New neighbours extension plans

[Greenfingeredsue]

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?

But @SoupDragon OP seems to be building a shed on the boundary to stop builders accessing their garden to build the extension. I don't understand why anyone would do that when they could just say no to the builders using their garden.

The planning permission is something else.

You know all those awful hell neighbour threads OP? You are that neighbour.

I'm not sure what the purpose of this thread is really. The OP doesn't give a shiny shit that the majority of people think she's unreasonable, unfriendly, bitter and so on.

Did you just come here to rant? Is this a made up story to get attention of some kind? Did you expect people to agree with you?

Looks like I’m in the club too then. This month my extension and loft conversion will start with scaffolding.

Fortunately my neighbours either side are both lovely and access is not a problem anyway. In fact one neighbour has finished extending at the back of their house and is likely to extend at the side not long after ours will finish. We’ll all just accept the changes for the short period of time it takes and enjoy our homes with no drama or angst.

I'm just fascinated by *@Greenfingeredsue*s thought process. In her world is no extension permitted? Should all the people currently living in Victorian & Edwardian terraces be condemned to use an outside privy and wash in a tin bath in front of the fire? Should they be restricted to the tiny cooking area so many of these houses were originally built with?

Houses are built at a point in time. They reflect the housing ideas of that time. To follow OP's logic, houses would either have to stay as is or be demolished every so many years.

@Greenfingeredsue doesn’t strike me as the brightest pixie in the forest.

What interests me is that this gives me an insight into my DB's thought processes. He is, in his field, a very clever man but utterly devoid of common sense or empathy.

He was absolutely horrified when DParents' former home went on the market 12 years after DM had sold it. He described the changes the owners had made as a desecration!

To him the house should have remained untouched (in all its early 80s glory).

He took the changes the new owners had made as a criticism of what our parents had done to the house over the years.

I wonder if that lies behind some of OP's thinking. Does the neighbours wanting to extend imply that her own home is less than perfect? Perhaps a bit dated or poky? It doesnt but that may be the niggling doubt which is causing the OP to spout so much bile.

The PP who have mentioned increasing value, or at least desirability, of OPs house have a point. We're looking at places just now and there's loads of too small houses with extension potential. One of the first things we do is nose around streetview/satellite images to see what has been done to neighbouring houses as it helps to show what's possible

StatisticallyChallenged
We did the same, but haven't extended yet. Not everyone wants to move houses several times to climb the ladder.

I laughed when the PP asked if anyone like the OP thinks that those living in older houses should have a tin bath and an outdoor privy.

There are lots of little bungalows near us on lovely plots, but with tiny kitchens originally. They also have fairly high roofs which take dormers well.

They get bought, loft conversion, rear or wrap extension to give the big family room/kitchen/diner. Takes big 2/3 if you don't want a dining table to solid 4 beds. Even really dated ones fly off the market because of this potential

Lol catching up on this thread seems I'm not only a "selfish cunt" but also a SC enabler (architect) - these day my bread and butter work is extensions and house renovations and I can only remember one project with issues with the neighbours which we won round by 'talking to them' and making some minor changes to alleviate something they didn't like.
Good thing our neighbours are lovely, we are lovely back and we all realise that time doesn't stand still. Our house has been standing 150yrs and thanks to people doing work on it properly & making it work for modern life over the years and I'm guessing with more building work it will still probably be standing in another 150yrs
We didn't piss our neighbours off and have even helped them with their own modernisation projects over the years.

You are being really miserable OP. Your soon-to-be new neighbours are perfectly entitled to extend the property as they want, within the usual planning regulation guidelines. Surely it's a good thing they want to improve the property they are buying? You sound like you are being difficult just for the sake of it.

If it's the temporary noise and disruption you object to, then I think it would be fine to request they don't do noisy work before 8am or after 6pm or whatever, and obviously you don't have to allow them access to your side path if you don't wish, but really, wouldn't you rather try and hit things off on a good note with them? Starting on a bad foot with new neighbours is always inadvisable unless completely unavoidable.

God you sound like an absolute horror. I’m glad you’re not my neighbour!

When my neighbours needed their roof redone I gladly let them have scaffolding in my garden, I offered them the use of my driveway if necessary if the builders needed theirs. I drew the line at a skip on my front lawn but otherwise I was as helpful as possible.

They will build the extension, you won’t be able to stop that.

By all means make it difficult for them but that will prolong the inevitable and mean you have to live with the disruption for longer.

You’ll also ruin any chance of decent neighbourly relations.

Why would you be so sour?

What a snob. I would hate to move next to you. You dont live in a castle its a house. Be accomodating get to no your neighbour. Be nice

If you allow them to use your garden as access you could negotiate time limits for the noisy work. Might work to your advantage.

Extending neighbours are a pain - try living beside a building site for four years now. My neighbours house is twice it’s original size and they have spent so much money they could have bought a big house in a better area. The dust, noise, disruption and damage to our half of the semi detached house and garden is a nightmare.

@Goodnightelizabethwalton why do people always come on to complain about extending neighbours as though a 4 year project is the norm?

It’s really not - you’re unlucky enough to live next door to the exception, not the rule.

Lots of people do live next door to permanent tinkerers though. There are some people who start new projects the second they've finished the existing one.

'Permanent tinkerers' are not people who apply for planning permission and get builders in to do it though are they? The vast majority of people who undergo major building renovations employ professionals. It is usually 12 to 26 weeks of work and then they are gone. If you do live next to DIY enthusiasts maybe you do need to have a word

'permanent tinkerers' just sounds like a patronising and NIMBY way of saying 'I live next door to someone who tries to make their house nice and am the sort of neighbour who likes a good old moan'.

What's wrong with someone gradually making their house nice? Not everyone has the funds to call in tradespeople and not everyone wants to pay someone to do jobs they can do themselves.

It's like when people buy their house that needs minimal work to it, but the house next door needs a facelift after years or decades of not having much TLC, then the person in the nicer house complains at how awful it is that the new owners are doing the garden/using power tools/have tradespeople in to fit a new bathroom or kitchen without considering that at some point that will all have been done to their house to make it how they want it (either by them or by a previous owner so the NIMBY didn't have to do any).

Alternatively Lola, some people live in perfectly nice houses but like to do continuous projects. So one thing after another can get a bit wearing if you are the one constantly disturbed by their power tools and tradespeople.

I literally don't know anyone who has tradespeople going into their home continuously & permanently.

I know people who do their house up room by room, but this tends to be redecoration rather than anything else. No loud drilling.

I know people who have extensions and reconfigurations, they tend to get builders in, like I have at the moment. They will be with us for circa 6 months.

There are people that have a minor project like a new kitchen or bathroom. This will be about 2 weeks.

There are the DIYers, who love to mend and make stuff. This is a genuine hobby so

Even if they do go into 1 room after another, how many rooms do they have? Do they live in a mansion?

Some people like to build stuff in their garden, get a porch put up, redo the bathroom and kitchen, get the drive re done, add a conservatory, put up a second shed, put decking down, change their windows, have someone on the roof scraping the moss off . Like I said, some people are tinkerers. Some of this is not a bother but some of it is. Especially if access to your own house is blocked by their workmen.
Of course people have a right to do these things, but sometimes they are annoying or inconvenient to their neighbours, who also have rights.

This is a very weird post! Yes there will be noise and disruption, for finite time. It would be during the day during working hours. Maybe you’re home all day so that will be annoying but really in the grand scheme of things this isn’t going to take very long and I think it quite remarkable that you are kicked up a fuss before these people even moving when you could be living next door to them for decades.