Neighour's extension on my land

hethmar

Im sorry but I think you will find if you dont stand up to this guy now, you will have more and more liberties taken. We have had a similar situation with the idiot who bought the empty house next door - its been hell while he spent over 2 years renovating it without moving in. He took out our hedge so he could dig shallow/cheaper foundations and was totally gobsmacked that we objected. OMG just read your last post re using YOUR drainage. Are you crazy - definitely do not allow this! Im afraid you are being too nice and he is seeing this as weakness.

The first thing you must do is object to him as otherwise if it does come to legal action he will say you condoned the work by not objecting. Put all your objections in writing and hand the letter to him - dont be aggressive and in the letter put in something like you feel you are a reasonable person and hope to come to a mutual agreement over these problems, so that you dont seem like the aggressor in the matter and do keep a copy. You can always go to your local CAB and have a panel solicitor send him the letter for about £20, which may be your best bet but do it NOW. Ring up the council again and say you are concerned you havent heard anything.

Not sure about the parents interest - Im wondering if thats a sneaky way of stopping your objections to any of the building work until its too late.

I wish you luck. You may want to check out Neighbours from Hell forum.

VictorMeldew

I'm beginning to feel that I've been really stupid now! Up until the second one storey exension went up, and I realised that the two storey extension was on my land, I didn't think that there was anything else I could do about it. I've realised now that he really is taking the p*ss. I also stupidly thought that he could force me to let him use my drain under the party wall act - don't ask me why!

I'll find out exactly where I stand when I talk to RICS and hopefully the council tomorrow, and then I can confront him with some definite facts. I think after that, I'll have to see a solicitor and get some stuff down in writing, before he takes the p*ss even more.

I've always been suspicious of the parents offer to buy the house - it seems too good to be true. They were extremely convincing though, but maybe they've done this before.

hethmar

Well, dont "confront" him, just get all the facts down in writing and see a solicitor to do a letter of objections first. Dont wind yourself up. Yes, very likely he has done this before - our bloke actually said to us, hed been through all this before and he always wins. These bullies rely on people wanting a quiet life.

None of us have met these people so who knows, may be the parents are genuine, but it does all sound a bit of a coincidence doesnt it. If they are genuine then you should see some reaction from them after he receives your solicitors letter. But dont drop your objections if they actually make an offer to buy until you have the contracts exchanged with them.

Keep calm, dont escalate it by going out guns blazing - think what you say before you say it as it may be brought up later. But yes, it sounds like you need to stop being Mr Nice Guy.

The very best of luck.

planning_officer

VictorMeldew wrote: »

Planning_Officer, what happens if he hasn't followed his plans? The one storey extenison on the back isn't on the plans on the council's planning website. Is it just this bit he he needs to apply for retrospective planning permission for, or does the whole extension need permission again?

It's difficult to say without knowing exactly what is being built and what he has permission for. The correct legal approach (which has been tested numerous times at appeal) is if part of a development is not being built in accordance with the plans, then the whole development is unauthorised, as the approved planning drawings are not being followed. For example, if someone builds a single storey extension (which they have permission for) and then they decide to use the flat roof as a balcony and erect railings around the top, the development is not considered to be the implementation of that permission and it's the entire development that is unauthorised, not just the railings.)

So, in this case, if the single storey extension is connected to the two storey extension, your neighbour is not implementing his planning permission and the entire development is unauthorised (including the 2 storey part, even if that part is technically in accordance with the plans). He cannot claim the single storey extension could be permitted development (PD), as he's already used up his PD 'allowance', as confirmed by the presence of the 2 storey extension. So, either way, the single storey extension needs permission and in the absence of it, is unauthorised.

Regarding what happens next, as the development has no permission and is unauthorised, then the council will invite a retrospective planning application - my council gives a time limit of 28 days, not 6 months like debt_free_chick says! That would seem quite unreasonable and any council allowing that kind of time frame would be opening themselves up to an ombudsman complaint! If he doesn't submit an application, the enforcement officer will write a report to the Planning Committee, either for them to authorise enforcement action (i.e. serving an enforcement notice), or to recommend that no further action be taken. The latter approach is taken if the development is clearly acceptable in planning terms and it's not regarded expedient to pursue formal action (basically, if the development is fine in planning terms, there's no point the council serving an enforcement notice, as he will just appeal it and will be granted permission at appeal, also opening up the council to a claim of costs if it was served unreasonably).

However, if enforcement action is authorised by the committee, an enforcement notice will be drafted and served, which will take 28 days to come into effect (this is the statutory period, during which time he can appeal it). After the 28 days are up, he can no longer appeal it and he will have however long the enforcement notice specifies to knock down the extension, say about 2 months. If at the end of this period the extension remains in situ, he is committing a criminal offence and the council can either prosecute in the courts or take direct action, i.e. employ a contractor to enter his land and demolish it, and then recover the costs from him.

hethmar

I would add that a boundary dispute is very expensive so try to avoid using that term in your letter, rely on the objections to the unauthorised buildings in the first instant - and no, the tiles and guttering should not be over your boundary.

cells

VictorMeldew wrote: »

I'm not sure if this is in the right forum, but I could do with a bit of advice about this. My next door neighbour has just built a two storey extension on the side of his house which I am sure crosses over onto my land on one corner. He has also built a one storey extension on the back which is touching my fence, and the tiles of the pitched roof of this extension overhang into my garden. There is no guttering up yet, but when there is, this will overhang even more so.

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.

Also, to make matters even more complicated, the neighbour's parents have expressed an interest in buying my house, but I'm not sure if this is just so that I'm less likely to complain about the extension. I will be moving in the next two years anyway.

Does anyone have any idea about how I set about proving who owns the land, how much a solicitor will be, how likely I am to win assuming that the land is definitely mine, how long it will take and what would be the likely outcome.

Any advice would be most appreciated because I really am not sure what to do!

a lot of people are figuratively NIMBYS but you have the bad luck to actually be one :T


my advice would be, if its only a few cm into your garden be a good nabour and let it go. karma ect.
if it is a lot, then i would advise you go to them and ask for a reasonable sum for them to buy those few cm of land from you. but overall, be nice to each other.

prudryden

cells wrote: »

a lot of people are figuratively NIMBYS but you have the bad luck to actually be one :T


my advice would be, if its only a few cm into your garden be a good nabour and let it go. karma ect.
if it is a lot, then i would advise you go to them and ask for a reasonable sum for them to buy those few cm of land from you. but overall, be nice to each other.

Is that something akin to "give em' an inch and they take a mile"?

cells

prudryden wrote: »

Is that something akin to "give em' an inch and they take a mile"?

is he your mortal enermy? :rolleyes:

him "taking" 2cm of your land isnt a big deal unless you blow it out of porpotion. if i was in the same situation it would not bother me in the slightest.

you should be nice to your neighbours



i will repete my advice.
if it is only a couple of cm then leave it be
if it is enough to concern you go tell them about your concerns and ask them to buy that portion of land at fair market price.
no need to go kick up a fuss where none is due.

be nice to your neighbours

prudryden

cells wrote: »

is he your mortal enermy? :rolleyes:

him "taking" 2cm of your land isnt a big deal unless you blow it out of porpotion. if i was in the same situation it would not bother me in the slightest.

you should be nice to your neighbours



i will repete my advice.
if it is only a couple of cm then leave it be
if it is enough to concern you go tell them about your concerns and ask them to buy that portion of land at fair market price.
no need to go kick up a fuss where none is due.

be nice to your neighbours

Besides, I thought it was a meter on one part.

clutton_2

What odd advice - ""keep calm, dont escalate it by going out guns blazing - think what you say before you say it as it may be brought up later."" -

whilst at the same time advising going to a solicitor to write to him -

if that aint guns blazing i dont know what is .....

for goodness sakes - DONT go to a solicitor just yet - you have no idea how this man will react to a real live discussion with you - but if you dont talk to him - and he gets sols letters - he will be well peeed off and you will then stand no chance of an amicable resolution.

you might choose to print out our Planning Officer's advice here - as your neighbour may not know the consequences of his actions

talk to him first - invite him and his wife round for a cup of tea and go into the garden and talk to him about how his development is affecting you and what the law says - you may be able to resolve it - you wont know if you dont try

bw