moncchichi

The SE just has not been very helpful or proactive. And at this point in the project I don’t want to have to change SE. I have read that many times, BC ‘decides’ what is acceptable, even when an engineered foundation design was proposed. Can you advise, if the NHBC/LABC guidance or rules are not followed, would this affect the structural warranty? Thank you.

Thanks. I’m afraid they would not be put off with the time and cost, just based on what had happened with the previous owner. I was only trying to avoid serving party wall in case this would result in long delays and costs. I read in BH someone getting a bill of £10k because the neighbour challenged everything which used a substantial amount of the party wall surveyors time. Hopefully they will be more reasonable! I have now contacted building controls. Will try to get an idea of what they would accept for the foundation.

Thanks I have now assumed 2m trench but still pondering whether other piling options should still be a consideration. The cost is about the same but I am aware that the piling depth can be unpredictable which can drive up the cost.

Thank you, appreciate your input and time. The seller’s solicitor did provide a dispute form so I don’t think there is anything I can hold the seller against, unless they have tried to hide something by not providing the report. But yes, if the situation escalates then I will be going back to the solicitor. I can see that from the planning correspondence, the neighbour have raised discrepancies with the measurements and the accuracy of the daylight and assessment (they also seem to be well versed on the BRE standards). Not sure if it was with merit or whether they were just throwing whatever they can to challenge and object the planning. So far I have only communicated with the neighbours verbally but have recently provided them with my home address as a contact point. So any further contact will be formal and I hope this will encourage them to provide me with the details I need to try and move this forward.

I have read that right to light insurance can be quite pricey, starting from £7000 and only really considered on a commercial level. Not sure if anyone in BH has taken out right to light insurance before?

I would hope so too. This is already their second chance, first with the previous owner and now me, so I am hoping that the judge would also take this into consideration.

Thank you, really appreciate the info. This BRE209 standard was used for assessing the daylight and sunlight. I did not know that the same assessment can be applied for right to light. I know that the right to light also accounts for non habitable rooms. With regards to insurance, I did already consider this but the right to light specialist did not think it was an option since the dispute already involved solicitors and court. But I will explore that option once the right to light results and the report comes through. Will keep you posted.

No I believe the neighbour knows exactly what they are talking about as in their planning objections they state loss of daylight/sunlight, overshadowing, overlooking and loss of privacy which are separate to right to light issues.

Thank you for the advice. -The plot is an infill, in a city. So the proposed development is within 1-2m from the neighbour. -the solicitor is from an established firm that have several offices in south east, qualified in the past 3-4 years. - I am not changing the designing. The right to light issue is unknown, as either sides have not shared details. - I was able to get in touch with the seller directly via the architect. I did not know either parties before. As mentioned I did not ask for details during the sale via the solicitors since I was confident the issue had been ‘resolved’, from the sellers response and from the info provided in the planning report. - I would say the neighbour has more tendency to get lawyers involved whereas I don’t have the spare funds to do so.

Thank you for the suggestions. I do have some money in cash which will be used for the build. And I plan to fund the rest of the build with the sale of my home (hopefully soon but the market is very quiet). I did check CIL (I actually was not aware of such levy until I saw some discussion on BH). Thanks again!

Thank you. I would have liked to but unfortunately the deed does not allow mobile homes on site so unfortunately it is not an option. And yes getting the measurements and elevations correct to a tee is going to be ever so important given the sensitivity of the issue.

Thank you for your response. So the right to light was never highlighted or discussed with my solicitor. As I mentioned I was aware of the right to light but from my understanding of the info provided to me, it seemed to be resolved but the seller never really used the word ‘resolved’ - they only stated that following the scaled back proposal and sharing of right to lights assessment to the neighbour, the neighbour did not provide any comment or pursue anything further. The whole claim of info being ‘legally privileged’ came directly from the seller (not via the solicitors) after completion of the land purchase and after I had met the neighbour whose response provoked me to revisit the right to light issue. When I asked the neighbour to provide details, they refused. So am not really sure what their strategy is as they do not want to cooperate at all.

There were details of the claim and then the final decision. Nothing else provided by previous owner. I know that the neighbour’s lawyers had communication with previous owner’s lawyers but again this information could not be shared since it is legally privileged.

Yes, the right to lights was done by previous owner. My solicitor did not even flag this up and I should have asked but from what I read on the planning permission it had seemingly been resolved (my understanding is that according to the planners, there is no right to light injury but also states it is not for them to make that conclusion) so I did not think it was still an issue. The neighbours are very difficult and persistent. They challenge every detail (with merit or not) and have already taken this to court over several occasions with the previous owner.

Unfortunately the right to lights is not dealt with by the planners as it is a civil matter. So the planning permission does not give me the assurance I need. I am keeping to the scaled back development. I am not permitted access to the right to lights assessment that was carried out before because apparently it is legally privileged. I have came across a case. See link to the article: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3563513/amp/Dentist-GP-wife-face-200-000-plus-bill-building-extension-planning-permission-1-65m-home-blocked-neighbours-light.html

Thank you for the detailed response. I have taken information e.g. floor plans available from public records and did try the council but they only archive information from the past 10-15 years. An external survey has been done with laser scanner. However the right to light specialist states that the wall layout inside the rooms would also have an impact and therefore without being able to survey what is inside, then there will always be a risk. With regards to overshadowing, a Daylight and Sunlight assessment has already been carried out during the planning stage and was used as input for the planning decision. I do have the soil report and tree influence diagram as well as an extensive arboricultural report. But I am hesitant to share publicly. The sand and gravel has less than 35% fines, the underlying clayey sand is of low to medium plasticity (22%). Significant desiccation found at 2m at the front of the property. The tree root protection area extends to the south east corner of the development and only impacts 1% of the floor area. Girth is about 900mm and height about 14m. SE wants to use mature tree height for calculations. Since I am thinking of taking out structural warranty, I presume I must follow the requirements dictated in the technical manual from BC/NHBC or similar. Unfortunately the tree is not on my land and I cannot wait 18 months. I took a large mortgage to cover the land purchase and with these high interest rates, every day of delay has significant impact on the financials. I am willing to pay more for an engineered foundation but the SE suggested I go direct to the piling specialist for the design and install. I was thinking of assuming a shallow simple foundation for now until I can get more info from the local authority building controls on what is the likely accepted solution. I am concerned that even if it is smooth sailing to the point when it comes to excavating at 1m for shallow simple foundation and if the building controls request for deeper foundation then I would then be excavating below the neighbours foundation which would trigger the PWA. And then it would be a length wait until that is resolved. The other potential option is to assume a simple deep foundation, and get the PWA done on that basis. Although I have been told that if any of the information provided along with the PW notice changes then it could invalidate the notice.

It did come up as the history behind the objections from neighbour were highlighted. The planning department indicated that Right to Light issues is a civil matter.

Hi everyone First time self-builder here. Purchased land with planning permission for a small detached house (85m2 foot print). I’m just at the point of construction drawings being developed for submission to building controls. I currently have 2-3 issues to resolve and hope you can provide advice. Right to Light: The previous owner of the land had issues with the neighbour who are completely against the development and claimed right to light which seemingly had been resolved as the proposed development was cut back in scale with guidance from right to light surveyor. Unfortunately I was not given details or access to the right to light report. I met the neighbour and was advised it has not been resolved. Therefore for my piece of mind I have decided to appoint a right to light surveyor to carry out another assessment however the neighbours will not allow access to their property (and never did even with the previous owner) to allow an accurate survey to be made. Therefore only publicly available information on floor plans and external dimensions can be taken. Has anyone had any previous experience with how to handle this? I was told that the right to light insurance would not be available and going ahead with the development would come with risk. But I cannot afford not to go ahead with the development due to the high debts taken for the land purchase that would probably exceed compensation if it ever came to that. Foundations: I had a soil investigation carried out which showed high bearing capacity, approx 1-1.6m sand/gravel with underlying clayey sand which would have enabled me to go for 1m strip foundation. However I was advised by SE that due to the oak tree approx 7m away from the front of the house that 2.2-2.5m foundation depth would be required at the front of the development which can be stepped back. Since it is possible that there could be sufficient sand/gravel layer, I may be able to revert to the foundation depth for non shrinkable soils i.e 1m. The SE is not confident as it can fall either one way or the other and advised pile foundations but I have read some forums and saw raft foundations or even a combination of the two being mentioned. SE does not recommended raft foundations at all given the approx 1m of ground that would need to be removed. Any advice with which one to go for in terms of pricing and depth of excavations likely required? Party Wall: Given the difficulty of the neighbour I would like to avoid having to give party wall notice for excavation notice. Can anyone ascertain whether screw piles below neighbour foundation level within 3m is notifiable under the act? I have read so many articles and forums. Some state piling (even screw piles) is notifiable and some indicate/suggest no. I have also read the party wall act and the thing that sticks out to me is that it indicates excavation or any part of the building or structure that is below neighbour foundation is notifiable. Therefore I would think screw foundation comes under this. Have I interpreted this correctly? Thank you in advance for your help!