Neighbours wood burning stove pipe to overhang my property

DidleySquat

Basically, my neighbours have  informed me that they intend to put in a wood burning stove on their downstairs living room wall which runs along and on my narrow driveway.  Consequently, the pipe would come out externally from the wall.
I've had a look online and the flue/pipe look huge and apparently can chuck out a lot of smoke?   Apart from looking pretty ugly, I don't want to not feel like I can open a window, especially upstairs, as there would be one opposite where the pipe would emit smoke?  I've also heard that these pipes need regular maintenance, does this mean that access would have to be granted and enabled on my property for that to happen?  Not happy at the prospect of this at all and feel that I want to say no way.  Can I legally do this?  Advice on this would be appreciated.  Thanks:)

FreeBear

Pretty sure their flue can not overhang your boundary. And if access is required from your property, you can always say "No".

There are also rules on the minimum height of the flue above the roof line.

Is this going to be a DIY install, or are they paying a processional to do the work ?

Might also be worth giving your local council a call - Depending on local rules (i.e. conservation area or an Article 4 direction in force) planning permission may be required.

DidleySquat

Hello, 
Thanks for the reply. 
At the moment, it looks as though it will be a professional to install, but maybe when they get an actual price (said that this will be in January), they might decide to install themselves (the husband is very handy). 
I will give the council a call and see what they say. 
Thanks 

Bendy_House

I understand the install needs to conform with regs, so either by a HETAS, or else checked and registered with the LA afterwards.

That's by-the-by. I would NOT allow this pipe to trespass on my property, given the circumstances you explain - it'll be both a visual and potentially a physical, obstacle. 

And, man, they are ugly. Yes, it'll be an insulated flue, so around 250-300mm diameter? Whatevs, they look brutal.

And if they get away with fitting this, then they WILL have continued access to your driveway for maintenance - you won't be able to stop them.

You CAN stop them fitting it, tho'. You refuse permission, and do so in a recordable way. They won't like it, but that's their call.

If they want a stove, they can take the flue through their ceiling, bedroom, and through the roof.

It 'should' not be a nuisance after that, but I bet it will be. So carry out research about what can be done if the smoke smell is intrusive (tho' not sure what can be done).

But - you'd be 'silly' to allow them to trespass on your land with this flue.

Do you have LP on your insurance?

EDIT: The above assumes their wall forms your actual boundary, so that anything beyond that wall would be trespassing on your land. As S62 says, check your EXACT boundary line. 
These external flues are mounted on brackets which will hold them - not sure - a couple of inches at least from the wall? So, say ~200mm external flue diameter, +~50mm brackets. And, if they need to dogleg to get around a roof overlap, that's going to be significantly more. So, determine the boundary, and get your tape measure out. If it comes over even a half-inch, then 'Non'.

Section62

DidleySquat said:

Basically, my neighbours have  informed me that they intend to put in a wood burning stove on their downstairs living room wall which runs along and on my narrow driveway.  Consequently, the pipe would come out externally from the wall.

You need to find out the exact location of your boundary.  It isn't uncommon for a strip of land which people think of as 'their driveway' to actually be the neighbour's legal property.  In many cases the situation is ambiguous.  You'd need some kind of evidence to show the legal boundary is the face of the wall, rather than say 300mm away from it to allow for the roof overhang.

koalakoala

Oh the smell.......

Silvertabby

koalakoala said:

Oh the smell.......

Houses on our estate were built with proper chimneys, even though everyone seemed to go for the option of a gas fire rather than a real fire.

Since then, a few have switched to wood-burning stoves, which vent through the chimneys.  And, yes, they stink.  Nothing like the sweet smell of woodsmoke - can only guess that they either buy cheap unseasoned/treated stuff, or forage for their own and burn it 'wet'.

Ant555

To be honest, as already suggested by Bendy_House,  would investigate if there were anything I could do to prevent this from happening.  If the 15-30cm silver tube will be on or over your land at any point in its route to the sky then thats a hard-stop right at the outset - it will be like looking at a chimney from a chip shop.

Plus, if it starts quite low down and is somewhere you or your kids/dog may be then be aware that it could very well get hot when in use.

I understand completely why people get these but some people dont burn the right materials and if im walking the dog and simply walk past a house that is belching out something (one house in particular) then its really noticeable and I can still smell it on my clothes when I get back home which is absolutely ridiculous.

Bendy_House

The pipe shouldn't get too hot as it'll be well insulated. It needs to be, so that it 'draws' well. But that also makes the pipe larger than you'd expect. It will certainly be very ugly.

You can't stop folk fitting these log burners if they are otherwise permitted to, but having a flue pipe coming over your land? Nope.

DidleySquat

Thanks everyone for your comments.  After a lot of fretting, we have had a polite word with them today and said 'no' to them fitting anything that would overhang over onto our side.  We thought that we'd have a bit of argy bargy, but no, I think that they'd anticipated what we might say.  They are going to fit the pipe straight up inside the house and through the roof instead (quite a bit more expensive).  Still a bit worried about the smoke issue, but at least we won't have to look at it and get annoyed.  On the smoke issue, I did ring the local council and spoke to the person responsible for the health/environment (the planning person was not available to speak to), but she did say they they were expecting a lot of complaints/issues regarding wood burners due to people fitting them to try and save money.  She also said that the laws were quite strict now for fitting and emissions, so if there is a smoke/smell problem, it would only take a phone call and I think that they would actually do something about it.  But lets hope that it doesn't come to that!  Anyway, thanks again for all the input.  Hopefully the comments will also help others in a similar situation   

Bendy_House

Good result.

I'd also hope that the stove will be an efficient, clean-burn, current model, and that they use it correctly.  That essentially means running it 'hot', with a good secondary air supply to the top of the flame. That makes it burn clean - all the soot particles should largely be burned away - it also means more heat for them.

Also, the flue should ensure the exhaust is sent out over the roof tops, but there's no accounting for air currents that could bring swirls down on occasion. 

If they use it incorrectly, running it 'slow' to reduce output, this will likely produce more smoke. So, if you are bothered by actual visible smoke, it might be time to have a chat with the environment fellow.