To be annoyed by this building (with diagram)

[tastetherainbows]

So, moved into a house a few years ago.
When we moved in “angry neighbour” was part way through building a lean to type building which he had started after we exchanged contracts.
We didn’t make a fuss at the time as he’s not approachable in the slightest and we’d just moved in and had other stuff on our minds.
Anyway, now we are getting valuations to sell our property and the estate agents want to class it as semi detached instead of detached as his lean to is butted right against our house. This means we are losing about £20,000 on the value.
We thought he’d left a couple of centimetres gap between the properties, but my husband has looked and there are wooden battens attached to the side of our house to support this lean to thing.
It’s almost impossible to see from our garden or the road exactly what is attached.
Anyway, legally can he do this?
It’s a kind of brick built structure which is only accessed from the back garden, not the house. It’s got a kind of corrugated roof and guttering/drain pipes.
I’ll attach the diagram.

From the front it looks like the bricks of his lean to are attached to ours, it is that close to our property. In some places it looks a cm or so away from our house, but I’m sure there’s battens of some description attached to our house.
Even if it wasn’t attached can he really build up to 1cm away from our house?

Tell him to remove all the batons that attach his lean to to your house. He has no right to damage your property.

It’s hard to see exactly what is attached to be honest.
God knows what he’s done. Without going into his front or back garden you can’t get a good look.

How long ago was it built? It might be difficult to get it removed retrospectively.

Maybe 4 years ago. Also we can’t get to our extractor fan which comes out of a toilet as he’s built right up to it!
We would have to get in his garden to get to our extractor fan anyway, but now we can’t even if we wanted to.

How long ago was this? Did he get planning permission?
And why on earth didn't you say something earlier?

It might be difficult if it's a long time

I think, although I'm not absolutely sure, that if he has attached to your property at all then he needed to have a party wall agemreement in place. If he didn't and has attached to your wall then I think you have some legal recourse.

But. Which would be worse for you selling - being listed as semi detached or declaring a neighbour dispute?

We weren’t best pleased that he was building a cm away from our wall, but it’s hard to see exactly what’s been built. We didn’t realise it was actually attached.
It’s a vile thing he’s built anyway. Like a upvc corrugated shed.

The house was a rental before and Empty for a few months before we moved in so think he chanced his luck and did most when there were no occupants.
Although it must have been built by a builder who would advise him on these things?
Can’t see him being capable of building it himself.

I can't believe you didn't look into this as soon as you moved in! I'd have been onto the planning portal, asking about party wall agreements with the seller and being bloody nosy. I'd have been hard-pressed to check before my husband though. You need to be much less passive and get some advice asap. Hope it goes ok and isn't too expensive to sort out.

Surely the EA should describe your house as 'link detached', not a semi, there's a lot of them round here, where the houses are only joined by a garage - that should help, as it then ought to come up on a search for 'detached'

my neighbour wanted to do this to our detached house with his home improvements(shitty wooden shed thing )...he thought we were being difficult and were jealous of him trying to increase the value of his property...never mind decreasing the value of ours. Look at your house insurance to see if you have legal cover and ask their opinion

I looked on the portal and couldn’t find anything. I think it’s classed as permitted development due to the size and we originally thought there was a tiny gap between the properties.
When I researched what I could back then all I could find was that permitted development is allowed right up to the boundary line, so didn’t think we could do anything.

Where I live you can have a meeting with a planning person to ask things like this.

I think I may call planning.
Also what we would do if we needed to service our extractor fan? What if there was damp on that wall that we needed to treat?
Bloody neighbours.

There is something called the 4 year rule which I am sure somebody more knowledgeable will be able to say more about, but basically I think if the building has stood for 4 years it becomes lawful

Tell him to remove it from your property within x number of days or you’ll remove it yourself. He has no right to attach anything to your property.

It’s hard, as we don’t want a neighbour dispute if we are selling.
I’ll get advice from planning on Monday. I can’t believe that legally someone can build up to a cm away from your house, even if it is on their property.

If it’s been there for 4 years it’s immune from planning enforcement. He could apply for a lawful development certificate for an existing development but doesn’t have to.

That doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t be an issue under private property law, but the cost and complication of finding out and potentially taking action would be your responsibility.

What is it exactly? An extension to his property or just a log store type of thing? If it’s the former, did he get building regs sign off?

You can build certain development as permitted development if it doesn’t encroach over the boundary, subject to criteria relating to the size of the extension or structure. Someone could build on your property or right up to the boundary if they got planning permission for it. Once 4 years have passed if no enforcement action has been taken they no longer need planning permission for it. The issue of encroaching over the boundary or land ownership is a private legal matter.

Straight to the planning authority tbh OP. Let them deal with it. Tell the estate agent to go ahead with detached as it is not semi at all, they're spouting shit.

Fairly sure you can't build right up to the boundary without planning permission and party wall agreement. Find out the details and chances are he will be instructed to remove it by council.