Neighbours planning permission

sam3103

Hi, I hope this is alright to post here.

We have lived in our home for 12 months now, it is a detached property with a semi detached next door. Our home is built right up to the boundary we share with the home to the left. 

The home to the left is rented out, I have never met the owner. She has now put in planning permission for an extention to the side of her home which will restrict access to our landing window as there will be insufficient space to angle a ladder there. Obviously the land is hers but do we have any right to protest and on what grounds? 

Just wondering if anyone with expertise or prior experience could advise?

I have checked our documents and nothing is advised in regards to our right to access the side of the house etc.  


Thanks 

jennifernil

No doubt you could find a suitably sized lightweight scaffold tower that would fit in the remaining space, should you need to access the window.

For regular cleaning, either a long pole or change it to a type that can be opened inwards for cleaning from inside the house.

Section62

sam3103 said:

We have lived in our home for 12 months now, it is a detached property with a semi detached next door. Our home is built right up to the boundary we share with the home to the left. 

The home to the left is rented out, I have never met the owner. She has now put in planning permission for an extention to the side of her home which will restrict access to our landing window as there will be insufficient space to angle a ladder there. Obviously the land is hers but do we have any right to protest and on what grounds? 

Just wondering if anyone with expertise or prior experience could advise?

I have checked our documents and nothing is advised in regards to our right to access the side of the house etc.  

Unless there is a planning condition restricting development in that space then you aren't likely to have valid grounds for an objection based on the development affecting access to your window.

On the other hand, you might want to mention to your neighbour that their architect has designed them a really expensive way of adding a relatively small additional space (on the side of the house) and unless their garden is tiny, they very likely would have a cheaper (and better) solution by extending futher backwards rather than sideways.  If they did that instead then their development wouldn't affect your access to the window.

Maybe suggest they come to this forum for suggestions how they could make their extension better (and cheaper)?

Doozergirl

Section62 said:

sam3103 said:

We have lived in our home for 12 months now, it is a detached property with a semi detached next door. Our home is built right up to the boundary we share with the home to the left. 

The home to the left is rented out, I have never met the owner. She has now put in planning permission for an extention to the side of her home which will restrict access to our landing window as there will be insufficient space to angle a ladder there. Obviously the land is hers but do we have any right to protest and on what grounds? 

Just wondering if anyone with expertise or prior experience could advise?

I have checked our documents and nothing is advised in regards to our right to access the side of the house etc.  

Unless there is a planning condition restricting development in that space then you aren't likely to have valid grounds for an objection based on the development affecting access to your window.

On the other hand, you might want to mention to your neighbour that their architect has designed them a really expensive way of adding a relatively small additional space (on the side of the house) and unless their garden is tiny, they very likely would have a cheaper (and better) solution by extending futher backwards rather than sideways.  If they did that instead then their development wouldn't affect your access to the window.

Maybe suggest they come to this forum for suggestions how they could make their extension better (and cheaper)?

This made me laugh with recognition.  The design is terrible.  

Much of it is an incredibly expensive corridor back to the front of the house.  

Is it even to scale?  The washing machine appears to be as wide as the walls are thick.  

Bendy_House

Hi Sam.

You are lucky that they still seemingly require access to their rear garden, so aren't going to try and build closer to your house. Also, that's a neat-looking single-storey extension, so should have very little impact on you at all.

In short, I think you have got off lightly.

And, access to that window via a near-vertical ladder will be fun. And when would you ever need to do this - every 30 years when it needs replacing? Surely it can be cleaned from the inside?

Personally, I see nothing to worry about.

Ganga

Will they be building to the extreme of their property line ? if so how will they access their garden ,bins etc. will they have to go thru the house OR use your land !

Bendy_House

Ganga said:

Will they be building to the extreme of their property line ? if so how will they access their garden ,bins etc. will they have to go thru the house OR use your land !

The plan above shows they are leaving a pathway down the side, with a gate. That's great news for Sam.

I just don't see any real negative impact, so I - personally - wouldn't object to this at all.

I would, tho', keep an eye on the build once they start digging the founds, to ensure they don't encroach any further.

Grumpy_chap

Looks like there is still a 1m gap between the two buildings, so plenty of space to locate the necessary equipment to access the window if required for maintenance.

FreeBear

Doozergirl said: This made me laugh with recognition.  The design is terrible.  

Much of it is an incredibly expensive corridor back to the front of the house.

Wait until they see the price for the steelwork - That may well knock the plans back into the world of reality.

The OP won't lose any light through the landing window, and it will still be accessible (with a scaffold tower) . Quite possible it will pass planning if it fits in with the locale. The loss of a parking space might be the one thing that would scupper PP though.

sam3103

Section62 said:

sam3103 said:

We have lived in our home for 12 months now, it is a detached property with a semi detached next door. Our home is built right up to the boundary we share with the home to the left. 

The home to the left is rented out, I have never met the owner. She has now put in planning permission for an extention to the side of her home which will restrict access to our landing window as there will be insufficient space to angle a ladder there. Obviously the land is hers but do we have any right to protest and on what grounds? 

Just wondering if anyone with expertise or prior experience could advise?

I have checked our documents and nothing is advised in regards to our right to access the side of the house etc.  

Unless there is a planning condition restricting development in that space then you aren't likely to have valid grounds for an objection based on the development affecting access to your window.

On the other hand, you might want to mention to your neighbour that their architect has designed them a really expensive way of adding a relatively small additional space (on the side of the house) and unless their garden is tiny, they very likely would have a cheaper (and better) solution by extending futher backwards rather than sideways.  If they did that instead then their development wouldn't affect your access to the window.

Maybe suggest they come to this forum for suggestions how they could make their extension better (and cheaper)?

Thanks. I didnt make it clear from my post that the planning application also includes a rear extension as well as a front porch. 

What currently stands is just the lounge, dining area and stairs as pictured on the new proposed floor plan. Its a pretty small house I think. I personally think the side extension seems a bit pointless but I guess its not my property.

Section62

sam3103 said:

Thanks. I didnt make it clear from my post that the planning application also includes a rear extension as well as a front porch. 

Don't worry, it was clear enough from the plans.

The point was that by adding the side extension they will be removing the ground floor corner of the house - Beam 2 and Beam 1 will be supporting the walls above and the roof.  The steelwork to do that will be substantial, and in addition to FreeBear's point about cost, the work required to install it is considerable. 

There's a lot of expense involved in adding a relatively small amount of space on one floor only - and the result is an odd-shaped utility room with the majority of the space acting as nothing more than a corridor.

Then the plan shows the outside end of Beam1 (the end on your side) bearing on a 100mm wall (only).  Given the load on that beam, it is almost certain that end will need to be on a pier - which will project out into the work surface where the oven is shown on the plan.  Projections into work surfaces can be coped with - but in new work it is just poor to create one and interrupt the flow of the kitchen when more thought about the layout could have avoided it.