Single Story Extension & awkward neighbour.

murfer007

Hello

I live in a mid terrace house & put in plans to the local council for a single story extension to the rear of the property. All the plans were approved & work was going to start until our neighbour served us a "Party wall act". We instructed the surveyors who sent the relevant letter with the terms to our neighbour who says that he disagrees with all of It & wants another surveyor to do the same again. As we are picking the bill up for all these surveyors we have decided to build the extension on a concrete raft as advised by our survayor, which will take out the option of the party wall act. We are resubmitting the changes to the council & once approved we will go ahead. What I want to know is is there anything else that my neighbour can throw at me to get this building work stopped now or when the building is finished??

Please help as it’s driving me up the wall!!!!

Thanks In advance

Murfer

robnye

no....

i had the possible same problem....

on a loft conversion, needed to go into the joint wall, asked architect to change plans to avoid that, so plans changed, no need to contact the neighbours..... seeing as they wouldnt have replied to the statutory notice, we would have had to go down the same route as you by default.

we where also told, that even if we did go through the loops with the additional survey reports etc (at our cost), the neightbour could not stop the building work going ahead, once approved by the council........

murfer007

Thats good to hear.

He basically doesnt want the extension built & has quoted "right to Light" & all sorts of other things which the survayors through out straight away.

Just need the allterations in the plans to be approved & away we go!!

Thanks

Murfer

boogiemaster

You don’t own a party wall, if the wall was on your deeds? Then he couldn’t do a thing about it.
You could have built a separate wall and built onto that leaving the party wall intact?
He doesn’t have a right to light so you can tell him where to go, tall trees in the garden stopping sunlight is a different matter and can be dealt with by the local council in trimming them down.

He can be taken to court for harassment if he continues to harass you without a good reason? It maybe that he’s jealous and he just doesn’t want you building.
An objection should be made while the notice is up outside your house? If he doesn’t have a good enough reason? The council will throw his objection out.

I can have a conservatory in the back of my house and I don’t need planning permission as long as the roof is all see though.
If I put tiles on my roof it becomes a building? And I need permission.

My dad has built a conservatory and asked if he needed planning permission? They said as long as all the roof was see through? He didn’t need it.
They told him if the roof becomes solid? Then it will because part of the house and will need permission.

[Deleted User]

Comprehensive info about the Party Wall Act can be found at

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1996/1996040.htm

bunking_off

http://www.odpm.gov.uk/stellent/groups/odpm_buildreg/documents/page/odpm_breg_600574.hcsp

is a good reference as well.

I'm not any kind of expert in this field, but I thought the provisions of the party wall act kicked in not only if you're building onto a shared wall, but also if you're building within 3m - or even 6m in some cases - of the boundary (see clause 6 of the Act). To this extent, does your revised plan take your neighbour out of the equation? (or is this the point of putting it on a slab?)

murfer007

The extension is just going across the back of the house & it is the "building within 3m of the property" that is the problem. We only needed building regs as the extension is within the quota of space your allowed.

That is the reason that i have put it on a slab so that there is no more party wall act & they can go suck eggs. I cant wait when we get the go ahead & start the building as they will be having kittens!!

I spoke to someone in legal today through my insurance company & they said that they dont have a leg to stand on about any of it.

I like the sound of the harrasment bit!!

Thanks for all your help & replies so far.

Thanks

Murfer