Bobby Dazzler

Thanks Buzz. Are you saying that if we use this raft foundation method we can go closer than 3 metres without invoking PWA ? I still fear the fact we are on a substantially lower level than them may prove to be an issue. We're trying to get the builder over to hopefully answer a few issues.

Funnily enough the original plan was for just that, a 600 mm gap I think but we had a plan B done as well at 800 mm gap. Mrs BD has just confirmed that their excuse is that they need to check the guttering. And yes they are bullying us, I'm hopping mad but they're very good at it and they're so much more sussed than us. We're seemingly having circles run around us. It's a trade off between standing up for yourself and how much stress and uncertainty you can take. I'm still taking all the fantastic advice on board as well, can't thank you all enough.

The houses are early 70's. There's also the guttering to consider which is quite high up so may use that to justify scaffolding. I'm just playing devils advocate for the inevitable obfuscation they'll be throwing at us.

Thanks Peter, the plot thickens. They're as slippery as a barrel of greased ferrets. How would a surveyor normally inspect a wall in a situation like this and is there any recent legislation Health and Safety wise they could use to attempt to justify using scaffolding.

A small update..... Mrs Bobby Dazzler has just got back from speaking to her. I'm banned from speaking to her as diplomacy is definitely not my middle name. Nothing constructive particularly, mostly entirely irrelevant stuff trying to persuade her we didn't need it !! although she did mention she wanted to get people around with scaffolding to check her wall etc. Sounds highly suspect to me being as they didn't use scaffolding in the two previous visits (in 23 years). Setting a precedent perhaps ? I daresay they'll site Health and Safety as a reason. Trouble is we can't really refuse as they do have a right to inspect and can (currently) erect scaffolding quite easily.

thanks Saveasteading. That sounds like a very reasonable approach.

Agreed thanks. I suspect that their ground level being higher than ours will not be good news in terms of avoiding the party wall issue.

Indeed Joe, she really is a control freak. What I really need is someone who could simply sit in a machine with whirly things going around and absorb the world knowledge on housing law.

Thanks Jimbo. We just need to be as sure as possible that they couldn't enforce a demolition order if we did build. Solicitors who specialise in this field are extremely hard to locate (even tried Law Society website) and presumably eye wateringly expensive and we're on a rather tight budget. We read that boundary disputes are one of the most lucrative fields for the legal profession.

Hi all. Here's a rough sketch and a couple of snips from the architect plans. Thanks again!

hi Peter, it's a single storey kitchen.

Thanks so much everyone for all the good ideas. I'll try and get a rough sketch sorted today and post it. Our biggest worry and the thing holding us back is the (possibly incorrect) fear that the worst case scenario is we could build our extension then they manage to get a court injunction forcing us to demolish it.

Vert true Mike, though I doubt they would take that view point.

Yes that's right. Also they are on a higher ground level than us as the entire street is on a slope with us near the top and them one higher. I suppose this would make triggering the 45 degree rule more likely ??. (i'm pretending to know what I'm talking about here).

Hi Saveasteading The QS is the neighbours relative, so yes a rather biased view. The neighbour did let slip that she feared it would devalue her property, this I suspect is the real cause of the rigorous opposition. The wall in question is the north wall of their house so we'd be in big trouble if we strayed into their living room..