Property Boundary / Planning Permisison for a shed

michalroman94

Long story short, we've bought our house in 2022... We've recently built a shed in the back garden but our neighbour doesnt like the fact that we have a dog so complained to the council that we didnt have planning permission.. they said we need one because she shed lies in front of the front of the house..  We are a corner house where one side of the house is linked to the side of another house and our back garden connects to another house that runs perpendicular.. the rear garden fence line has been moved by the previous tennants, to sit closer to the pavement so it now sits in front of the front door and porch if that makes sense.. anyhow, we submitted the planning permission but just had an email that stated the following

"However, it has been brought to light ,that the land upon which the building is situated, was not part of the original garden area, and as such, the use of the land to extend your existing garden area would have required planning consen,t for a change of use of land, to enlarge your existing garden area....

... As this use has never had planning consent, the land upon which your outbuilding is situated is currently an unauthorised use, and I would advise that an application be submitted to  regularise this matter, by applying for a change the use of this land.  The planning application forms (full planning forms) are available on the Councils website.  The requisite fee for a change of use is £578."

I have checked the plans including the land registery and the local search of the council and this has the whole rear garden, house and front garden as our land. Do we really have to get planning permission to move a fence? ( Which was done by previous tennants). 

How likely is it all to be accepted? The shed is away from anyones building lines and doesnt affect any lighting whatsoever..

Thankyou (id attached pictures but its not letting me). 

bryanb

You can fence in your land without any sort of permission. Can you prove it is your land?

michalroman94

bryanb said:

You can fence in your land without any sort of permission. Can you prove it is your land?

The below are from the land registery and from the local council search when we bought the property. The fence line has been moved further right but still within out property boundary.

BarelySentientAI

bryanb said:

You can fence in your land without any sort of permission. Can you prove it is your land?

Unless there are planning conditions, covenants or other restrictions that say you cannot.  Or restrictions about the height of fence, sightlines from road junctions, etc...

Not so simple as you suggest.

michalroman94 said:

... As this use has never had planning consent, the land upon which your outbuilding is situated is currently an unauthorised use, and I would advise that an application be submitted to  regularise this matter, by applying for a change the use of this land.  The planning application forms (full planning forms) are available on the Councils website.  The requisite fee for a change of use is £578."

How likely is it all to be accepted? 

I'm reading this as them hinting "we will accept the change of use and everything will be fine".

Some councils have planning advice lines where you might get a clearer idea of their likely response.

Of course, you could just not submit change of use and then move the fence back and remove the shed - although I think that's likely to cost more than £578.

ThisIsWeird

michalroman94 said:

bryanb said:

You can fence in your land without any sort of permission. Can you prove it is your land?

The below are from the land registery and from the local council search when we bought the property. The fence line has been moved further right but still within out property boundary.

It is really frustrating trying to work out what the actual situation on the ground is.

Any chance of adding info to one of these plans to show where the fence currently is, where this shed currently is, the size and type of shed, and - importantly - what your deeds might say about what you can not do in front of your house?

Even beyond the deeds, there are usually Planning restrictions on things like the fence height, especially at corners where it can reduce visibility for traffic. And any type of construction forwards of the house front.

On a seemingly connected issue, why does this neighbour not like you having a dawg?

michalroman94

ThisIsWeird said:

michalroman94 said:

bryanb said:

You can fence in your land without any sort of permission. Can you prove it is your land?

The below are from the land registery and from the local council search when we bought the property. The fence line has been moved further right but still within out property boundary.

It is really frustrating trying to work out what the actual situation on the ground is.

Any chance of adding info to one of these plans to show where the fence currently is, where this shed currently is, the size and type of shed, and - importantly - what your deeds might say about what you can not do in front of your house?

Even beyond the deeds, there are usually Planning restrictions on things like the fence height, especially at corners where it can reduce visibility for traffic. And any type of construction forwards of the house front.

On a seemingly connected issue, why does this neighbour not like you having a dawg?

Apologies for the B-tech Art drawing.. white is our property boundary including front and rear garden. Blue is old fence line, red is new fence line and yellow is the shed. The shed is under all the usual allowed measurements and usually wouldnt require planning permission but apparently because it lies forward of the property it does..

The fence line was moved by the previous tennants to enlarge the garden. Both the above documents show it to be on our land..

Currently abroad till Thursday but will have a look at the deeds when we return.. not sure it really affects traffic as its away from a junction etc. 

God knows why he hates the dog. He does have a few cats but our dog causes them no issues. We are quite respectable and don't keep him outside barking for ages (not like that is anything to do with him..). He was really friendly with us but completely switched once we got a dog and doesnt even say hello..

ThisIsWeird

Worth checking your deeds, too, for any possible restrictions.

But, as far as I understand this - which is not that far - Planning will likely have standard restrictions on the height of boundary walls fronting pavements and highways, typically being limited to around 1m for visibility reasons. Your red fence doesn't front, so I don't see how it can come under this, presuming it's no more than 2m high (but check deeds too...) I mean, I doubt they could stop you putting a boundary fence between you and the neighbour 'below' you - that horizontal white line, although it may need to stop/step-down before it reaches the pavement.

And also, such Planning height restrictions often do not apply to hedges in the same place (check deeds...), so if you replaced that red fence with a 3m hedge - completely hiding the shed - there is likely nothing anybody could do about it - although they'd still be aware of the presence of the shed, of course.

Don't quote the above as fact. But, if correct, then it shows the silliness of some planning actions.

Having said that, there are good aesthetic reasons for restricting wot folk can put in their front gardens, and we wouldn't want shedworld.

And if your dog is barking excessively, then, you know :-)

onomatopoeia99

You generally need PP for any outbuilding forward of the house in respect of the highway, which the yellow blob is.  Have a look on planning portal, it explains what is usually permitted development and what needs PP.