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Planning permission, neighbours ' extension

stevec67

pfm Member
My neighbour wants to convert his garage, 6m x 6m, pitched roof, into a granny flat. Crack on, I say. He wants to brick up the front and put in windows. Yeah, OK. However he also wants to extend the garage backwards, making an "L" with the rest of the house and going back to the back fence. Hmm. This would be right up to the boundary and would present the south side of my back garden, about 10 k long, with a single storey building and a pitched roof, so I would be looking at an 8ft wall with another 6-7 feet of roof tiles on top, right on the fence line. No thanks. We've had a friendly chat, I've said politely what I've said here.

He says he's applied for planning permission and appointed an architect. He's flexible (he says) as to what he wants.
How does it work from here? Does he get outline permission, then produce plans, then get the green light? What are the rules? I would like to think that there was some restriction on a homeowner erecting what amounts to a 14ft wall on the fence line of his property and shading his neighbour's garden. How do I go about checking out the plans and if necessary objecting?
 
He says he's applied for planning permission and appointed an architect. He's flexible (he says) as to what he wants.
How does it work from here? Does he get outline permission, then produce plans, then get the green light? What are the rules? I would like to think that there was some restriction on a homeowner erecting what amounts to a 14ft wall on the fence line of his property and shading his neighbour's garden. How do I go about checking out the plans and if necessary objecting?

Our (semi-detached) neighbours have just started on some quite extensive building works - sizeable sideways extension to their house and a single storey double garage at the end of the garden.

We were first notified by letter from the Council about a year ago when the plans were submitted for approval. There were details about the procedure in the letter we got and links to the Planning Office website where the detailed plans were available for us to peruse.

As the plans had no direct impact on our house or garden other than a slight increase in the shadow line where the garage is being built, we saw no real grounds for objecting (other than about 4 months of really annoying builder's traffic and noise)
 
Once he makes a formal planning application, you should be able to find it on your local council's planning portal and object. Public notices will be posted in the area as well.

Problems start if he proceeds at risk without any permission, which he can do - at risk of enforcement to remove the building if he fails to win any appeal against subsequent refusal of permission. That can drag on for bloody ages and cause serious bad blood between neighbours. I've just watched two of our neighbours get a little too heated about a pseudo-commercial development over the road from them (we're in an AONB and we all know it's residential development by stealth, difference is, we're not opposite it and don't really give a shit as it was going to happen eventually anyway).

I'd invite him over to show how it would affect your property and say what you don't want and what you will object to, ask him, please, not to put you in that position and see if you can figure out a compromise - but it sounds like that's where you're heading anyway.
 
Once he makes a formal planning application, you should be able to find it on your local council's planning portal and object. Public notices will be posted in the area as well.

I'd invite him over to show how it would affect your property and say what you don't want and what you will object to, ask him, please, not to put you in that position and see if you can figure out a compromise - but it sounds like that's where you're heading anyway.
Neighbours should also be written to directly by the Planning Officer.

Talk to him by all means but you will know his intentions only when a formal planning application is made.
 
So our neighbours requested a single storey extension quite a long way into the garden on our border . we agreed to this . Then 2 weeks later they moved out and started demolishing their 4 bed house to build a HUGE 8 bed extending out to the back by quite a long way ON THE BORDER with windows overlooking us . All this with no PP at all .

After months we got it stopped till they got PP despite spending thousands on right to light surveys and every other survey known to man . PFM members know the many threads on here with wonderful help from the many surveyors we have

They got it through and now its built . They did have to appoint party wall surveyors because we got in touch with our surveyor and he forced them to issue notices and we got an agreement on party wall as at one point they excavated under our house . [ a house in our road collapsed partially due to this ]

A Party Wall Notice must be given to your neighbours to provide them with notice of the works you intend to carry out to the party wall in question, between two months and a year in advance of the work starting.

Planning permission is not required to serve a party wall notice and, because you will have up to a year to start work once the notice has been served, it is a good idea to do this as soon as possible in order to avoid delays. You should speak to your neighbours in person first before serving written notice in order to reassure them that you are taking the proper route and precautions. This should help you avoid disputes or misunderstandings, and enable a swift agreement to be written up.

You could also give your neighbour details of the Party Wall Act to help them understand the process — point them in the direction of the Party Wall information section on the Government's website.

In order to formally serve notice, you should write to your affected neighbour(s), including your contact information, comprehensive details of the work that you have planned, the date that work will start, as well as any access requirements over their property (perhaps to get materials or equipment onto site). In the case of adjoining leasehold properties, you must serve notice to the building’s owners as well as to the tenant(s) living there.

https://www.fmb.org.uk/find-a-build...rty wall notice?,advance of the work starting.
 
Daughter has just been through this putting an L shaped extension round her house.

The neighbours were polite about being overshadowed which she fixed by turning the roof around 90 degrees so the eaves run along the fence line at about 7' and keeping roof pitch as low as possible.

Didn't add much to her build cost.
 
The pitched roof shouldn't contribute much to shading as in summer the sun will be high enough and, as dweezil notes, perhaps you can persuade them to keep the pitch angle as shallow as possible. Perhaps also, ask them to build back from the boundary by a foot or two, that'll make a useful difference. It's also arguably in their interest, because they'll have easier access for maintenance, clearing gutters, etc, and won't interfere with your boundary fence during the build. Longer term, assuming there are no windows or Velux style roof lights on your side, it'll prevent your garden being overlooked from the back, and might shield you from noise from that direction, which is always a good thing from a selling perspective in built-up areas. In short, try to see the positives, don't dwell on mostly imaginary negatives, and find a solution you can both live with.
 
Watch for overhanging gutters if the build comes right up to the boundary! An overhanging gutter WILL be encroaching on your property and will need to be resolved. Best get that in before it happens - friend of mine has a now multi-year rumbling dispute over exactly this at his holiday home. The two parties are trying to keep it 'friendly' but the resolution is not 'obvious' to either party.
 
yes has to be box gutter fitted to neighbour . we even got a solicitors letter as they would have had an opening window which now is inward opening only
 
I’m pretty certain that they won’t need planning if it’s single storey and the roofline is below 2.4 metres but that may depend on local authority. However they won’t be able to be able to go closer than one metre from the property line before having to go though the mill.
Or at least that was what I was up against when we added an extension 15 years ago, and of course things may have changed.
 


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