Neighbour's planned extension build

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Large terraced Victorian era houses
Neighbour wants to build out at the back and take down garden wall to put in foundations for their permitted extension then rebuild wall to higher level as it will form the side wall of their extension.

They've issued a party wall notice but it just has a sketch attached, no formal plans and only outline construction methodology (we'd like much more re specifics of materials and methodology as we could be letting ourselves in for all sorts of damp ingress issues if it's not done carefully, having lived here for 20 years we know how prone these houses are to damp from any little possible way in for the rain).
Are we being unreasonable to expect a lot more detail than one side view sketch of just what we will see form our side (they don't need planning permission) to satisfy ourselves that this will be done to a suitable standard to prevent possible complications and costs for us in the future.
I feel so uncomfortable as we really want to be able to live in harmony going forward but don't want to just roll over and agree to something we are unsure of.
They've gone on holiday now and the letter states that we need to respond within a fortnight so before they get back.
I hate conflict of any sort, it keeps me awake at night worrying about it.

I would respond and ask them for more detailed plans. How on earth can you assess if you have any objections based on so little?

You get as much info as possible.

Have they suggested using their surveyor for any party wall checks? Don't! You are entitled to appoint your own independant surveyor which your neighbours pay for. The surveyor will then be working for your interests rather than your neighbours. You can also state you do not wish the surveyor to be working for both parties. I have had this in the last few months and it really keeps relations better between neighbours as you are keeping things neutral. This means you don't have to be involved in conflict should it arise.

I have gone through this recently and it really does help. Our surveyor was great, always at the end of the phone to advise and come and visit if there was a problem. All at my neighbours cost!

If your neighbours start whining about two lots of surveyors cost tough. If they can afford an extension they should have budgeted for this sort of thing.

As PP have said, just say you are happy in theory for them to go ahead (if this is true) but would like to appoint a surveyor to mitigate any future issues with damp. They will need to provide more detailed plans to surveyor.

Does the garden wall already belong to them?

Just to add, I wouldn't sign anything at this stage either! You need to have a conversation with them.

Agree with PP who say appoint a surveyor.

Think about if you might want to extend at some point how you would build on to the wall or right next to it and how it might affect your own foundations.
Also check plans on Council website

Can you just say no, if you own the wall, or half the wall?

You do realise that their roof and gutters will therefore be overhanging into your garden?

I'd be saying no, you'll need to build within their boundary ensuring that nothing overhangs.

Get your own surveyor. They can take into account your concerns and offer advice, also your neighbour has to pay for it. If both surveyors can't come to an agreement they have to further appoint a third to adjudicate.

When I got my loft done in ended up paying for three surveyors (mine and 2 neighbours). Expensive, but I think the best way - everything done officially and signed off, limiting neighbourly disputes

Thank you so much for all of your responses.

How can I find out if one of us owns the wall ? If it is a party wall doesn't that imply that neither of us own it outright, just like the wall that separates us inside our respective houses ?

Have a look at your deeds. Where is your property boundary? If it is the mid point of the garden wall, and it is indeed a party wall, the neighbors need to rethink as building on the line of the wall means that their wall (and roof and gutters etc as mentioned by pp) will fall on your property. That's obviously not acceptable.

In your situation I'd write to the neighbours stating that you've received their party wall paperwork and need further plans and a surveyor before you can sign. I'd try to say it in a friendly way! Keep a copy of the letter.

Also OP, have a think about what would happen if you wanted an extension joining there's - if they've already hogged the wall and their gutters overhang your garden, then you'd have to build significantly inside your garden.

Plus have you thought about windows looking on to your garden.. extractor fan blowing their fumes into your garden...

They're being very cheeky putting it mildly

Hi OP. I think you have more than 2 weeks to reply. This link might help - www.gov.uk/party-walls-building-works/overview
I agree with PP - get a surveyor. As it's a party wall matter the other side - your neighbours - need to pay for it too.

They should be paying for you to engage a surveyor (not theirs!) to review their plans.

They may not need planning permission, but they will need building regs approval.

On the CFN thread someone said "We had to make sure our extension was 270mm on our land so the guttering would still be on our land." I don't know if this is a universal ruling but it sounds fair enough to me. The extension would certainly have to finish on their land I would think and not form the wall to your garden.

You do realise that their roof and gutters will therefore be overhanging into your garden?

They don't have to - you can do inset gutters like this

The extension would certainly have to finish on their land I would think and not form the wall to your garden.

This just is not true. Why spout stuff that you know nothing about?

And check no boiler is going on wall discharging over your premises had this and had to get Gasafe involved to have it moved

Our neighbours extension finished on border so it is possible. Worked well for us as it made a suntrap corner with no fence apart from boiler as above.

Have you looked at the permitted development regulations yourself to make sure that what they are proposing really doesn't need a planning application to be submitted? Ridge heights are quite restrictive if development is within 2m of the boundary and it's also more restrictive in terms of the length out they can build.

The roof will apparently be a simple triangle lean-to slope from the back of the house to the end of the extension. No side gutters just one at the bottom of the slope which is the end of the extension although we'd like to see that they will be ensuring that is connected to existing drainage and not just flowing onto the garden as I've seen in at least one other conservatory type extension elsewhere. Height is just a fraction under the permitted height. They are really maximising the size they can achieve without needing to get planning permission, hence wanting to build onto the line of the garden wall instead of just inside it.

It's all been so verbal and constantly changing up to now and we expected they would finalise everything in the form of a formal detailed plan prior to issuing a party wall notice. They may seem to be "nice" people, especially as they currently would like to have our co-operation but we've been here a longer than most of the neighbours in the whole street and still plan to remain for a long time so know only too well that neighbours can come and go. They may not plan to have a boiler venting out through the wall into our garden decking/seating/dining area but subsequent owners just might.

Take some photos now - and of the plans they've given you and go ask the council for advice - planning department should be able to offer advice even if there's no consent needed

Like PP said party wall foundations over hang etc

They are really maximising the size they can achieve without needing to get planning permission, hence wanting to build onto the line of the garden wall instead of just inside it

Check to see what kind of access they would need from your side to do repairs/maintenance etc.

I would guess if they're not leaving themselves any space to manouvre from their side they will be 'expecting' to access it from yours.

I'd be objecting to that for definite!

My neighbours built a similar extension right on the boundary wall with a small gap for the guttering overhang

This meant they couldn't access the back of the house from outside

I had great pleasure in telling the window cleaner he couldn't 'pop' over my gate and fence to clean her back windows -

He had to climb over the roof!!!

They had nowhere to put the bins - no you can't store them in my back passage thank you

They also had a serious leak in the kitchen - which they wanted to sort via my garden - errr no - the dismantled her kitchen to fix it -

Also they had a vented dryer coming into my garden - pure heat on a tiny escape flap- with toddlers was not a good combination - my bin fixed that problem - blew up the drier and she swapped to a condenser

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