SO upset - planning permission granted

[Bloomingpink2023]

Hello. Ive posted here as well as in legal for advice. I hope that’s ok. I am so so upset about this and feel so angry about this as the whole process just feels so underhand.

Yesterday, I was approached In a cafe on the street I live by a man asking if I lived at my address and what floor I lived on. He didn’t introduce himself or explain why he wanted to know. He then said he knew I lived there as he had seen me on my terrace!!! I declined to answer until he explained that he was the owner (freeholder) of the entire building next door.

he wanted my contact details and my freeholder’s. Said he was planning an extension and loft conversion and needed to discuss a party wall with us.

I said you won’t get permission as you’ll block my light and he told me he had already been granted permission. I thought he must be lying as I was never notified or consulted about this and I’ve never seen anything.

I went home and he was awarded it! I called up the council (London council) and it turns out they no longer have to inform neighbours directly. They said they placed a press notice in a local newspaper (which is not my local newspaper in any case for my area) which I should apparently be reading?? They also said they put a site notice up. When I asked where that was, the officer couldn’t say. I never saw any site notice although I walk up and down my street multiple times a day.

I asked if I could appeal it and the officer said there was nothing I could do now as it was granted. I could only oppose it on a point of law on procedure if I believed the process hadn’t been followed correctly and I would have to appeal it in the High Court in the Royal Courts of Justice. I’m not sure I can even do that, as the permission was granted 8 weeks ago.

I’m deeply deeply upset about this. The proposed extension will block off most of the light into my kitchen and bedroom. It will also mean I am overlooked on my terrace and in my kitchen. And it will also kill off a number of climbing plants that are growing up the trellis which is on my boundary line where they are proposing a massive wall.

I’m just so upset and wondering if there is anything I can do. I just hate how underhand and sneaky the whole thing has been. The council officer did say it was suspicious for this neighbour to approach me to agree works after it the permission was granted and it wasn’t the normal way he would’ve done it but then said it’s a flawed system and he’s had similar complaints.

I feel like this neighbour has been allowed to hide behind the new process of this council not to inform me directly, and has deliberately done this knowing I can not challenge it.

I know my neighbour clearly wants to start work soon which is why he wants to issue this party wall notice.

please please could someone let me know if I have any way of challenging this or what I could do.

I cannot believe the council never wrote to me once given how I will be impacted but apparently that’s their process now and it would seem there’s nothing I can do about this.

You need to see a property litigation solicitor in a firm that also has planning lawyers to give you all round best advice. They will check your deeds to see if your property benefits from rights of light and air. Sometimes these common law rights are excluded. If your rights are in place you could possibly action for obstruction of your rights and seek an injunction to stop all works. There have been cases where court has ordered demolition of works where they have been held to block light to neighbouring buildings. Whether you have a good case for action depends on the facts of your situation so I would take legal advice asap if I were you . The planning lawyers can also look to see whether the planning process was properly followed.

You could speak to your local councillor to see of the process was followed and complain, but I fear you won't get any decision reversed or the case reopened.

This was 20 years ago so things might be different now. Also, this was a very different situation but might be useful to you. My parent's next door neighbour got planning permission to extend their house right up to the boundary with my parent's property. It would have blocked light etc but neighbours didn't care! My dad got his solicitor to write a letter to them saying that their builders, contractors etc would not be allowed onto my parent's land to build the extension. If they did, it would be considered trespass. They had to build a considerably smaller extension so that the builders could stay on their land.

If this person will need to enter your flats to work on the party wall then I don't know if you have to allow him to even if he has planning permission.

This happens all the time - the people living opposite us had a massive extension and none of the neighbours (who all walked around the area) ever saw a planning notice posted anywhere.

I'm surprised councils are hiding applications like that. We were informed by post when a neighbour applied earlier this year in Bedfordshire. They weren't a particularly close neighbour either. They live across a fairly wide road and several doors down.

NIMBY neighbours constantly objecting to any sort of development activity for petty reasons is the root cause of so much of our country's woes. Glad the planning system is changing to adapt to it.

He's generating economic value and complying with building regulations, let him crack on and try not to be so tightly wound up about it.

Sorry but for those suggesting you sell up before works start makes the OP just as bad as her neighbour - this behaviour is what is so wrong with the world.

I was coming on to say you need to consider instructing right to light surveyor.

I see a pp has suggested this also and I think this is possibly the best angle for you to tackle this.

When we complained to the council about our neighbours overly high fence (above the legal height) which blocks light into our house (predominately the kitchen) we were told theres no such thing as 'right to light', they clearly werent interested.

Its not exactly the same because a fence isnt a permanent structure like an extension but I was surprised by their response

It’s not ideal as it doesn’t actually directly consult neighbours, but I wouldn’t say it was underhand or that the man was suspicious by not talking to you beforehand.

OP I might be wrong but I thought the law changed around 2010 and there's effectively no right to light any more. It's one reason why development is so out of control. I'm really sorry.

This really is your only hope. Moving.

@namechange3394 is helpful here. Formally write to the council and follow the process suggested.

If there are elections, canvass local councillors who are seeking re-election.

The problem is that it's the planning department who should have alerted you in the first place, not the applicant.
The party wall agreement relates to the building process, it has no bearing on planning permission.

Our neighbours live opposite us and their house is kind of at a slanted angle to ours so their front garden overlooks our kitchen. In lockdown, they decided to put up a full outbuilding so they could entertain outside - with a full concrete base, wood frame, tiled roof, guttering, electric supply the works. It's a bar with sound system, lighting and heating. And we look right out onto it. The noise that then comes from it is a whole other ball game. I assumed that there were planning precedents that you could never build to the front of a property, but basically the local council deemed it "impudent" to follow up even though it was classed as a planning breach. Even building regs didn't want to know even though it's a wooden structure sited about 1 metre away from a 1200 litre bulk gas tank.

We put the house on the market, and every viewing it was the first thing that viewers saw. We didn't even get an offer and the EA said that even with a substantial amount of money off the asking price we face an uphill battle to sell. The whole system absolutely stinks.

Do you have to legally agree to a party wall? I’m assuming you do, but how annoying.

OP it may shock you to hear this, but despite people being allowed to complain, complaints are not part of the planning process. They are there to ensure that process is followed, but the response will address complaints but not be influenced by them.

judicial review is your only option. You can complain to the ombudsman but they cannot reverse a situation.

Sorry op. It's very unfair but I'd be looking to move asap

No, but it does not prevent it being granted.

We had this with a planning application that I opposed. So the extension was smaller and didn't need planning permission.

I was awkward and did everything in writing prohibiting them from access to my land and airspace. But the work went ahead and it was a miserable time. I should have sold straightaway

If I were you I'd move. The stress caused by it made me make a really stupid decision.

Planning has been granted, even with this report the OP would need a Judicial review. The ombudsman could instruct compensation from the local authority, but cannot retract.

For some reason this has the smell of funny handshakes - planning is by far the worse for this.

That’s not really the point, is it? At the moment, we still have consultation processes for planning applications; it’s not like this has been abolished. The issue is that the council, in this case, seems not to have properly consulted those affected. The planning officer has admitted to the OP that it’s a “flawed process”.

When our neighbours applied for op, we had a letter through the post, so it seems to vary by authority.

Personally I always keep half an eye on local planning applications, as it’s handy to know what’s coming. Again, I don’t know how easy this is by authority, ours is a fairly good webpage.

That should of been “when the neighbours applied for pp “