To be suspicious of this (on the surface of it) friendly note?

[Genx77]

So, the house next door has sold, it's been empty for 2 years as the elderly previous resident is now in a care home.
It's a big house (6 beds) needs a good amount of work to make it habitable.
Today I receive a gushing 'notelet' on expensive personalised stationary in the post from the new owner of the house. To summarise he states he is so sorry not to have met us in person, he will clear his schedule at our earliest convenience to meet up in our home to discuss 'a few planning permission queries'
Hmm, on the surface friendly, husband thinks I'm nuts, that it's nice he's introducing himself instead of just cracking on.

Would I be cynical to presume he can't just 'crack on' because in fact he needs our permission to carry out any works on the house as these works will affect us/our home in some way? We are currently not overlooked as any windows onto our property are bathrooms, would he need planning permission to change these?

Ponder away with me mumsnetters, I'm waiting for him to call me back!

Now that you have his details from the notepaper, have you googled him?
Might be a way to find out if he is a property developer? Or something else.

You said yourself the house needs a good bit of work done on it, so he's probably planning some form of building work. Maybe there's a skip, maybe he needs to bring machinery into the garden, maybe there will be noise. Maybe he wants to ask who owns which garden walls?

Yes, he's trying to approach you in a friendly way. And maybe what he's planning is something you won't like.

But I think he's approached you an a very polite and friendly way. And it's exactly what I'd have done in his position. If he were going to move straight in he could have struck up a conversation more naturally but it sounds as though he's got the work to do first.

It is very unlikely that he'd get planning if there are new windows looking at your house, so I wouldn't worry too much there.

But why go into it expecting the worst? You're assuming a lot. Just meet the guy and find out and then judge him. Not before.
No need to be a dick about it.

And I assume that you have checked for current planning applications?

If he is going to do any major work he will have to apply for planning permission and part of planning permission is neighbour notification so you will receive a letter from the council informing you of the plans and where you can view them and details of how to object.

You should do some of your own research into planning permission with your local council, they may have a drop in service where you can call in to the offices to ask advice of a planning officer (my local council does this). There are certain things that can be done without planning permission though so you should look into that he may keep any change to just within the allowed limitations. You can add an extension up to a certain size so long as it doesn't get too close to a neighbour's boundary but I don't know the exact figures .

I would recommend researching before you object, should you choose to, sending a letter that says "we don't like it, it's too big and we won't be able to see the lovely view anymore" means nothing. There are specific criteria that planning permission considers so you need to make sure you object to the impact of those conditions on you. My DH is a planner and he despairs when people don't provide planning regulation objects, often the objections are valid but he can't use them because they don't come under the set criteria.

It does sound a bit odd and I would suspect professional developer.

But yes, you should certainly go and meet him/them and without making any promises, get as much information as possible out of him/them. I recently managed to get a huge amount of 'unofficial' information out of a garrulous, dimwit junior from a developer at a 'public consultation' in our village. Which, I may say, gave me and the rest of the village action group a distinct edge in objecting to the 70 houses the developer wanted to build on a greenfield site about ten feet from where I'm sitting, with a single-lane access road, on an environmentally sensitive site.

Just make sure that you check plans lodged with the council carefully even if the NDN does come and chat to you about it.

We had our NDN come round to us when they were applying for planning permission to build a house and garage on a piece of land next to us.

They told us they were applying for a house and separate one storey garage and they had to take out the hedge between our properties and replace with a wall which would be rendered and painted at their expense.

We believed them and didn't think to check the plans submitted (our own fault, I know) and they built a two storey garage and a crap breeze block wall between the properties which they have failed to render and paint despite complaints to the council - and because the wall belongs to them we aren't allowed to touch it. Their property is on higher ground than ours so the two storey garage now blocks a lot of the light on that side of the property but it was too late to do anything about it. We thought they were being polite and friendly by coming and talking to us about it - but they outright lied so we wouldn't check the details submitted to the council and object.

to meet up in our home to discuss 'a few planning permission queries'

Yeah, a complete stranger inviting themselves into your home to discuss their as yet undisclosed needs is probably what has rightly got you all suspicious. It suggests someone who will railroad over you, expects to not be told know and knows that in person people are more likely to agree to unreasonable people.

not be told no*

Oh there's definete work to be done, I've been in, it's completely uninhabitable. There is no party wall, the house is next door but not a semi.
I think there is a good chance he would get PP if he were to turn the house into flats as one other house on the road is already flats, my concern is not flats but the impact of our privacy of there is a fire escape or the frosted windows are changed to clear due to change of room function etc.
When I say loss of privacy, I mean they would literally be in the garden with us and have a clear view straight into our kitchen.

Basically he knows that what he is planning will need Council permission and that you could object and have that permission refused.

Wait and see what he wants but I would be sceptical.

Jesus, this thread is paranoid! I don't think there's any reason for real alarm here. It's not any sign that he's going to be a bully, or that he's planning a ten story watch tower at the bottom of the garden.

It sounds to me like this is more likely to be about how the current planning system works.

Under permitted development, with a semi you can do a 3 metre extension without neighbours being able to do a thing about it, 4 metres for a detached.

Under permitted development, with neighbours' permission, you can go to 6 metres with a semi, 8 metres with a detached.

Anything over that, and you need full planning permission. But this doesn't mean that just because neighbours' object, it'll be stopped. If it's reasonable development and doesn't in reality have heavy impacts, it might well get green-lit.

My guess is that he's either planning something in the first category and being polite; or in the second category and would like your permission.

Either way, it's not about him railroading or bullying you. It's a necessary part of planning a new extension these days.

Any windows on the side of a house, that overlook another property (inc garden) have to be frosted/obscure, I believe - our ndn's isnt, and when we were planning our extension the architects we had round said that she shouldn't have done what she did.

No idea about a fire escape, but I think a council would listen to and consider your concerns if it were to impact on you.

He's told you what it's about really. He is going to do work that needs planning permission so he wants to know how difficult you will be or (depending on the scale of the project) if your support can be bought.

Knowing lots of developers, I'd say flats, HMOs or serviced accommodation.

As a PP said, you can nod and smile and still put in an objection as long as it's valid. Since he is going out of his way to get you onside, I imagine it's a substantial change which implies he thinks you might have valid grounds for an objection, so possibly a change of use from residential to commercial.

Let us know what he says.

It a good way to start,

When we are doing large renovations/ builds (which is what is about to happen next to you). We always start by having meeting with all the neighbours, I have found that this is the best and only way to run a good project.

When we do this, the first thing I want to do is become someone that the neighbours feel they can communicate with, and I want to be able to facility the project, which is so much easier if the neighbours are happy.

It's always a shock to have your environment changed suddenly and totally natural to defend it, but the best way for it to work is if you engage with the process, just saying no will not change anything,

What you can control is how it all executed, if you listen to their ideas, and work out the negative effects on you, then between you , you can start to break it down to the little bits that can be changed and solutions for other negative effects.

We always agree with neighbours about vehicle access in advance, things like deliveries that may block a road for a while, much easier to have a neighbour mobile number/ email and send information about forthcoming delays, it saves so much stress, time and money.

A well run contract should minimise inconvenience , intrusion and disruption, it should have an end product that benefits the neighbourhood, and leave the community on good terms.

So be open to positive communication, think about what will help your environment, think about all the implications, think of solutions, as that is the best way to help your side.

We get a lot of our future work from neighbours of projects we have run, I make sure our sites are as quite.polite and clean as possible , It's common sense now days to work with the neighbours.

Our over the road neighbour came over to see us (first time we had met him) armed with plans for a barn conversion opposite our house.

I guess he did want to get us on side/make sure we didn't object but to be honest even if we'd wanted to there weren't any grounds on which we could have objected.....which I assume he knew.

He was genuinely quite pleasant about it and said he wanted the opportunity to reassure us/for us to ask questions.

So it could be genuine.

If he is a developer he has probably been in touch with the planners prior to buying and will have some idea what can and can't be done.

Oh, and there are quite a lot of rules about overlooking in the planning system - any development he's intending will have to conform to these!

Well at least he's trying to get in touch with you first.

He could go ahead with PP without consulting neighbours.

so I'm not sure what the issue is really. He has a right to make changes (within the regulations etc) and you can't stop him (unless you have reasonable reasons to object).

Well, at least he is consulting you on his plans which is something! If you check out his plans carefully and be upfront with any objections. I think it is reasonable to develop properties but you want to make sure it doesn't affect you negatively. I would be keen to have a wall separating my property and the neighbours - maybe you can get him to put one in as part of the plans?

It will be party wall act stuff. You are entitled to have your own surveyor paid for by him if any if the work is on your boundary, or 10 feet from your property.

He will want you to agree to use his surveyor, saving himself money.

He will not be allowed extra windows that look on to your property I don't think.

As someone who is going through hell with my next door neighbour, please do try and make friends with him. It doesn't mean you have to let him walk all over you.

My new neighbours are disputing the boundary- a boundary that has been in place for 20 years. He has more money than us and is taking us to court. We can't afford to fight him, so the chance is we will lose a fifth of our garden, with 16 year old plants. I wish he had discussed his plans with us first, or even just been polite.

My money's on flats or a basement (that's what all the developers are trying to do round our way).

Definitely google him.

Have a look at the planning section on your Council's website. It will tell you how the planning process works and how you can object etc, if you want to. The planning portal website is also helpful.

You can also ask your councillor for help objecting or general advice.

Change of use to flats and loss of privacy are definitely grounds for objection but you have to be careful to object on grounds that the planners will consider so, e.g., noise from construction is not usually considered a valid reason for refusal.

YY a property developer would know exactly what they can/cannot do before they bought it.
There will be noise. Lots of noise (and I know having lived next to a house being completely renovated, it is relentless)

If he's planning flats, what about parking issues. ? There was a project 2 streets away (2 houses converted into 6 flats) that the neighbours objected to due to parking issues. It still went ahead.

See what he plans.
Early days still.
(And it has to be better than an empty house which risks vandelism and squatters)

I would be about him inviting himself to my home. I would certainly meet with him, but not at mine.

PP have given you good advice. Listen to what he as to say, don't agree to anything, go away and mull it over.