Planning permission

[abid123]

Although we have approval for the extension the neighbour is not signing the Party Wall agreement. Can we go ahead with the building work and start the extension.

I think if the neighbour doesn't sign the party wall agreement it means you are in dispute. In this situation I think you have to appoint a party wall surveyor on their behalf, which you will have to pay for. You can either use this party wall surveyor to represent you too (to keep the cost down) or appoint another one to act on your behalf. It can get expensive.

We have asked them to choose a surveyor but they are not willing to do that either. They have not responded to the notice. When we first went for planning they made 3 pages of objection which was not according to building regulation hence why Council approved it. They are furious with us and doing anything to have a dispute.

That's why I think you have to appoint a surveyor to act in their behalf. Sorry it sounds very stressful for you.

Oh dear. Is the extension really so important that you are willing to make massive enemies of your neighbours? Surely a friendly relationship with your neighbours is much more important than a bigger house.

Is there anything you could do to make the extension more acceptable to them? Is there any sort of mediation service available for disputes like this? If you could come to a compromise that would be much better than ploughing on regardless.

You need a Party Wall award, rather than an agreement

www.vincent-brown.co.uk/party-wall-awards.aspx

We said we are happy to pay for any cost for the damage to there wall cause by the building work. Even that they are not happy with it they just don't want us to do the extension. The house will be same like there's when we do the extension and currently don't have enough space for two kid.

You definitely need the agreement signed before going ahead with the work. We just went through this with our neighbour, although in our case they are ones doing the extension. Originally we were going to appoint a surveyor but due to the cost for them, and because we thought it would be more amicable, we agreed to come to an arrangement between us instead. Their wall was very high and blocked out a significant amount of light to our (already dark, Victorian) house, so we came to an agreement to compromise on the height and style of the roof in order to minimise this. In addition they had to make good the side of our house, replace our plants etc.. Tbh we didn't want them to do the extension, but they had planning permission so we had to just make the best of it. Whilst the situation in your case will be different, What I am saying is that this kind of work can have a bigger impact on the neighbour than you might think, and can be quite upsetting actually. So assuming they are fairly reasonable people your best bet is to be sympathetic and listen carefully to all their concerns (some of which may be very valid) and try to accommodate. If they are just unreasonable people and refuse to cooperate no matter what, well that is a dispute and is a whole different story. But you would still need to sort it out before getting work done...

Hi.
So your neighbour has already extended but doesn't want you to do the same? Did I get that right?

How cheeky! If you have been given planning permission to go ahead, then you may do so. But you have to get that agreement signed. You need to instruct a surveyor. It may get expensive, but the fact that they already have extended their home will mean that their surveyor will probably point this out to them. You are not setting a precedence in the street, if that is correct.

We have been in this position too, and we did lose the relationship with one neighbour. But we got the extension we were entitled to. Regardless of neighbours jealous rants.

Take photos of their side and yours. Log everything on paper. That way they will have the assurance that you are taking their worries seriously.

Our neighbour wanted us to make our extension much smaller as it would suit her. But it was not her house that was being extended and she wasn't the one paying for it. Or living in it.

We did everything we could to make the time easier. For both sides. we fixed anything that went wrong, bit nothing major did. It's a very stressful time, but it was worth every penny and now our neighbour has left. So if we had danced to her tune, we'd have been left with an extension we didn't really like and were left with whilst she has moved on.

Good luck.

Well they are not cooperative at all and now they have line up three rubbishy bin to edge of there boundary so that I can't even open one side of the car on my drive to let the kid out

Matters such as party wall agreements are normally civil matters which don't fall under the remit of planning, so technically you can start the work (provided you have fulfilled all the conditions on your permission) However, if there is a civil dispute, legal action can prevent you continuing with the work - planning permission would not outweigh this.

We will not be using his wall, our extension will be offset from his wall

Party wall agreements are a completely separate issue to planning.

i think you need to talk to a solicitor.

i agree with Blu.
from what you aee saying now, it sounds as if communication has really broken down and will not easily be sorted.
so now u know how they really feel and if you cancelled, could u go back to a friendly relationship?

best of luck

You need to appoint a party wall surveyor for them. Go round and talk to them but if you get nowhere send a letter recorded delivery giving them 14 days to appoint a surveyor or you will. Them not signing the agreement doesn't stop you doing the work-they can't stop you but you do need to follow the rules to the letter or they could take you to court. We paid £3000 for 2 surveyors and still fell out....

Are you saying you paid £3000 and still was not able to build it. I know they will do anything to stop us because he already wrote in his objections to council saying he don't want us to build the extension

No, that isn't what she said !
She said that you can still build (presuming that there isn't some factor that gives them a real legal basis from which to object ) but that you need to take all the correct steps.

The PWA provides a mechanism to use when one neighbour wants to build close enough to the boundary so as to affect another neighbour's property. This includes a wall built up to but not on the boundary, and a wall set back from the boundary but where the foundations are deep enough to possibly affect the neighbouring property (the Act itself makes clear where it applies and where it doesn't).

One thing the Act cannot do is deal with things such as Right to Light, or overhanging eaves. The Act can give the neighbour a right to go on to the other property in order to do the works, but that would be the minimum necessary to do the job (in practice it's in the interest of the neighbour to agree this as any wall will have a better finish).

My drive is between his and mine. So the extension will be in the drive between his wall and mine. There is no lost of light only thing is the extension will leave a gap of 120mm

Have a look at this

Some useful bits from the leaflet:

19 What happens if the neighbours won't cooperate?
If a dispute has arisen and the neighbouring owner refuses or fails to appoint a surveyor
under the dispute resolution procedure, you will not be able to appoint an "agreed
surveyor".
In these circumstances you can appoint a second surveyor on the neighbouring owner’s
behalf, so that the procedure can go ahead - see paragraphs 12 and 13. Your own
surveyor will advise you on the appointment of a second surveyor on behalf of the
Adjoining Owner.

21 What rights do Adjoining Owners have?
Adjoining Owners' rights are described in Part 3 of this booklet. They include the right to:
• appoint a surveyor to resolve any dispute;
• require reasonably necessary measures to be taken to protect their property from
foreseeable damage and for their security;
• not to be caused any unnecessary inconvenience;
• be compensated for any loss or damage caused by relevant works;
• ask for security for expenses before you start work under the Act so as to guard
against the risk of being left in difficulties if you stop work at an inconvenient stage.

Basically, you have Planning Permission so the work can happen. Party wall agreement covers how the work is done and also covers what happens if there is any damage to your neighbour. Overall they cant permanently stop your work but without the PWA they could apply to court to temporarily suspend work if it was deemed to be unreasonable in terms of how it impacts on them.

Sign up to garden law hun, great website.

we have received the planning permit despite all the objection our neighbours made and we have all the condition adhered to imposed by the planning dept. We went to serve the party wall notice last week on Wednesday to the neighbour. He was very abrupt and told us to come back this week. As I try to explain to him that we want to start the build by end of May he was very dismissive but I had the noticed prepared so I told him if he want to take or I can post it tomorrow. I also told him the surveyor we have chosen and that the letter is self explanatory. I did not here anything from them till today our surveyor contacted us saying that he received a letter from their surveyor who they have appointed. I think they have choose the most expensive surveyor to act on there behalf to make it painful for us. we don't when we can start the work and whether they will stop us building.

Party wall saga continue and neighbour being difficult by saying even we have the permit to build they will not allow us to do so. Now the are saying that there house is subsiding so we can't dig within the 3 metre. They have appointed a surveyor costing £125+Vat per hour and our surveyor cost £100 + Vat per hour. I think they will constantly contact their surveyor to make us pay. our surveyor is arranging to visit their house with their surveyor in order to see any crack and take picture. Can they stop us building our extension although we are doing block and beam (Pilling) construction which I have been told does not involve to much constructive

No advice but just wanted to wish you luck. Have you tried th property as well?

There is i think such a thing as reasonable costs. If they are maliciously asking their surveyor for spurious extras, they have to pay for those. Or at least so the surveyor (mutually agreed, so we weren't technically in dispute) told us when neighbours were wanting an unreasonable number of site visits by him. How you enforce that I have no idea though. The party wall system seems to me to be a licence for surveyors to print money for old rope, and for malicious neighbours to cause huge unnecessary expense and annoyance for no good reason if they feel the urge. Sympathies!

Sorry, I should have said when OUR neighbours were wanting an unreasonable number of site visits.