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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

New neighbours extension plans

629 replies

Greenfingeredsue · 28/06/2020 09:03

Hi all

My current neighbour has died. Now probate is completed her house is being sold.

Her son has prospective buyers. He has mentioned in passing to me that they want to extend the property out the back. I am wondering wtf they can’t just buy a house that meets their needs?

The gardens are quite big so there’s plenty of room for them to do this. However, we don’t want them to.

We need a new shed, so my husband has suggested we build a new one with a greenhouse on their side right as near to the boundary as we can, next to the house.

We’ll do this once contracts have been exchanged so we don’’t scupper the sale, plus they would have to get planning permission.

My only concern is that the new neighbours could force us to dismantle them so the builders can work?

OP posts:
Haenow · 29/06/2020 12:10

@MrsHuntGeneNotJeremyObviously

Think the irony of people spewing bile at the OP while telling her what an awful person she is, has been lost on some posters. I'd be very surprised if everyone on this thread who has criticised would be happy with noisy, disruptive work going on for months.
My neighbours have not long finished gutting their entire house. It was not fun and some days, I felt I was losing my shit with the noise. The builders were mostly ok, needed a couple of reminders not to be dicks and I can’t say I was thrilled but they have a right to build. Happy? No but I didn’t obstruct them or become spiteful or try to sabotage their work.
Piglet89 · 29/06/2020 12:30

No idea why you posted, @Greenfingeredsue

Think you must just be a wind-up merchant to be honest, if this is even real.

AgathaX · 29/06/2020 12:46

I doubt that you have any genuine reason for objecting to the extension. By that, I mean one that the planners would take any notice of.

LST · 29/06/2020 16:28

Do you not care that literally over 300 comments in the vast majority think you are being massively unreasonable?

HavingAMoan · 29/06/2020 16:35

But depending on what the extension is you don’t need planning permission. Ours was less than 4 meters single storey, so all we needed was the building regs.

FontSnob · 29/06/2020 17:34

You sound heinous.

Anon0998 · 29/06/2020 17:38

You sound incredibly spiteful. If the land is there for them to do that then why not, the house they want to buy has got f all to do with you.

WoahBodyforrrm · 29/06/2020 17:38

Urghhh neighbours like you are awful. It sounds like you have sour grapes.

You do realise that generally speaking, it’s cheaper to buy and house and renovate it, then buy a house which is already done and extended. Regardless, their plans are none of your business.

Yes it will be disruptive for a few months but live and let live.

WheelchairWoes · 29/06/2020 17:38

YABU. It doesn't sound like it will impact you at all. They can't force you to take anything down in your own garden. My neighbor has been adding on for months

EmbarrassedMum1 · 29/06/2020 17:39

Your going to leave a great first impression on your new neighbour's!, leave them too it. If the do extend and want to use the passage let them!, make the builders a cuppa and ask them to keep it clear.

YABU this shouldn't be an issue for you!.

WoahBodyforrrm · 29/06/2020 17:39
  • buy a house
lily2403 · 29/06/2020 17:39

Just go ahead with your plans doesn’t matter about neighbours sale...and when they move in they can plan their house and garden too

MaggieBarclay · 29/06/2020 17:45

My neighbours built an extension a few years ago,they had to use our drive for weeks for the scaffolding to be put up.
Never bothered us one bit as we were happy to see our neighbours getting the house that they wanted..
Am just glad we don't have neighbours that would complain or moan about anything like that...Live and let Live after all you all need to live next to each other...Good luck .

savetti · 29/06/2020 17:47

Objecting to an extension because it might be noisy and disruptive isn’t a valid reason.
The council will not care.
Their extension will be built, do you want to be on good terms with your neighbours? Start being nice now.

Jigsawpuzzles · 29/06/2020 17:47

Buying a house and extending it to adapt your needs pffft whatever are they thinking?! Hmm YABU because so long as they are following planning procedures they can do as they please as it’s “their house”. You clearly think that you have some kind of hold over what happens with other people’s properties. Build your shed and move on judging people you don’t know the circumstances of...

VodselForDinner · 29/06/2020 17:50

OP, must suck to be you and only be able to afford a terraced house when what you really need is a big detached one nowhere near any neighbours.

Sadly, it sounds like you made a mistake and just didn’t buy a house that meets your needs. Tragic, really.

Oscarsdaddy · 29/06/2020 17:53

We moved two years ago, in fact we completed two years ago today

Before we bought ( went new build in the end) we looked at houses that needed work and extending to suit our needs.

Decided not to go down that route mainly because the thought of living on a building site put me right off but also you move into an established neighborhood and start endless building work you are probably gonna fall out with neighbours from the off.

It’s bad enough living alongside those that think they are better than anyone else as they have the biggest house in the close

Mistlewoeandwhine · 29/06/2020 17:55

My new neighbours did building work for two bloody years. They’ve moved in now and I thought they’d stopped, but no, drilling again today. Fuck knows what they’ve got left to drill.
That’s two years of brick dust, noise including at the weekends, people on our roof building a dormer which looks down directly into our kitchen via our skylight windows, people dropping hammers etc on our roof then coming into our garden to get them and then toppling an entire brick chimney onto a seat my son had been sitting on just moments before...Oh and none of their extensions ever got signed off by building regs but no one ( and believe me we really really tried) gave a damn about any of it.
So Op, you have my deepest sympathy. And if they are non English they’ll use builders who claim not to be able to speak English so that they can ignore you when you try to speak to them. So you are definitely not being UR ( bitter voice).

shamelesschocaholic · 29/06/2020 17:55

I’m so glad you aren’t my neighbour! We have done exactly what you object to, bought a 3 bed house near to the high school I want my son to get into next year. We are currently part wa through a double side extension. We bought a probate as was cheaper in a nice road. We’ve three kids so need four bedrooms. Got planning so perfectly reasonable for us to do this.

Trust me the disruption you will have is nothing compared to the disruption they will be living with! Get a grip fgs it’s only short term and frankly none of your business.

My advice would be to grin and bear it politely as you will be living next door to them long term, so perhaps be a little neighbourly to foster good relations!

Oxfordnono12 · 29/06/2020 17:56

You sound like an asshole!!

newbingepisodes · 29/06/2020 17:56

You sound like a bit of a dick OP!
We have had to do building work on our house to make it bigger for our family. We are friends with our neighbours we consulted them over times of day that would be best for the noiser jobs. Turned out they were all our mon-fri 9-5 anyway. There was a Saturday when we were quite noisy and we bought them a bottle of wine and an Easter egg for the kids. We were nice about it, they were nice about it. We are in a detached house so a bit different.
However, I can tell you a story about a friend of mine who was in a semi, they wanted an extension built onto a party wall and the neighbours were dicks (like you), so they had to Build it 5cm in from the party wall. Low and behold the neighbours decided they actually quite liked the extension but they couldn't build themselves an extension off the party wall due to their previous dickish behaviour, so they had to move their own new wall in a lot more and they had to pay for a wall that they wouldn't have had to pay for if they'd let the neighbours build it on the building line. Karma!

namechanging2020 · 29/06/2020 17:57

This can't be for real. I call bullshit.

xAJMx · 29/06/2020 18:02

How entitled are you!! 😂😂

What your neighbours do in your property is nothing to do with you!!

And sorry to say your pathetic little plan to shop it going ahead won’t work as you can easily build an extension without touching your property!

I feel for your new neighbours!!

xAJMx · 29/06/2020 18:03

@xAJMx

How entitled are you!! 😂😂

What your neighbours do in your property is nothing to do with you!!

And sorry to say your pathetic little plan to shop it going ahead won’t work as you can easily build an extension without touching your property!

I feel for your new neighbours!!

Their*
MimiLaRue · 29/06/2020 18:06

You sound incredibly spiteful. Noone enjoys the disruption of building work but its part of living next door to someone. Go and live in a remote, rural area if you cant bear the thought of any noise or disruption ever.

I note that pretty much every person in this thread has told you that you are being unreasonable but you wont comment on that will you? I am so glad I have lovely considerate neighbours and dont live next door to a spiteful, nasty piece of work like you.