Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Planning permission

56 replies

abid123 · 31/01/2016 10:55

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.

OP posts:
sparechange · 14/05/2016 08:18

DH does a lot of Party Wall disputes so I've shown him this thread.

He says:
Under the Act, there is provision for a appointing a third surveyor who is independent of yours and theirs and will make a judgement that is binding

So you need to appoint the third surveyor ASAP and get the award. From what you've posted, the neighbours have no grounds to delay this.

leelu66 · 14/05/2016 08:21

Sorry, that should have said 'have you tried the property board as well?

whois · 14/05/2016 08:55

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.*

Ah ha. Ha ha. Ha.

Original poster
abid123 · 14/05/2016 09:07

this is so frustrating and a total nightmare with this type of neighbour. our surveyor told us not worry. they have still not informed us that the have appointed a surveyor we got to know through our surveyor, this is kind of people living next door to us. They did the same when we went for planning permission but thank god we got the permit. Sorry to rant but this has been a total nightmare.

OP posts:
Original poster
abid123 · 21/05/2016 13:30

party wall saga continue has been more than 14 days since notice was serve, neighbour has appointed a surveyor and we have appointed one. still waiting on them to tell us what is the next step. Building work can't start till this is sorted out. I supposed we just have to wait anxiously to what neighbour concern are.

OP posts:
lalalonglegs · 21/05/2016 14:26

I'm no PWA expert but I'm pretty sure that the notice - the documents about your intention to build and the details of what it will involve - have to be served on your neighbour at least two months in advance of the work beginning. As you have an uncooperative neighbour, I don't think you should be planning on an end of May start date.

Original poster
abid123 · 28/05/2016 00:08

we served t he PW notice to the neighbour on the 4/5/16 but not had any reply from them. they have appointed a surveyor who informed our surveyor that he is the surveyor acting on our neighbour behalf. I thought they have to complete the third part of the PW notice to tell us who they have appointed and send it back to us. what is the role of surveyor because my neighbour has been telling other neighbour that their surveyor will stop us doing the extension even we have all the planning permission.

OP posts:
Original poster
abid123 · 01/06/2016 19:06

still has not received any paperwork that they are in dispute but they have appointed a surveyor but not completed and return the third part of the PW notice. not sure what to do now awaiting for our surveyor to get back to us. so frustrating this process is.

OP posts:
Mouikey · 01/06/2016 20:18

As others have said the planning permission and party wall act provisions are totally different beings on not dependant on one another. As an ex-planner I saw all too often the issues between neighbours when change was planned. Sadly these were often started as the neighbour who submitted the planning application never went round to tell/explain to the neighbour what they planned to do. This was often the first frustration which generally led to a planning objection and then, if planning granted, the dispute would escalate into something similar to what you are experiencing.

As others have said, do some research into the party wall act... there is a 'simple' leaflet from memory, but if you have a surveyor ask them, its what you're paying for! I don't believe that there is an absolute process that would stop the build, but there are many that would cause significant delays.

Original poster
abid123 · 01/06/2016 23:38

thank you we let our surveyor deal with there surveyor and we just have to wait

OP posts:
Original poster
abid123 · 10/06/2016 21:03

our surveyor managed to meet with the neighbour after few weeks of them cancelling the appointment. now the Party Wall saga continue, they want a copy of public liability insurance for the builder and a copy of statement of method for the piling. they basically told out surveyor that they are completely against us building the extension as it will there house look like a semi detach and we are ruining the view of the street. the made all sorts of complaint to the surveyor about there foundation. what I can't understand is we are doing the extension exactly what they got.

OP posts:
Original poster
abid123 · 04/07/2016 18:24

Party Wall saga continue, we provided the public liability insurance for the builder and copy of method statement. Now neighbour is asking for fund guarantee in case there will be any damage to their property before they agree to party wall. Any one has come across this before.

OP posts:
OurBlanche · 04/07/2016 19:00

Yes... and legally they can ask for it. Legally there are all sorts of things they can require. All you can hope is that they run out of 'things' quite soon. Maybe ask solicitor/surveyor what else they think may be required by a twonk who just wants to be awkward

It might help to look at some of those "How to Stop Your Neighburs Actually Living in Their Own Home" 'help forums. You might stumble acoss the one they are getting their advice from... then you can ruin their fun by getting ahead of their game an giving them absolutely everything in one go!

You have my utmost sympathies. SFIL was like that and DSis lived in a smal cul de sac with one. They were terrible men, really enjoyed making life shit for their neighbours. Total time wasting spoil sports who had sod all else in life to keep their mean tooth sharp on!

Masketti · 04/07/2016 19:12

Have you looked into the advice about instructing a third surveyor to arbitrate over your two?

Original poster
abid123 · 04/07/2016 21:31

yes we talked to our surveyor about a third surveyor to arbitrate over he told us is not that time yet let she what else they will come out of.

OP posts:
throwingpebbles · 04/07/2016 21:44

The planning is a totally separate process. Your neighbours objections might not have stopped the planning permission but you still have to address them now

Sallyingforth · 04/07/2016 23:11

They mentioned the S word - subsidence.
If their house already has cracks it's very possible that your piling could make them move. You need to be very sure that your surveyor is clued up about this, and you might need insurance to cover the risk.

Original poster
abid123 · 05/07/2016 05:27

Which insurance will that be. Will my house insurance cover this or will I have to take another insurance

OP posts:
Ifailed · 05/07/2016 05:46

I'm sure you've considered this, but is it still not worth cutting your losses and moving? From what you've said these neighbours are going to be as unhelpful as possible and will do everything they can to delay the works. It's just going to cost more and more money, add more and more stress and who knows what they'll do going forward to make your life a misery?

lastnightiwenttomanderley · 05/07/2016 05:57

OP I'm a structural engineer.
Have you had any professional advice (eg archicest, engineer, project manager) other than your surveyor? Apologies if this sounds blunt, but you sound like you might not be completely up to speed with the various aspects of the processes involved which a professional would have been able to advise on and oversee for you. I'm not trying to spend your money, just it sounds like this is stressing you out and has caused delays?

A couple of things...
As several people have mentioned, this is nothing to do with planning. Your neighbour has had his moment to air his concerns yet the planners have awarded consent nonetheless. Afraid that's tough on him.

The party wall system does NOT allow him to prevent you doing the work, it simply makes sure that there are systems in place to minimise any damage to neighbours and, if this does occur, correctly apportion blame. It's actually very much in your interest as it will stop the neighbout claiming against you without reason.

Subsidence...have you ever started work yet? From your description it sounds like it's the proximity of foundations which have caused you to come under the PWA. If you haven't started work then it's a bit early for him to start talking about subsidence. Sounds like this might be him trying to scare you at present, though is of course something to keep an eye on. You mention a beam and block floor on piled foundations - do you know what type of piles? These aren't commonly used in residential works unless there is poor ground or a deep excavation next door.

I know this has now moved on to did us sion of insurance - this is not unreasonable and I'd take it out. Your solicitor should be able to advise or any other building professional. Your surveyor should be able to assist if they haven't already.

Original poster
abid123 · 05/07/2016 06:13

Work has not started yet still trying to get the PWA sorted out. All the house are originally build on piles due to soft ground. They asked for the builder public liability insurance which I given to their surveyor.

OP posts:
piapiapiano · 05/07/2016 08:25

When we had our extension done we had to take out insurance to cover the period (£500 = 6 months) In my understanding household insurance becomes invalid during the build.
Sorry you're going through this, we had troublesome neighbours so I understand your stress.
I hope you get it sorted and can start building soon!

Original poster
abid123 · 05/07/2016 08:43

Is that the public liability insurance that you took

OP posts:
lastnightiwenttomanderley · 05/07/2016 08:48

I've just re-read. So they are saying that their house is subsiding, before you've done any work?! Did they put that in an email? They obviously didn't do their extension very well! They need to get that resolved, it's not your fault, but if their house is already moving then you need to get that formally acknowledged before you start work, else they sound like the kind of person that might try to pin their own issues on your work.

You need to get your surveyor/engineer (there will be one somewhere in the chain, either yours or whoever is doing the piling) to get involved here and tell them this and ascertain what's going on.

There are several insurances being discussed here:

  1. a builders public liability (which they have to have)
  2. a policy to cover you if there is damage to their property, this will pay to put it right if something unforeseen happens (if it could have been foreseen or was due to negligence, this will be covered by the designers/builders insurance as appropriate)
  3. an extension to your own buildings and/or contents to cover you during the works - as piano says your own insurance is unlikely to cover you during the works.
You can often get 2 & 3 rolled into a single policy but check.

It sounds like there are a lot of things going on here and your neighbour is going to do all he can to disrupt the works. I'd give thought to getting someone to project manage part of it, not least to save you the hassle but they will also make sure all the documents and approvals are watertight.

JacquesHammer · 05/07/2016 11:17

Have they made their surveyor aware of their thoughts on subsidence?

Whether its a ballache or not you would be very foolish to ignore that aspect particularly and need to get a report done as to whether your extension is likely to cause issues.

If you ignore and they raised properly during the negotiations then you are in a really bad position.