Neighour's extension on my land

VictorMeldew

I've just sent this to the planning officer:

Dear Mr xxxxxx,

As you are well aware, the single-storey extension at the rear that I am referring to was not erected before the two-storey extension. You will recall that I specifically explained to you in a telephone conversation on Monday 9th of June, that the existing one storey extension had recently been extended, and that this part of the extension did not (and still does not) appear on the plans. You agreed to arrange for an enforcement officer to come out and inspect this extension. I have a written reply from yourself following this inspection (dated 10th of June) stating that the extension conforms to the plans. This is despite the fact that the new one-storey extension at the rear does not appear on them. How can this be?

So that there can be no more confusion in this matter, I enclose a link to a photograph of the extension clearly showing the old and new parts of the rear one-storey extension. For your information, the pebble-dashed part on the right of this picture is the old existing extension, the breeze-block part on the left is the new part, having being erected in the past month AFTER the two-storey extension:

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh283/Bethsdad/DPP_0137-1.jpg

The reason that I am pursuing this is not out of pettiness. It is due to the fact that both the one and two-storey extensions trespass partly onto my land. I am aware that the council are not involved in boundary disputes, but would like the opportunity to object to the whole extension again in the event of my neighbour's plans being resubmitted. This is so that I have explored all other avenues before I proceed with legal action.

Yours sincerely......

What do oyu think? Too snotty?!

clutton_2

give him a time frame within which you would like a response

hethmar

Did you say you had checked your insurers to see if this dispute would be covered?

Have you mentioned to planning/building regs re the new guttering hanging over your side yet?

SquatNow

I'de include a printout of the pic if you're sending a letter!

if you're sending an email I'de send a hard copy special delivery.

The stupid thing about all this, is, if it goes to court, the judge will find in the OPs favour and make the neighbour tear the whole thing down and start again, and will award costs against the neighbour.

Theres no debate over it... how can the neighbour have been so stupid as to build on next doors land? The costs will bankrupt the neighbour!

VictorMeldew

Unfortunately I don't have legal cover on my house insurance.

I hope things are as straightforward as that SquatNow, my surveyor said that things are rarely torn down once they have been built. Some sort of compensation is normally the outcome, I think would I'd rather have the thing torn down though now I'm so fed up with it.

No response yet from the planning officer, I'll email him again and put the pressure on.

hethmar

Unfortunately squat, things are never as simple as that - we know to our cost that the blindingly obvious does not always win the day.

count_rostov

Even if a boundary is redrawn and there is no dispute, it can take years for it to be sorted out. About five years ago a house was built next to my parents' and the boundary line was redrawn slightly. Both plots were still the same size but the boundary was straightened. There was no argument and no need to exchange monies. It took FOUR YEARS for the lawyers and the land registry to sort it out! Obviously, it would have taken much longer if they were arguing or it had gone to the land court.
If either party had wanted to sell (neither of them did) they'd have been really stuck as any reputable conveyancer would have been very careful of a property with an apparent boundary dispute. If your neighbours parents are serious, snap their hand off!

planning_officer

Good email to the planning officer Victor - although like jobags says earlier in this thread, before you take it to the Local Government Ombudsman, you need to have exhausted the Council's complaints procedure, i.e. send a written letter by post to the Chief Executive of the Council giving full details of every telephone conversation you've had with the planners and the reasons why you consider their advice to be wrong.

From a planning perspective, the reply from the planning officer mentions that the only new part to the rear is the roof - whilst that is obviously new, did it form part of the planning permission? If it did, then either the single storey extension (the breeze block 'bit') must have been shown on the plans, or else your neighbour has also extended the roof over unlawfully, i.e. if the planning permission drawings shows a new pitched roof over the existing single storey rear extension, then he's extended it over the 'new' bit without permission too. Surely the enforcement officer can't have missed that too?

VictorMeldew

Thanks planning officer for your help. I've not seen on any plans the new breeze block bit of the extension. If any one wants to have a look at the plans they're on the Liverpool city council planning site, and the reference is 08H/0408

I've had a reply from my previous email :

Mr xxxxxxxxx

You have not spoken to me regarding this matter, you have probably been
speaking with a xxxxx xxxxxxx from the Enforcement Division of the City
Council. All correspondence between ourselves has been via email or
letter.

The additional single-storey extension may well have been constructed
after the two-storey extension, but as part of the same building scheme,
this would be difficult to prove in a legal capacity. If the applicant
were to apply retrospectively for the extension, it would be approved as
it conforms to current policy standards.

On any planning consent involving works near to a party boundary, an
Informative is attached to ensure applicants are aware of potential
boundary issues. I have attached a current Ordnance Survey plan of the
property showing the party boundary between the properties. As you have
stated, such matters are an issue of civil law under boundary disputes,
and this may help your investigations, as it may explain the "kink" in
the boundary line between the properties

Regards


So basically he's denying he spoke to me and saying that the new breeze block bit of the extension was already there! This is seriously beginning to annoy me now. I'd love your opinion on this planning_officer if you about. BTW whats an 'Informative' when should have I recieved one and whats in it because I've certainly never had one?

VictorMeldew

I got realy annoyed and wrote this:

Mr xxxxx

I distinctly remember that it was you with whom I spoke on Monday 9th of
June regarding this matter - there is not a doubt in my mind about this. You
introduced yourself as John Dagnall, the planning officer in charge of the
application. You said that you yourself would go out to inspect the building
which I though was strange as I had been previously told that this would be
the job of an enforcement officer. In fact on Thursday 29th May when I
originally informed the council of the new one-storey extension I was told
that Helen Brennan would be out within two days to inspect the property.
When I questioned you about why this hadn't happened on 9th of June, you
said that there had been a mix-up.

If a planning/enforcement officer did indeed inspect the property on either
the 9th or 10th of June, then did they not notice the obviously new
extension? It says in your letter that the development 'has been carried out
wholly in accordance with the approved plans', yet again the new one-storey
extension does not appear on them Also, the pitched roof mentioned on the
application only refers to being over the existing extension, not over the
new extension. Who was the officer that carried out the site inspection that
you refer to in your letter?

If the council needs proof that the one storey extenison is new, then I
would be happy to supply written statements from the surrounding neighbours
to this effect.

I suspect that no-one has been out to inspect the property and you have
taken it upon yourself to pass the application despite me telling you of the
new one-storey extension. When I questioned why it was passed in my email,
you firstly say that the extension was done under Personal Development
Rights, when I disprove this you then say that the extension was already
there despite it being patently obvious to anyone looking at the photograph
that it is new, and now you start to deny phone calls made between us. At
first I thought it was just apathy that made you pass the application, but
the more you try to worm your way out of this, the more I am beginning to
question your motives. I feel that I have no option but to escalate this to
a complaint.

Yours sincerely...


Probably a bit strong but this bloke is really annoying me now. It seems like he knows he's done wrong, ut just won't admit it.