To think neighbours are being selfish over extension?

[nearlynot]

Extension is ground and first floor, 5.5 meters long, with ground level extending a bit further. West facing.

Is neighbour BU to object if half the garden will have no extension or shadowing. Neighbour always home and claims it will be detrimental to have shadow over back of the house/windows. Who is BU?

Just move and buy a bigger house. People who build extensions are so bloody selfish

And the other person who said that, because the suggestion you could move instead is naive and unrealistic.

I totally agree with the point directly above. It's unrealistic to suggest people 'just move'. I live somewhere with a real housing crisis and virtually no liquidity in the market. Moving is well nigh impossible. The houses just aren't there to buy.

I know many people building extensions at the minute and without that option, the housing situation would be much worse.

Obviously the planning permission process needs to be stringent and take everyone's needs and concerns into consideration.

But all these extensions are just pricing people out of the market and undermining the first time or second time buyers.

Keep objecting (since I see this is a reverse). Architects could well be trying it on again and neighbours could easily be lying (ours kept insisting everything they wanted to do was permitted development - which it never was- and refused to hire survey to serve any of the notices) . It's an absolutely unreasonable size extension and your neighbours sound like pricks. No guarantee they will give you what you want even if you don't object. So Def object

In my opinion that extension is ridiculous. If that shadow was going over my house and garden I would object loudly and consistently until the bitter end.

Oh OP, that is horrendous.

Maybe the extenstion will get refused because it is out of keeping with other extensions that have been allowed in your area (e.g neighbour 1's extension). It might be worth looking on you local council website and see if anything similar has been approved.

Your neighbours are selfish tossers.

But all these extensions are just pricing people out of the market and undermining the first time or second time buyers.

I'm not sure what you expect an individual to do about the housing market.

Don't neighbours always object to things like this? I'm sure you would if the situation were reversed.

Have you looked at all the documents filed? And what have you heard?

I have never seen an application without detailed architectural drawings including distance to boundary etc ours are all available online.

But yes absolutely object and I think it is better if all communication is in writing, if done by phone you might just get an inaccurate bullet point added to notes submitted.

It’s not a reverse.

OP didn’t say which neighbour she was. If other posters have chosen to assume the OP must be the one in the wrong just so they can criticise that is there fault for jumping to conclusions.

nearly not
I am a planning officer. If you can PM me or say on here the name of the District Council where you live the I can check and quote for you the planning policies that will be in play.
What you don't say is whether this is in effect a new dwelling where somebody can live separately with separate entrance, address or an extension to the existing house ie extra bedrooms , bigger living room etc. Again PM me the application number and I can check the plans.

Loss of light will be taken into account where it affects principal rooms eg living room , dining room and kitchen. Therefore not the garden and not bedrooms or bathrooms etc.
Overbearing is probably an issue too that you can quote too.

People having extensions need to understand the massive anxiety it causes neighbours.

You might be excited about it but don't expect everyone else to be.

For you to get what you want causes all sorts of inconvenience and hardship, dirt, noise, loss of light etc and the neighbour just has to suck it up.

You are being thoughtless and selfish.

nearlynot given the huge impact this extension would have on you, might it be worth getting some legal advice on the letter before you send it? My neighbours put in a planning application for a massive extension, and I wrote an email objecting. I have a family member studying law, and they advised me on what were legal grounds for objecting, and stripped out all of the emotive language. The second draft was much better.

Oh, as greentulips said, a planning objection isn't a neighbour dispute. I'm hoping to move house soon so I was very careful on that point. I've even had my letter of objection since removed from the council website.

They can crane equipment over you house in to your garden to do your work. My friends business does it all the time. Pricey but not impossible.

Therefore not the garden

That’s appalling really

Wow wouldn’t want to live next to you. No the neighbour is not being unreasonable to object to your large extension, it’s their right. The planning authority will decide on permission. As to not them letting them use your drive for access, that’s your choice, but then don’t start moaning about your neighbours because you chose to be petty because they objected to your large extension

I think you could be screwed either way in the long run.

The rules on a 1 storey extension have been extended so you can build so far back without planning permission.

There are plans afoot to allow people to build upwards on existing properties without planning permission.

In effect this would mean that someone can build a large extention now and ensure they do foundations which are deep enough and strong enough, and build in two phases over a number of years to bypass planning permission altogether.

With this in mind, I think even a 1 storey extension which doesn't need planning permission, could affect the value of your property as these changes and possible future development will start to be factored in, in valuations.

The preposed changes to planning may yet fail to materialise but I think you have to consider this as a possibility whenever you buy any property. The potential for any future development around it is always there and you may have little say in it. Planning laws is something that is liable to change over the next few years because there are housing shortages.

You can object as it stands to a two storey extension. You are within your rights to do so. There are no guarantees over who will win the case though.

I think the thing is, whenever you buy any property you have to be mindful that things may change during the time you live in it.

Whether it be houses being built higher up, reducing surface water absorbance and increasing the chances of your house being flash flooded or whether it be a question of over development which blocks your light.

In this sense, I think your reaction is over the top but I don't think you are unreasonable to be unhappy and object either.

Previous neighbours put in planning for a massive extension that would have had a detrimental impact on our house and totally overshadowed our conservatory. We objected. The plans were rejected and neighbours resubmitted plans for a substantially smaller extension that had virtually no adverse impact on our property.

If you are the neighbour wanting to object, then it's always worth doing so. Planners do take account of reasonable objections.

Laurie not really , otherwise an extension would never be approved ( and you can do quite large extensions without specific permission as well) Because any extension in many built up areas will cause shadowing however minor to a neighbours garden.

But if a large extension is on a boundary then "overbearing " is more likely to be an objection and potential reason for refusal. Overbearing is a different planning reason to overshadowing.

Wow! What a hideous looking (size wise) extension!! You are pretty much wanting to double the size of your house and in effect, plant a new build in your garden! It's stupid and won't fit in with anything else on your street. I would not be surprised if both neighbors either side objected. You cannot even compare it to neighbor 1, there's is much more modest. As someone else said, do yours neighbors a favour and move to a bigger house.

Architect here - Sometimes clients go ahead with things against professional advice because they are convinced that they are right (I've just spent all yesterday with a client telling them that the 'design' they have done is too big and overbearing and that the designs I have done are more in keeping but give just as usable space .... however he was convinced I was wrong and still wants to submit it for planning. His wife prefers one of my alternatives so they are going to argue about it some more on their own thank god as yesterday was hard work)
However I would also say it's hard to judge - as it can be very situation dependent
We did a very large extension for a terraced house and the neighbour was very concerned about overshadowing. I did a sun study (computer model showing sun path and shading at different points of the year) to show that what they had feared actually wouldn't happen. It's now built and they are happy with it (and are talking about their own extension)
Objecting to planning - stick to the facts and try to keep emotion out of it, value of your house is not a planning point but light and overbearing or overlooking design is.
Planning objections will not affect a house sale and are not considered a neighbour dispute.

You could always pay for your own daylight/sunlight assessment to give the council evidence to go on? There are very simple calculations that can be done. Worth the investment if you can afford it.

This wouldn't be allowed.
Loss of light and overshadowing, non compliance with 45 degree rule, over development of site.