Neighour's extension on my land

cruella_de_vile

Phew! Just read the whole thread in one go!

My only suggestion would be to get an estate agent round to give you a valuation on what the house is worth and ask them if that valuation would be any different without your neigbours extention, it will give you some idea on how you are going to be affected financially and take it from there.

squoog

Why spend all your savings on this with no guarantee of a good outcome. If you are planning to move, could you rent out this house to a large group of students and suggest to them that it would make an ideal party house!!! Sorry, I know its not much help but they do say revenge is sweet.

pinkshoes

cruella_de_vile wrote: »

Phew! Just read the whole thread in one go!

My only suggestion would be to get an estate agent round to give you a valuation on what the house is worth and ask them if that valuation would be any different without your neigbours extention, it will give you some idea on how you are going to be affected financially and take it from there.

You'd also have to take into consideration how many buyers would be put off due to this issue.

It's simple saying that it's now worth say £30k less due to the extention, but what use is that £30k if the extention means you can't sell?

And anyone who did try to buy it, would no doubt pull out when the solicitors discovered the issue of the extension crossing the boundary.

The best option would be to get the neighbour to buy the property at what it was worth BEFORE the extention was built.

chouchoutan

Regarding the visit from your local Councillor - I've worked in local government for quite a few years (not in planning!) and in this particular authority Councillors have a lot of power. They are able to take complaints to the highest levels which means that people will get leant on all the way down the chain. In my dept if a Councillor was involved then you got it sorted asap before it got all the way to the head of service.

Don't know if this is the case in other areas but I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

hethmar

If you go to small claims Vic, you get nothing back from the other side.

Our NFH told planning he would remove the hedge so he could do shallower foundations. The fact is was OUR hedge made no difference to planning - thats not their remit apparently

When NFH removed said hedge he firstly claimed a boundary dispute - we spent 6 weeks getting evidence, including witness statements back 50 years and then when our solicitor contacted him to bring his evidence he just rang and said he no longer disputed the boundary but he had only trimmed the hedge (20/30 foot gap next to our patio!). He had told us at the very beginning, he always wins, that he could see we couldnt afford to take him to court and he would drag it out for years. Which he has done - "cleverly" sending frequent nonsense 1 sentence long letters to our solicitors in the belief it would cost us £50 every time he did so. When he discovered we had legal cover he turned very nasty - but thats another story.

What Im trying to say is, take good advice about the likelihood of a successful case and also which way to handle it so that you will be able to claim back your costs.

I know exactly how you feel about not being able to live with yourself. Even our first solicitor (before we realised we had legal insurance) said why dont you just drop it. But how can you and still have self pride?

I wish you every success. Hopefully your guy wont be as calculating as ours.

space_rider

squoog wrote: »

Why spend all your savings on this with no guarantee of a good outcome. If you are planning to move, could you rent out this house to a large group of students and suggest to them that it would make an ideal party house!!! Sorry, I know its not much help but they do say revenge is sweet.

That`s an excellent idea.

VictorMeldew

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and support. I've thought of getting an estate agent out and asking them to value the house. Maybe they'd say that the extension wouldn't have much effect on the price and saleability and then I won't have to worry about it as much.

I have thought about letting the house out as well. If I need to move before the dispute is over then I could always let it out for a while.

I couldn't let it to partying students though. For one, my next door neighbour on the other side is a lovely old man and I wouldn't do this to him, and for another the prat who owns the extension would probably want to join them - he's had a few late night parties since moving in himself.

I phoned the council again today, the bloke who answered knew my name before I'd even told him! I was asking about the 'right-to-reply' complaint that I made a month ago. I was meant to get a reply after 14 days but haven't heard anything. They left a message for the planning officer to get back to me and explain why it hasn't been done yet. I'm not holding my breath though!

marybishop

Victor - Sorry just catching up and haven't read through the whole thread again but is your surveyor a specialist in boundary disputes? That's what you really need if you are willing to go down that route. Is he RICS qualified and does he specialise in boundary issues. You need one with experience in this sort of thing. Apologies if you've already answered this before!!

VictorMeldew

He is RICS qualified but don't think he's a specialist in boundary issues, so I will have to pay for an 'expert witness' which apparently costs mega-bucks. My surveyor did tell me this right at the very start. I spoke to a few surveyors and he sounded the least gung-ho and reasonable of them all. I've spoken to him a few times now and he's a really nice bloke. I will trust his judgement when it comes to deciding what to do.

marybishop

Victor - he might be a really nice bloke but you need someone who knows what's he's doing with something as complicated as this. After all it could potentially cost you a lot of money - you don't want to waste it on someone who doesn't have the right experience. Did you phone the RICS and ask for surveyors who specialise in boundary issues? Some offer 30 mins free advice over the phone. Believe me, this is a specialist area especially if it goes to Court - you really need someone who knows what he/she's doing. Who told you an expert witness would cost mega bucks?