To refuse to let neighbour destroy our garden?

[Muddylawn]

We live in a terraced house and are currently on the market to sell. We have had an offer accepted on a house we like, and we're waiting for a buyer for our house.

Our next door neighbour (who doesn't live there, but rents out his flat), is undertaking an extension to the rear of his property into his garden. He advised us of the works 2 months ago, and expressed that he would need to bring down our fence. Despite knowing we were going to be selling the house and the timing wasn't ideal, we agreed.

We've now had several viewings, and obviously next door is messy, noisy, and our garden looks awful. Our garden was completely re done really beautifully a couple of years back and is definitely one of the best selling points of the house!

At no point has the neighbour apologised or shown any concern for the disruption he is causing.

Today, he has said he actually needs to re-site his drains as they are currently where his foundations need to go. Because we are in a terraced row of houses, he will need to move our drain, and go all the way through to the other side of our garden to our 2nd drain, to re-route the connecting pipes. Effectively bringing up our entire garden/lawn/new paving/borders.

His email asks us to respond with the 'Ok' promptly as they need to get on with the work.

I am actually really angry. Am I unreasonable to just say a flat out NO to this?

How can we sell our house with the garden all pulled up? And where is the concern or apology for all the disruption they are expecting us to put up with?

Good. Let us know if/how your neighbour responds to this development.

Hooray!

OP - are you in London? Did you sign and agree a Party Wall agreement (only enforceable in London AFAIK, although I;ve had to have one before in surrey) for him to build within 1metre of your property boundary?

I'd be phoning the Planning dept. the water board and the council, I think.

BTW - You can build over a drain run, with permission. I've jsut done dp's extension where we had to do just that - but you do need permission and it has to be done by the book.

oh - and isn't the builder aware that PP may not have been granted? Only they normally have to arrange inspections of the building Inspectors at various key points of the build (foundations, at plate, insulation etc) and the Planners should be aware even if it is done under PD.

I'm not sure the builder will care about the niceties of planning permission. It's not his job. He may or may not have known there was a dispute. I suspect they deal with this so often they do what the employer tells them and if the neighbour objects they just agree not to go on the other side of the fence and let them sort it out between them.

If it looks like trouble I guess a good builder will complete the job to the best of their abilities and walk away. If really lucky they'll have enough warning to not touch it with a barge pole.

Good news - the builder has stopped work until the issues with our property and boundary have been resolved. A party wall surveyor will take over from here and they will not continue until we have an agreement.

We have a party wall notice but we do not have a party wall agreement or award, and we have not been given a schedule of condition.

I'm not sure the builder will care about the niceties of planning permission. - a good one will. Like i said, he will be the one arranging the inspections from Building Control.

OP - you should at the very least have taken photos of the garden/wall/boundary before work commenced. I'd def make the surveyor aware that he has commenced work without the necessary agreements. Any surveyor should also know about the water board requirements.

Good for you OP! Hope all turns out well.

Good news, OP!