Neighbours plan an extension - anything we should check / keep an eye on?

andre_xs

diystarter7 said:

and when the build starts ask if everything is going ok and if you can do anyhting and then you can drop a hint if you have a concern etc - 

Well, but that's a bit late if our concern is that a pitched roof may take away too much light as compared to a flat roof, right?

As I said before, we don't want to give them a hard time at all, but naturally we also want to 'protect' our interests, quality of life, and property value as much as possible.

diystarter7

andre_xs said:

diystarter7 said:

and when the build starts ask if everything is going ok and if you can do anyhting and then you can drop a hint if you have a concern etc - 

Well, but that's a bit late if our concern is that a pitched roof may take away too much light as compared to a flat roof, right?

As I said before, we don't want to give them a hard time at all, but naturally we also want to 'protect' our interests, quality of life, and property value as much as possible.

Right.

Don't forget, they too will want to protect their interests and if something is allowed within the rules, they may go for.

They too may be wanting to protect their property value etc and better life/enjoyment just like you.

About not wanting to give them a "hard time," never forget it does work both ways and just like they don't know your capacity, you don't really know their capacity.

Therefore, be reasonable and sensible at all times(I'm sure you are) and do your research before asking/challenging them about something.


I wish you and next door the best of luck.

Take care.

Section62

andre_xs said:

They are first-time home owners like we are, and they are surely no experts in building works at all and will leave all decisions to architects/builders.

This is the bit which would worry me - people without experience of building can very easily be led by architects/builders into doing things like varying what gets built from the approved plans.  It is natural to think of a builder as an 'expert' in the field, and if they say it is Ok to make the extension that bit bigger or higher then that surely is right...  (often it isn't!)

As people who are likely to be impacted by the work, it would be easy for you to assume what gets built must look exactly like the plans.  Then come home one day and find the builder has started to build the wall a bit closer to you, or starts putting the roof on higher than the plan shows.  You'll need to be vigilant.  Although in theory it is unlawful to build otherwise than as shown on the plans (or agreed with the LPA), and the planning authority can take enforcement action, in practice people often get away with quite significant changes because the LPA doesn't have the resources to fight it.  E.g. I'd suggest not going away for long holidays while the building work is being done.

In relation to the roof being pitched not flat, what really matters are the orientations and angles. If it is the neighbours on the other side who would lose the sun, that suggests you are on the side where the sun won't be blocked by the extension whether it is a flat roof or pitched.  I don't think the difference in height between a flat roof and a pitched one would significantly reduce any 'north light' effect, particularly given the relationship between the extension and the main house.

twopenny

What is the extension to be used for?

Boiler/cooker extraction pipe/ vent for tuumble drier etc is close enough to be annoying at least and could be more if it's where you walk or use that part of the garden.

How much shade will it cast and will  that impact on your window light or use of the garden?

Doozergirl

andre_xs said:

diystarter7 said:

and when the build starts ask if everything is going ok and if you can do anyhting and then you can drop a hint if you have a concern etc - 

Well, but that's a bit late if our concern is that a pitched roof may take away too much light as compared to a flat roof, right?

As I said before, we don't want to give them a hard time at all, but naturally we also want to 'protect' our interests, quality of life, and property value as much as possible.

andre_xs said:

Thanks for the comments.

This is from the planning portal:
- Single storey rear extension with rooflights, single storey front extension and relocation of main entrance door
- Regarding the roof, they say: "Pitched tiled roofs to closely match the existing". It won't be a flat roof according to plans, but a roof which goes up to right under the window sills of the first floor windows.
- The planned extension will go 4m into the garden (width 5m; nearly full width of the house, maybe 1m (or less) between the extension wall and the border.

Sounds and looks like this a larger extension under permitted development which they have to notify the council of.   If no complaints are received from neighbours then approval is a given.  

They can build a 3 metre extension under permitted development without notifying the planning office and that will entitle them to build with a pitched roof.

If you are going to complain about something, the complaint needs to be reasonable to save you looking like you're complaining for the sake of it.   In your position I would not even consider complaining on the basis of the pitched roof because they would be entitled to build with one anyway under original PD rights and planning would probably be granted if they made a full planning application as a result.   The difference in the angle between a 3 and a 4 metre extension is only about 4 degrees - negligible to you.

The height of that pitch is always going to be limited by the presence of the upstairs window. 


A totally separate issue from planning is the Party Wall Act. In theory, if they plan to dig within 3 metres of your foundations and the new foundations are planned to be deeper than yours, then they need to serve notice on you.   If you live in a period property that is likely to have shallow foundations, I would still sign that notice and agree - it's far enough away to be of little concern as far as undermining your foundations are concerned and hiring a party wall surveyor would be overkill and affect neighbourly relations.  

andre_xs

Doozergirl said:

They can build a 3 metre extension under permitted development without notifying the planning office and that will entitle them to build with a pitched roof.

A totally separate issue from planning is the Party Wall Act. In theory, if they plan to dig within 3 metres of your foundations and the new foundations are planned to be deeper than yours, then they need to serve notice on you.  

Thanks, very helpful. That was something I planned to research as well before "complaining" (let's call it "suggesting" ). But if pitched roofs are allowed anyway... Yes, 3m pitched vs 4m pitched doesn't make any notable difference. Then we don't need to follow up that any further.

Regarding the foundations, we're all terraced mid 1950s ex-council houses without basements/cellars, so I presume they all have a concrete base where the house sits on, and they'll do something similar next to us. I guess they are indeed quite close to our foundations (the nearest probably 1 - 1.5m), but I can't see at the moment that they would dig very deep...

Chickereeeee

Have a look at the Right to Light guidance rules - both horizontal and verticle. This will tell you if you have an argument wrt visbility of sky, obstruction of light etc.

maurice28

Currently going through this from the other side of the fence, as it were. We have just about completed an extension and were very conscious of the affect on the neighbours. Some things that came up during our build that impacted our neighbours were:

• Needing occasional access to next door's garden while bricklaying (one wall of our extension replaced part of the fence that used to separate our gardens).
• Use of a tunnel that is between us and the neighbour on the other side (we both share this, it is access to our back gardens) and occasional spillages/mess that needed clearing up by the tradespeople. 
• The plasterer once blocked this tunnel with rubbish overnight, unbeknownst to us, so we had to tell them to clear it quickly before it stopped our neighbour putting her bins out.
• Parking - at times we've had 4 vans at once parked outside the house. We have a double car drive but this has been used as a storage area for building materials at times, so we've had to move our cars onto other streets with more space in order to not block access to other neighbours.
• Skips and other building material deliveries can sometimes cause short term disruption.
• Noise, although I don't think this has been a major issue and certainly not at unsociable times.

We have been incredibly fortunate that our neighbours have been really accommodating. We had to have our electricity meter moved by Electricity North West who really messed us around - it involved digging up part of our neighbour's garden too to reconnect their supply and they really messed up - they had to come out twice, left next door's garden dug up for 6 weeks before repairing it properly, blocked the street with barriers around excavations for days. It wasn't our fault but it wouldn't have happened without us doing the project and we were mortified!

We have given our neighbours on both sides gift baskets to say thank you for their patience (thanks to Electricity North West it has taken 6 months rather than the 3 it should have) and while they may have cursed us in private, they have been really amazing to our faces!

Your neighbours will probably be nervous and apprehensive about having the work done, but it shouldn't impact on you negatively if at all avoidable. Hopefully they will keep you informed at all stages - I said to our neighbours to let us know the moment something happened they were unhappy with - I think this can definitely be done in a cordial way if something is really impacting you!

andre_xs

Chickereeeee said:

Have a look at the Right to Light guidance rules - both horizontal and verticle. This will tell you if you have an argument wrt visbility of sky, obstruction of light etc.

Thanks for this. I found some information, but to me it seems that our situation would not fall into this:
The affected window is the patio door, opening into the garden. The new build (the extension) wall will be erected perpendicular to the wall, i.e. it will be visible from inside the room, with approx. 1.5 - 2m distance from the door. The wall of the extension will probably cause a little bit less light to fall into the room, but this will most likely be not a big difference (given that the straight view into the garden is still not obstructed, and that the extension is not covering the sun, north facing).

In small terraced houses, 3m single-storey extensions with a pitched roof, which are allowed by default, will always reduce the light by a small amount.

If there are other views, please let us know. As we said, we don't want to stop the extension work!