Would it be appropriate/productive/wise to knock on someone's door to ask them if they'd mind if you built an extension on the house that's for sale next door?

[Ginazon]

Would they give you an honest answer? Would that answer make any difference as to whether you could do it? Would they just think you a weirdo and shut the door on you and ask their neighbours not to sell to you?

It’s not really up to them. It might be more useful to look at the street as a whole and see if anyone else has done it because then a precedent has been set.

I wouldn't. What if they said they would be dead set against it, you didn't offer on the house, and a year or two later they moved house anyway? Any plans for an extension need to go through planning (unless they're within the permitted development guidelines) and (from memory) they'd get a chance to have their say then.

In reality, no neighbour is ever going to be thrilled about an extension being built ~ even if they don't give a hoot about the structure itself, the disruption of the building work is a massive pain.

we put in planning permission on a house that we were trying to purchase (with the then owners agreement) we did knock on our potential new neighbours door and explained what we would be doing out of courtesy.

You can have a meeting with planning and get an idea of whether your idea would be acceptable to give you an idea.

I didn't think you would be able to talk to planning before you'd bought the place. That's interesting.

Hmm, the extension would be to build on top of a single storey extension to make it two storeys. The existing extension is pretty close to the boundary, and to the neighbours' house. If I was in the neighbours' position I wouldn't be too pleased about it. There are plenty of extensions in the street, so I don't think there'd be any issue with that as such, I'm just not sure about what difference the height of the extension would make.

you definatley can as we did

You neighbour wont like it - who wants all the noise and mess

but luckily planning law is fairly clear about what you can and cant do and we found the meeting really helpful. They wont talk about permitted development, only planning permission.

They could object over light restrictions. However, if there are other similar extensions on the street then there is a precedent and permission would likely be granted - looking up planning permission submissions in the street and talking to local planning would be more useful than the neighbour. You may just make them fearful an disgruntled.

how far down the process of buying did you contact the planning department grasspigeons?

There are plenty of extensions in the street, so I don't think there'd be any issue with that as such, I'm just not sure about what difference the height of the extension would make

If there aren't any double-height extensions in the street it may be that they're not permitted (or, of course, it may be that no one else has applied for a double-height extension).

If it's approved, and they're likely to be unhappy about it due to proximity, I guess the main issue is whether you've got the balls to live next door to someone who hates you because you've ruined their life. I'm a people-pleaser so I'd not be able to bear it!

I’d be inclined to talk to them try to gauge what kind of people they are. As PPs have said, if there’s a precedent in the street then the decision will be made by the planners and at most the neighbours will be able to lodge their objection. But if as you say they will not be particularly happy about it then I’d want to know how they might deal with that - who wants to live next to neighbours who are hugely antagonistic and spend the next ten years expressing their disapproval of your (perfectly legal) extension through the medium of bin/car parking/dog shit/loud noise issues....

Most of the extensions in the street are double height, the neighbours themselves have a massive two storey extension, it's just that the others all have more space between the houses than this one would.

I hope they wouldn't think we had ruined their life though! It wouldn't block light into any major window, just some of the side windows of the house, into the stairs/landing, and side window of the kitchen (not the main window out to the garden).

Oddly, you do not need to own a property to submit a planning application for it.

You could request a meeting with the planning department 'immediately'.
You will get a 'non- binding' opinion. It won't be worth the breath used to express it though.

Do your homework first. Use Google Streetview and Satellite view to look for comparable extension nearby. Use the council on-line services to look for approved two storey extension planning approvals. Knock up some rough sketches of what you would like to do.

Be aware that it would be unusual for a (cheap) single storey extension to have foundations adequate to add a second storey. Unless you get very creative (expensive) with lightweight prefabricated timber frame construction. Then you need a sympathetic Planning Officer as it won't 'match' or 'complement' the surrounding properties. Engagement of Planning Advisors or Architects would probably be advisable.

I've never done it but I suppose you could make an offer subject to Survey and Planning Approval, but don't expect the vendors to be enthused!

The vendors claim they put in foundations to leave potential for a two storey extension when they built the single storey extension, because it was something they were considering for the future themselves. I'm hoping it's possible to check that at some point.

Problem is, what if they said they would be horrified by an extension? Would you not buy the house or buy the house and do it anyway?

I'm not sure CruCru. The house is in my ideal location, it's almost the exact spot I've been wanting for a while, but it doesn't work for us as it is now, and the prospect of having to do work to it is quite off-putting. We're only really considering it because of the location and the utter dearth of anything else suitable coming up. So if we spoke to the neighbours and they were horrified and showed signs of putting up objections or seeming like they would hate us for it (not just the noise/mess of the work, the actual finished building), then we may well pass on it completely.

Don’t take their word for it re foundations.

The fact you say the gap is smaller worries me.

You can search and see if they have already applied for this and been refused.

Def check with the planning department but they won’t be able to give you a definite answer

I have found the approval for the single storey extension, and an earlier one for a much smaller extension. If they had applied to build the second storey and it was rejected would I have seen it with the others?

I think so. You could ring the planning office and double check.