about a metre from the edge of mine and my neighbours building. I put the plans together and gave them to my neighbour and we had a catch-up and discussion about them. They provided some feedback on the look of the proposed works and i undertook changes to them as they had asked. These plans were submitted into the council and eventually approved, no objections all smooth. A couple of months before i started work on the plans, my neighbour knocked on my door and advised that he was putting in a vent through the wall. I was working and admittedly didn't think much of it at the time as I was on a work call when he knocked, but i did advise that as long as it is above the roof line and doesn't affect our plans then that's fine. I then went back to work. At the end of the day when I looked outside he had drilled a hole through the wall and put in an exhaust vent from their toilet right on the roof line and venting into my property and towards my kitchen door. I knocked on his door and asked him why is that there and his response was "there was no where else to put it". There was never any consultation, discussion, plan, let alone any formal agreement for this going in. What is most shocking about it is that they had a copy of the plans and knew exactly where we were looking to build out and they went and did this. They have refused to move the vent as "there is no where else it can go" and it is directly in the way of the roof line along the party wall. I offered to move the edge of the proposed extension inwards so that there would be a gap available still and got a barrage of that's not permittable, we will speak with planning and building control if you try to change what we agreed to. So now I have issued a party wall notice and they have advised of the surveyor they want to use of which i spoke to and he has assured me of his impartiality i am inclined to just have the 1 to reduce the costs (as the work is not much to do). I have spoken with various building control, council planning, environment offices and all of them have said that there is nothing i can do about the vent. For bathroom vents apparently there is no regulations or requirements that restrict where they can go. I raised it as statutory nuisance but again its not covered in any regulation or legislation. I have raised the issue with my local MP that as to how can i have no say on someone putting a vent from their toilet into my private space. I am still at a loss that they would do this as they knew full well what they were doing the problem it will cause. Anyone know how this is going to sit with the Party wall surveyor? Am i going to be liable to have to move a vent that i never wanted or agreed to? Will they use the vent as a reason to say my plans are no longer valid and need to be altered? will this be able to stop me from building. I am still in a stunned state that after being open and forward through out the planning process and being so excited to get this work done that they would do this. It feels like a direct attempt to impede the works and deliberately cause problems for us. 

What a selfish whatnot! I don't think you're going to be able to reason with this fool.

unforeseen

If it was a ground floor toilet then it's fairly obvious that  the vent would always be on or below the roof line of your garage

Bendy_House

Hi WdIdn.

It would help if we could 'see' where exactly this vent is positioned, and how it relates to your building.

Are you saying it's right on the boundary between you? And will there be a gap between it and your house where you could, say, position a fence? Tightly. Covered in ivy.

And, does it smell?

Is there the potential to have an extended vent pipe fitted to it, aiming upwards?

ic

This is a bathroom fan - a weedy bathroom fan, maybe 6 watts of power?  Sounds like a mountain out of a molehill.  How close is your door to this?  Is your house on a higher level than the neighbour?  Why is the garage extension being one metre from their building any relevance?  Your post doesn't make much sense.  I look forward to seeing your MP raise this issue during PM Questions.

theoretica

Your neighbour has put a vent into the wall that you will be using as a party wall for a garage extension?  So once built it will vent into your garage?  So ... build garage.  Redecorate inside, incidentally preventing air getting to/from vent.

DRP

Are you saying you can’t build up against his wall because there is now a vent on it?

Rosa_Damascena

Bendy_House said:

Hi WdIdn.

It would help if we could 'see' where exactly this vent is positioned, and how it relates to your building.

Are you saying it's right on the boundary between you? And will there be a gap between it and your house where you could, say, position a fence? Tightly. Covered in ivy.

And, does it smell?

Is there the potential to have an extended vent pipe fitted to it, aiming upwards?

Come on, its a toilet vent heading into the OP's kitchen FHS.

macman

A picture would tell a thousand words in this instance, rather than a rambling account.

Bendy_House

Rosa_Damascena said:

Bendy_House said:

Hi WdIdn.

It would help if we could 'see' where exactly this vent is positioned, and how it relates to your building.

Are you saying it's right on the boundary between you? And will there be a gap between it and your house where you could, say, position a fence? Tightly. Covered in ivy.

And, does it smell?

Is there the potential to have an extended vent pipe fitted to it, aiming upwards?

Come on, its a toilet vent heading into the OP's kitchen FHS.

:-)  Lol! I was trying to figure out if there's a way of shielding against it. Ie, if it's right on the borderline, and if there's room on the OP's side, then a fence panel pressed up tight against it should be pretty effective. One, it'll deflect the smell, and two, when they find ivy coming in that vent they might get the idea it was a poor location.

And when they demand access to sort it out - a drawn out process, the OP will ensure - they'll have your fence panel to remove, and all the planting to make good as well - and you'll be hovering over them to ensure it's done 100% properly.

We are all allowed our fantasies.

Whatdoidonow12221

Bendy_House said:

Hi WdIdn.

It would help if we could 'see' where exactly this vent is positioned, and how it relates to your building.

Are you saying it's right on the boundary between you? And will there be a gap between it and your house where you could, say, position a fence? Tightly. Covered in ivy.

And, does it smell?

Is there the potential to have an extended vent pipe fitted to it, aiming upwards?

its the wall of their property which is the border. The garage roof is extending to the edge of the wall of their house and mine. Its a metre in length the planned extension. Its directly above the drive way. There isnt really any place for a fence as the car fits in snuggly already. It would be possible but that would require and alteration to my plans with the council of which i would have to pay for.