Neighour's extension on my land

VictorMeldew

It is only a small amount, just one corner at an angle so that a triangle of the extension, probably about 1 metre down one side and 30cms down the other are one my land. The trouble is, this part is about 1 metre away from a two storey extension on my house(this was already there when I bought the house 7 years ago). Therefore, this looks awful as the two extensions are so close. My house is a semi, and the extension is being built onto an end terrace.

My neighbour has said that I can have some land that is now inaccesible to him now that the extension has been built. I think that in his mind this makes things all square, but I would rather the extension was where it was meant to be and he could keep his land!

If this had been the only issue, then I may have let it pass, but now he's built the one storey extension on the back that is up to my fence with the guttering hanging over (not done yet), then I can't let it pass. It looks awful to me as my back garden is now enclosed on two side with his extension. If I was buying the house it would put me off.

dander

If he's built something that he hasn't got planning permission for it shouldn't need to come to boundary dispute. It should simply be a matter between the planning department and him. If they think what he's done is unacceptable, then they can make him take it down.

If he doesn't have planning permission, he'll have to apply for it retrospectively, and you can oppose it. It won't make him like you, but it won't constitute an issue that has to be declared or taking him to court.

clutton_2

""1 metre down one side and 30cms down the other are one my land. ""

VictorMeldew

He has already had permission for the two storey part of he extension(the bit that is on my land), but the planning department didn't know about the one storey extension until I told them two weeks+ ago.I'm still waiting for them to come out and and look at this. Sorry that this is getting so complicated!

ps he'd already built the two storey extension before he had permission approved. I objected on grounds of overshadowing, privacy etc but it was approved anyway. I'll probably appeal again for the same reasons, but I can't appeal on the grounds of boundaries as the council tell me that this is outside of their remit.

VictorMeldew

clutton wrote: »

""1 metre down one side and 30cms down the other are one my land. ""

So I should just let it drop then?

Debt_Free_Chick

It is pretty near impossible to point to place and say "that's where the boundary is" or "that's where the boundary should be". There is no way of scaling the thickness of the line shown on the title plan, for one reason. And ... boundary markers can move e.g. a fence moved 30 years ago might have been placed 1m either side of the "true" boundary. What you're looking at might not be the boundary at all - who knows?

The only way to be sure is to get some fairly costly research done by a Land Surveyor or Chartered Surveyor specialising in boundary disputes. What if they find that the building is on your land? What will you do? Insist he pulls it down? Or just get him to buy a teeny bit of land? If you agree to sell him the land, you're likely to get less than what it's cost you to dispute the boundary.

I think you should see if you can get a free half hour consultation with a local Surveyor - make sure they specialise in Boundary Disputes - and see what they say.

dander

It definitely needs to be pursued with the planning authorities - especially if he's already done this once before, they will know it wasn't a mistake on his part, but deliberate.

Secondly - the boundary isn't really in dispute if he has offered you a bit of his land as recompense. The best thing you could do is try and get something in writing from him that acknowledges that his extension is on his land - subtley!

If he is forced to try and buy the land off you, you can set the price. You do not HAVE to sell it.

I think you need to speak to planning again, but in their language. It sounds to me that your issue is mainly that the extension is on you land, but to them the issue will be that something has been built without planning permission - at this stage you do not even need to mention the land rights - you just need to get them out to force him into the planning process.

Debt_Free_Chick

dander wrote: »

I think you need to speak to planning again, but in their language. It sounds to me that your issue is mainly that the extension is on you land, but to them the issue will be that something has been built without planning permission - at this stage you do not even need to mention the land rights - you just need to get them out to force him into the planning process.

Definitely don't mention the ownership of the land/boundary dispute. It's not a planning matter; Planning can't do anything about it; hence they will not be interested

As Dander says, if there's a "Planning" issue, then go to the Planning Department with that issue and that issue only.

planning_officer

shirefairy wrote: »

I have informed the council two weeks ago that the building does not conform to the plans submitted (the one storey extension at the back doesn't even appear on them!), but they are yet to send someone out to inspect it, and I don't feel that they are taking my concerns seriously.


Call the planning department and ask to speak to the development control manager. Threaten an 'ombudsman complaint'...there'll be around in a flash.

Just because the council haven't been out 2 weeks after you telling them about it doesn't mean they're not taking it seriously. The council I work for aims to visit sites within 3 weeks of receiving a complaint - at the end of the day, if something is unauthorised, the same enforcement procedures will be followed whether it's visited the day after you making your complaint or a month later.

Threatening the ombudsman won't make any difference, as if the council's procedures are to visit, say, within 3 weeks, then they're following procedures and a local government ombudsman won't listen to a complaint.

The council doesn't hold boundary records though so won't be able to help with that one - the only thing they can help with is if the plans aren't being followed (even if the boundary line is wrongly shown on the planning application drawings, as long as the building works are in accordance with the plans, there's nothing the council can do - landownership is purely a civil issue, not a planning one.)

You do say though that the single storey extension isn't on the plans - so maybe they're not following the approved plans after all?

VictorMeldew

Unless the fence has been in the wrong place then he has definitely crossed the boundary, but I understand what your saying DFC.

From what people are saying on here, I doubt very much I'll want to carry it through all the way to court. I want him to know that there is a possibilty of further action unless his parents buy my house and take the problem off my hands. I realise that this isn't a very nice thing to do and is effectively holding him to ransom, but as I said before, I think that as it is now the extension would put other people off from buying as it is so close to my house.

There is also an issue of a fence post that he has to move so that I can get a fence back up between the two properties. When I asked him about this in the past he fobbed me off saying that the wall of his extension would look nice when it's been rendered! I can't believe how soft and stupid I've been to let him get away with this up to now.

Looking on the net, it looks like I should have had a Party Wall notification which I havent. Does anyone know the significance of this?

I've chickened out of going round today! I'm going to talk to the RICS advisor tomorrow and see what is involved in taking it further first.