Neighbour's Extension: my rights

liuaq

Hi:
My neighbourhood has planning permission/building regs approval to build a garage extension right next to our boundary.I

He may need access to our land and block our garage in order to do this: scaffolding etcetera.

We have told him that he needs a Party Wall Agreement but does anyone know what our rights to access/compensation are?

We don't think he'll be building on the party wall but right next to it.

We want to say no because we need access to our garage and don't want to give him perpetual access rights.

Any advice? Thanks.

jonnydeppiwish!

PWA agreement if within 3m of any of you’re foundations then definitely, compensation - no hope. As for access, you don’t have to allow them to have any, but it’s nice for neighbourly relations

jonnydeppiwish!

Also, if you don’t allow them access, you could end up with a very ugly block wall instead of a nicely finished brick wall.

Section62

jonnydeppiwish! said:

Also, if you don’t allow them access, you could end up with a very ugly block wall instead of a nicely finished brick wall.

It depends what they said on the planning application - if the wall is shown as being in facing bricks then it would mean them not building in accordance with the approved plans if they swapped to blocks.

But I agree about giving them access by agreement - no point in being difficult and ending up with them getting a court order for access.

liuaq

Jonnydeppiwish: like the name!

Ta for the advice.

Unfortunately, our neighbour has been a ..blank.. from the get-go, not even warning us of the planning application and expecting us to be walked all over because we were nice in the past, sad, relations are now strictly via the surveyor but we'll play by the book.

Give some people an inch and they take a yard, you learn the hard way.

We've discovered that if your neighbour wants to develop to your disadvantage, you are pretty much...insert relevant...

liuaq

Section62 said:

jonnydeppiwish! said:

Also, if you don’t allow them access, you could end up with a very ugly block wall instead of a nicely finished brick wall.

It depends what they said on the planning application - if the wall is shown as being in facing bricks then it would mean them not building in accordance with the approved plans if they swapped to blocks.

But I agree about giving them access by agreement - no point in being difficult and ending up with them getting a court order for access.

I think the problem is that without access they won't be able to complete the pointing properly, cheers.

Brie

If you need access to your garage then the simple answer is to say no to the scaffolding blocking it.  Scaffolders are generally very good about putting stuff up to allow them to do a job properly.  It might be helpful to write a letter stating that you can't allow your garage to be blocked so that he can't say he didn't know, didn't understand.  

liuaq

Brie: thanks for the suggestion.
The irony is that they want to build a garage (in front of their existing garage?) because they are paranoid about car theft but while they are building it we may not be able to keep our car safe in our garage!
Fascinating fact: legally, you can call the police if someone blocks your drive/garage but they can then prevent you from putting it back and the police don't care! It becomes a civil matter, so get your cheque book out or lump it.

Ectophile

Your right is to tell them that they cannot access your land, unless they make it worth your while.  Impose any conditions you like.

There is a law allowing access to neighbours' land for building repairs.  But it only applies to things that were built before that law was enacted.  It doesn't allow a right of access for building new things.

Doozergirl

Ectophile said:

Your right is to tell them that they cannot access your land, unless they make it worth your while.  Impose any conditions you like.

There is a law allowing access to neighbours' land for building repairs.  But it only applies to things that were built before that law was enacted.  It doesn't allow a right of access for building new things.

But it does look like you're being petty for the sake of it and the bricklayers can't point up properly so you end up staring at an ugly wall.  So if you're trying to do it to their detriment it backfires and karma comes knocking immediately 🙈. Even if nothing is said, the bricklayer knows it's the neighbours being difficult.  

OP, of all the extensions I've managed, not one customer has ever said they were doing it to 'develop to their neighbours disadvantage'.  They do it for themselves and when they have planning permission for it they are absolutely within their rights to do so.  

It has nothing to do with deliberately disadvantaging the neighbours.  They're genuinely excited for themselves.  

I've also been on the receiving end of new development.  I put in my objection but when planning was granted I treated the developer with the same courtesy with which I would hope to be treated.  He said we were the nicest of everyone around and we ended up benefitting a couple of times as a result.   It was never personal.  

FreeBear

jonnydeppiwish! said: PWA agreement if within 3m of any of you’re foundations then definitely

Even within 3m, a PWA may not be required. It also depends on how deep the new foundations are being dug.