AIBU re our Summerhouse (with photo)

[thisisatempname]

I have NC and tried to crop the google earth photo to make it less identifying but if you recognise me please don't out me! I've put an X by our house.
We have lived here for about 10 years, get on with all the neighbours as we've lived in the area all our lives and either know them a long time or through their relatives. Neighbour on right side I went to school with their kids so know them well, neighbour on left side been there about 6 years, mainly keeps themselves to themselves and I don't really know them.
As you may see from the photo, our houses are all buiilt on a hill, so neighbour on right is a bit higher than us, we are a bit higher than our neighbour on left. There's a main road behind us (behind the path/pavement), and woodland opposite us (behind the houses there)
Neighbour on right side has a conservatory where he can see pretty much everything we are doing in our garden, but that doesn't actually bother us and isn't the issue. Just mentioning it in relation to what the issue now is.
We are now building a summer house out the back of our house, its against the back fence and the left fence. It will be a den for the DC to play in summer and potentially also a home office. We hope to add electricity and heating, cost dependent.
Neighbour on right has no issues and has kindly helped with the building. Neighbour on left said he was okay when DH informed him in advance of building. Now his wife is complaining about privacy and size of the summer house.
I'm not a mathematician but the summerhouse itself is not more than 2.5m. It is on decking. We had to build decking for it to sit on due to the fact we are on a hill and garden is sloped. Together with summerhouse and decking, DH says the measurements are 2.7m. Is the neighbour right that it is too big?
DH spoke to the summer house supplier in advance regarding summerhouse size and the decking and was assured no planning permission was required. We got a separate company to do the decking and they assured us everything was okay. We also spoke to a neighbour opposite who is an architect and did our garage conversion and deals with council all the time and she said she forsaw no issues. But I am worried about this woman next door. I don't even know her name, she just banged on the door when I was WFH and DH was out and shouted and swore about privacy.
Neighbour on left has an extremely overgrown front and back garden atm. Its been like that for months. Whole street talking about how unsightly it is and the residents association have been to speak to them and they said they'd cut it. I don't know if she blames me for that although it was the association that approached her, without me asking them too.
Our houses are all bought and mortgaged if that helps. We have an association that deals with upkeep of common ground and any other issues affecting the street.
Anyway apologies for long thread. Any advice on next steps and whether we are in the wrong would really help.

I on ie zip posted the ring link and has clarified but the information is in her Op

The height of the summerhouse is 2.5m and when you include the decking, the total height is 2.7m so this should not require planning permission

I'm not quite sure there's much she can do about it and if you have also paid for higher fences to ensure privacy then it's a bit unavoidable if you live on a slope?

Well that was a jumbled mess!

Should say I know OP posted the wrong link

We had a similar issue, but neighbour never spoke to us just complained straight to the council. Ours was under the 2.5m so no issue, but we applied for retrospective planning anyway. The comments from the council was something like ‘why on earth has this homeowner applied for planning for a shed’ but we had to do it anyway. So my advice would be to keep the peace just apply for planning, or get some bamboo screening or climbing plants. I told my neighbour he is welcome to increase the height of his fence if he has a problem with what we do in our garden (he is a serial complainer!).

You need to look at the Planning Portal as that will give you detailed advice for your proposals.

www.planningportal.co.uk/permission/common-projects/outbuildings/planning-permission

You also need to check whether you still have permitted development rights or not. These can be removed or limited by a condition on any previous applications you may have. Check your local council website.

Also read the technical guide at the bottom of the Planning Portal page to look at where to measure the ground level from when working out decking and whether or not it needs permission.

Neighbour sounds batshit
Ignore her

Looking at the planningportal website, I think our measurements look okay and are not doing anything wrong, so I wil try to relax now.

I am about to embark on an extension that doesn’t require planning permission.

I have paid for a certificate of lawfulness from planning office.

it means no one can question whether planning permission should have been obtained - and if I come to sell I am able to prove all works meet both building and planning regulations.

I think you’re asking the wrong people - you need to check with your local council’s planning office about whether planning or building regs are needed, particularly on the maximum height of such an outbuilding once it’s sited on top of decking.

If neither are required, then you’re good and your neighbours will have to lump it.

If either is required you should stop now and either seek permission to save yourself a world of hassle from them or look at whether instead of decking you could set the structure into the slope, because it sounds like they would complain, and you could end up needing to spend more money on retrospective permission/remedial action/removal if you’ve breached planning/building regs.

I’d be wary of relying 100% on that Planning Portal - contact your LA to be absolutely sure as it could be costly if your are breaching. You really need something in writing from them to confirm.

Contact your local council planning department or look on the planning portal, which should give all the correct information

This. I’m not sure if your summerhouse is against her boundary, but I know that eg for a boundary fence the height limit has to be taken from the lowest side, so eg someone can’t put up the standard 2m fence on a boundary if it appears much higher from the neighbour’s side. Your summerhouse company/ architect friend may not have thought about that.

Anyway…

• She doesn’t sound like she has the money or organisational skill to sue you, so in that sense the legal position isn’t relevant.
• She does sound like the sort of person who could make life miserable. You don’t want your tyres slashed / car keyed / constant abuse etc.

Therefore… De-escalate. An apology costs nothing. Drop her a note saying you didn’t realise the summerhouse would be annoying for her, and although you’ve been advised its legal you would really like to be a good neighbour and make things better from her side, would she like you to eg add a bamboo panel at the top of the boundary fence, or plant some screening bushes/trees, or something like that? What would help? Maybe hang one of those removable sunshades that attach to things by a bungee? Do something to make her feel that she’s ‘won’ and she should calm down.

Good luck!

(And for future ref - always discuss building work with neighbours first. As in ‘this is happening, hope it isn’t annoying, let me know if there is anything we can do to make things better from your side.’ When I did noisy extension, sure I was legally entitled to do it, but I still bought my neighbours hampers and grovelled in advance.)

I don't think a non permanent shed/ cabin has the same planning issues as a permanent structure,does it?

If you want to be 100% certain then you will need a lawful development certificate.

www.planningportal.co.uk/planning/planning-applications/consent-types/lawful-development-certificate

Planning departments cannot just tell you whether or not you need permission without applying for a certificate.
They can give you an indication of whether it is likely to be required, but without detailed knowledge of each site and the proposals, this is not 100% accurate.

Equally if you do continue and there is a problem found at a later date, you can make a retrospective planning application. There is of course no guarantee that it would be permitted however.

If it’s got heating and electricity then it could potentially be lived in - so again it’s better to check for sure. Just found this on shed.co.uk “Also, to be considered a permitted development, outbuildings must not be separate living accommodation. There are also restrictions on how high an outbuilding should be in order to be permitted development: not higher than 4.5 metres, or 2 metres if it is within 2 metres of the property boundary”

So who knows?! 🤷‍♀️

It will be pretty obvious it's not a living area if there's no loo or kitchen.

If the decking is over 30cm above ground level it requires PP.
If the building is with 2m if any boundary no part of the building can be more than 2.5m above ground level (not the decking, but original ground level) without PP.
If it is more than 2m from any boundary, you are probably ok, as long as your property still has its permitted development rights (they are often removed from newer estates).

The highest point on the building must be no more that 2.5m from the highest ground level around the edge of the building.
So if the ground is sloping enough, you could be 3m above and that would still be permitted development.
Same goes for decking, has to be less than 30cm above the highest adjacent ground level.

Just to confuse things further, if the decking at any point is more than 30cm above ground, you may need planning permission as well. Sales people are unlikely to say anything that prevents you buying from them.

Would Party Wall Regulations apply as you’re building up to her boundary? I’m not sure if they apply to sheds etc.

Are you in an area where permitted development rights have been removed? Some new developments/ estates have a clause that houses in the development do not have the usual permitted development rights. Your mention of a management company suggests it’s a new development.

Are you in a conservation area with stricter rules on planning permission?

I've just seen that the building is up against rear and side fences.
As the ridge is 2.7m high, you will definitely require PP for it.
I think it likely that the decking will require it too.

She’s saying that her shed is smaller than that one, she just posted that one so we could see what it looked like for some reason and irs not related to the question.

She said her DH said it was 2.7m high.
That would require PP.

YABU for parking squinty

Here are the scot.gov rules for permitted development (we are scottish)

www.mygov.scot/build-shed-garage-greenhouse

That's DH not me, I tell him all the time lol