Becks1974

Too expensive for us, plus I wouldn't want him as our immediate neighbour as he is a selfish git

Thanks all - I can't just sit back and do nothing as we have worked hard to obtain necessary planning consents for our extension to ensure we get everything right - he is so smug and swans around thinking he can do as he pleases - I might just lodge a formal notification to the enforcement department - it's just they take forever to sort things out by which time he'd have probably sold the house and it would fall on the new owners (which I wouldn't want). With regards to his new bathroom, he moved it from downstairs to upstairs, so it would have been subject to Building regs, however I know he can just sort this by taking out an indemnity insurance which is cheaper than building regs.

Hello, My Neighbour has inherited the house that he is currently renovating (he actually lives next door to the house he is renovating). He has made some substantial changes to the property, he has moved bathrooms around, built a massive raised patio at the back of the house (10m long x 2.5m wide x 1.5 m high), changed the front of the property to incorporate a double off road parking bay - we live in a conservation area. He has NOT got any sort of planning permissions for any of the works he has carried out - I know he has to have permission for the raised patio area as it is above 300mm high (plus the fact it is in a conservation area). Since he inherited the house we have not got along and he has made our lives a misery with all the works he has done. He has now decided to sell the property without any of the required permissions. I know he will have to fill in the necessary homebuyers pack declaring works that he has done, however he is deceitful enough to not declare any of the work, or at least play it down so it looks like he doesn't need planning permissions. My question is, will he actually get away with selling the house without gaining Planning permissions? Or will it eventually catch-up with him? Sorry if it seems really petty on our part, but he really thinks he can swan around and do what he wants without thought to those around him.

I wish I had the same understanding with my neighbours as you have - we are about to commence work on an extension and neither neighbour really grasped the understanding of a PWA and both insisted employing surveyors, our hands were tied (as both neighbours are really petty and would have got a court injunction if we'd have started without an award in place) and we have ended up paying £3,700 in surveyor fees. Angry is an understatement, we just feel so ripped off when we could have done it our selves with a simple letter and agreeing on photographic evidence rather than employ rip off Party Wall Surveyors - I really think the government need to clamp down on the surveyor fees, PWA are a cash cow for these people, but hay ho at least we are protected by a bit of paper now ?

No, not subject to any trust - but definitely AONB and Conservation area

Thanks everybody, useful info. I shall start making a few enquiries with the authorities.

I live in an area of outstanding natural beauty, also within a conservation area - I have had a few 'run-ins' with my next door neighbour recently (he is not happy that we are about to build an extension, despite having got full planning permission) and he has made our lives a bit of a misery lately. This may sound a bit petty, but I fancy giving him a bit of legal payback - he has recently ripped out all of his front garden, including a hedge which run along the entire boundary of the front of his garden to the main road, he has replaced this with a block paved, double hard standing parking, complete with retaining walls, which runs directly from the road, it does not require any dropped kerb as there is no pavement in front of his house. He has also done some fancy footpaths to his front door, so he has basically remodelled the whole of his from garden, all WITHOUT any sort of planning permission. My question is, do you feel he should have obtained Planning Permission to carry out this sort of work considering we are in an AONB & Conversation area - like I said, it is petty if I report him, but it make me feel a whole lot better if he does need it as he is an awful person who has made our lives miserable lately and seems to think he can do what he pleases without any consideration to others.

Thanks for everybody’s advice, I guess it’s down to interpretation as to what a ‘structure’ actually is as I can’t find a definitive answer on Google. I think we’ll have to roll with this as petty as our neighbours are over a silly raised planter they are the sort of people who would seek an injunction and probably win, therefore potentially costing us thousands more than the surveyor fees. We have a few other things up our sleeves as equally as petty, but we’ll bide our time and act on them once the extension is finally built! Patience is a virtue and all that ?

Their surveyor is saying that because it is a retaining wall, and therefore likely to have foundations less than our proposed foundations then we have to issue them notice under section 6 of the Act. I would love to be brave enough and not issue the notice for this poxy wall, however he is in the funny handshake brigade and will probably be able to get a court injection through quickly which we couldn’t afford to go through

Hello, thanks for your reply. The brick wall IS the planter, it holds in the soil and a rather large clamitis and that’s it, but it is still a wall right up to our boundary but wholly on the neighbour’s side. We don’t really get on with those neighbours and they are being a pain in the wotsit! The last thing I want to do is go through the PWA with them, but if they are right and we start works then they are the sort of people to get an injunction. My surveyor will be round to have a look once he has served them notice, but I feel it could be too late by then?

Hello, So we have in place a Party Wall Agreement for one of our neighbours, all good - the other neighbour have now jumped on the bandwagon and want a Party Wall Agreement - we have planning permission for a single story extension and the property for the neighbours wanting a PWA is further away than 3 metres and does not contravene the 45 degree rule, so no Agreement necessary - I have informed them of this in writing. They have now taken it upon themselves to appoint a surveyor, this surveyor has stated that we would need a PWA due to a brick built raised planter which is constructed wholly on their land, but is right on the boundary line. This brick built wall is approx 3.5 foot high. I have read through the ACT and it is not clear, but reading between the lines it looks like because the wall is wholly on their side we wouldn't need a Party Wall Agreement in place? I have attached a couple of photos which shows where their wall is in connection to our side - theirs is the brick wall, and ours are the concrete steps, as the photo shows there is a gap on about 1cm between both structures. Is there anybody out there who is able to shed a bit of clarity on the act. Many thanks in advance.

Hello, yes they laid resin on our property right up to, and on our porch side wall. Probably lazy contractors not wanting to create an edge to their works and using our wall as the end of their resin (if that makes sense)

Hello, About 7/8 years ago my neighbours spruced up their existing driveway with a resin driveway - part of their driveway is attached to our enclosed side brick porch, they did this without our permission, the consequence of this is that they blocked up the drainage route for surface water when it rains which was in place prior to them constructing their new resin coating. Therefore when it rains it just pools water with nowhere for it to drain, this is now causing damp issues in our porch. The resin is about 2 inches thick and we have tried to chip away at it, to no avail - this over his boundary on to ours. I have spoken to him a few times about removing this resin, but he refuses to do anything about it. Does anybody know what sort of legal right we have to get him to remove this resin (after all it is attached to our building), and therefore prevent any further damp issues. And if we are able to get him to remove it, would be part of any Party Wall acts? Many thanks in advance

Thanks, I have just ordered some of these. Hopefully they’ll do the trick ?

Thank you, I have read about using round up weed killer as that would also kill the roots, but not sure how successful that would be. If I was to cut it at the base surely the roots would still keep growing?