Advice on height of neighbours outbuilding

FreeBear

longwalks1 said: When I say ‘recent’, I mean the last year, so it was lived in all through the winter.  

If you are thinking of reporting this to the council, the sooner, the better. There are time limits for the council to take enforcement action, and you are already pretty close.

That said, Council Tax, there is no practical time limits if the council wanted to pursue that angle - Could be a nice little boost to the coffers.

TELLIT01

Our new neighbours had a cabin constructed at the bottom of their garden.  Planning permission stated is was for occasional use by visitors, but her parents moved into it permanently shortly after it was finished.  It doesn't directly impact on us so I haven't done anything about it.  The comment is purely to confirm that planning permission is required if it is being used as accommodation.

longwalks1

Thanks everyone, I will discuss this with my partner and decide on a plan of action.  Will keep you updated.

droopsnoot

longwalks1 said:

It isn’t even discussing what’s being done, it’s a genuine running commentary “right, I’m just going to pick up this screwdriver and turn that screw in then pick up the wood and make blah blah and it’s going to be the best and just brilliant and then”.  Some days it is relentless, and at a volume bordering shouting.  It’s only done for the benefit of letting the neighbours know what they are doing.

Are your neighbours running a Youtube / TikTok home improvements channel? Maybe that's why they do a running commentary on stuff.

macman

Just bear in mind that if you escalate this to a dispute, you'll have to declare it if you sell.

Doozergirl

droopsnoot said:

longwalks1 said:

It isn’t even discussing what’s being done, it’s a genuine running commentary “right, I’m just going to pick up this screwdriver and turn that screw in then pick up the wood and make blah blah and it’s going to be the best and just brilliant and then”.  Some days it is relentless, and at a volume bordering shouting.  It’s only done for the benefit of letting the neighbours know what they are doing.

Are your neighbours running a Youtube / TikTok home improvements channel? Maybe that's why they do a running commentary on stuff.

That's what I think.   Far more likely than doing it to entertain/annoy the neighbours.  

People think that other people are thinking about them far more than they are.  Most people are just thinking about themselves.  

Case in point is the person that thinks that other people do inexplicably random things to annoy them.  They're also thinking about themselves, not other people.  

Bendy_House

This is such a horrible situation.

We are all entitled to a peaceful existence, and we do our bit towards that by largely conforming to by-laws and civil expectations.

Then you get a complete twit living next door, with a different level of expectation and entitlement.

What to do? I dunno - it has to be longwalks' call. But it might help to understand the consequences either way.

Is this outbuilding a bleedin' liberty? Yes. Does it impinge on Lw's enjoyment of their home? Yes. Is it going to sort itself out over time - is it temporary? Doesn't look like it. Should they have done this? A blinding 'NO'.

It piddles me off so much to hear (fair) warnings about 'disputes' and 'provoking neighbours from hell'. So we put up with such ignorant and inconsiderate liberties because we don't want to declare a 'dispute'? Personally, I'd rather move in to a house where the 'dispute' was made clear, AND it was shown to have been resolved. And, let's face it, few folk are going to miss this looming building right up close to the boundary - or is Lw going to plant lots of trees?

And 'provoking a neighbour from hell' response? Yes, of course that's a risk, but from my experience, the only thing that stops arrogant entitled folk is a proper challenge - when they know the game is up. And, if they resort to anti-social behaviour, you record and tackle this the right away too. In cases like this, it'll become very obvious that it started when they had their 'entitled expectations' nobbled, so their actions will be seen as being vexatious.

The GardenLaw forum is peppered with cases where the victim tries to tread a fine line, letting folk off with things they shouldn't and - guess what? - it just gets worse and worse.

Such issues should be matter-of-fact. "You do know that the max height of an outbuilding within xm to a boundary is only xm, don't you? Cool, so what are you going to do about it?" "You do know that PP and BC need to be involved when building living accommodation, don't you? So what the hell..."

It really should be that clear. These folk are 'oles. Selfish 'oles.

Ok, TELLIT has a similar case but one that doesn't impinge on them at all, and in such cases I doubt I'd do anything about it either.

In Lw's case, I think they should also consider how this will almost certainly affect their ability to sell, when that time comes.

Unless they grow some big trees...