CF Neighbours plans

[Arewe29]

I need to rant!

Got a letter from the council to say that my neighbours are building an extension, went around to ask for a full copy of the plans, as where we live (hill) will cause issues to our house. They said that they did not have any and that they did not know planning was even sought, bullshit!

I went online and yep there plans show that they are trying to build on our bloody land. Fuck me they must think I am stupid.

9 inches and it's simply a supporting wall! Think you need to get a life. Leave them alone, it's no skin off your nose for goodness sake

And they are also planning to REMOVE HER TREE that is on her property.

It's like those piss taking dormers that perch them on the party wall.

9 inches for over 5 meters.

Its the fact that the wall is on my land with their patio over it.

Of course its skin off my nose they will be building in my garden.

Would you think it was ok to move their driveway over to my driveway by 9 inches.

Are you my CF neighbour

Size matters!

It really does, but its what you do with the size that matters.

I do not want a neighbours patio in my garden or even their footings

The thing about the English planning system is that - more or less, anyone can apply for anything. You or I for example could apply to convert Buckingham Palace into a drive-thru Taco Bell. Whether it is granted, or built, is entirely different. If you don’t like the plans (over and above the fact they entail your land) the best thing may very well be to do nothing at all, so that they have an unimplementable permission. By alerting them, they might amend it and make it buildable.

If you've built a fence then you just have to say you're not allowed to touch it and they can't - send a cease and desist letter making it clear the fence is yours and they can't touch it

If they wanted to actually touch it they'd need a party wall surveyor

More likely they will just build the wall on their land up to the fence

Given that you have built a fence any attempt to cross the line would mean damaging the fence so at that point The Police can be called in as its criminal damage, ditto the tree

It’s mad that they told you they were not planning on building anything …..

So when DOES it become "skin off her nose" then @Alli88 ?

At 10 inches?
A metre?
5 metres?

Seriously, when does it become an issue?? And whatever you answer, explain why at that particular amount. I would be fascinated to know - am being serious, not sarky, as I fail to understand why ANY amount of encroaching on someone else's property is acceptable.

Apart from the 9 inches of "skin off her nose" this is required for them to dig down a metre potentially causing a land slip very close to the footings of the OPs house. And removing a tree on HER property, or at the least causing irreparable damage to it's roots.

Plus the neighbours have lied to her about the planning permission being submitted, and failed to have the basic curtesy to even ask whether she would be happy with losing this land. And refused to pay for the legal requirement of a party wall lawyer. Considering all this, would you really trust them to build the retaining wall to a sufficient standard to prevent any land slippage, or flooding, or other detrimental effects to the OPs property?

This isn't 9 inches at the far end of an enormous garden either, it's right next to the OPs house.

Our neighbours wanted to build into ours by a couple of inches. We refused and found out had they done this, it would also allow them to claim the same from the top of the drive to the bottom of the rear garden.
As our surveyor pointed out, people would pay a premium in cities for land so why give away something that is legally ours for free.

I suggest a good solicitor or surveyor with knowledge of this particular area of law is needed.

It seems to me that its an obvious weakness in planning law that PP or Building Regs approval can be granted without the necessary agreement of adjoining landowners for any work that may affect their property

@Arewe29

I’d say it’s essential that the neighbours on the other side get a party wall agreement too. I’d let them know.

This should have all been factored in to their budget. Any decent builder they employ would take heed of the agreement. It protects all parties involved, so it’s in your CF’s best interests too.

Timenowplease, you were wrong. Thinkfast explained why. Accept your mistake with good grace (we all make them). You will be a pita to know if you never admit being in the wrong.

if the owner of the land objects it’s probably a slam dunk not getting approved, but people who don’t yet own land apply before they buy all the time.

Honestly I’d stick some massive concrete/steel bollards on your side behind the fence, register your objection, and then sit back and relax.

but joking aside, I am a bit baffled. Say they were to get planning, they can’t just start digging up your garden so what were they planning on doing? Are you just expecting that one day you come home and your fence is down and they are digging up your flower beds? All without talking to you. Maybe people do this? Seems very odd behaviour though.

What are you on about? I didn't make a statement, I asked a question.

I wish I was joking.

Its not just odd behaviour its entitled behaviour, and they are worryingly stupid.

Any chance they may be thinking of selling and either this is work of a prospective buyer or they are getting this planning permission to boost the value of their house ?

I really do not know, they can of course apply for planning permission, and their plans for what they want to do are actually very nice, and we would not object in anyway if they were not trying to put 5 meters of patio in our garden.

Its also the fact that they have no idea about building and what is required of them.

If you like your neighbours at all that are giving up some of their land to this, give them the heads up as to just what a pain in the ass it can be at selling time.

It does delay things if there are complications with boundaries.

OP, glad you are on the ball.
I have a friend who bought a probate house and discovered that the neighbours at the back boundary took up to 10-15 feet of a long old garden and built on it.

It was awfully stressful, they were so pissed off as it was a really dishonest thing to do. But she was pregnant, parent dying and they didn't have the bandwidth for it.

About 15 years later the neighbour is trying to sell and they have the energy and they contact them that they want it taken down and their land back. Just one legal letter to them and a copy to their estate agent letting them know they will be taking action.

It messed up their sale and they were in complete stalemate for months. They had the cheek to be pissed off they were kicking up a fuss after all this time.
Eventually they accepted a generous payment for the transfer of ownership.

Take plenty of photos.
I could give you half a dozen CF stories where people have chanced their arm doing this.

You would be amazed at how many let it go for various reasons and they get away with it, its why they do it.

My friend had a old lady living next door who went into a nursing home.
After about a year in she noticed her garden being interfered with. Someone on their boundary thought it an opportune time for a land grab.
She contacted her family and they were around and stopped it.
But not everyone has family to step in.

but don’t all these stories show that land grabs done work. If you can prove the boundary line (which should be easier now most land is registered), in order for the land grab to stand the grabbers would have to go through adverse possession which is almost impossible to action now. What is the gain now of trying to grab someone else’s land?

in the OP’s case. What gain does the neighbour have with putting these plans though? Say they get permission, they would not be able to just start work without the neighbour’s express authority. So they are just spending money to get permission that they can’t use.

Our boundary is clearly shown on the plans which is in the correct place but they have just put the wall and patio onto our land.

They have decided to build on our land and place their wall and patio on our land so that they can have a square patio. Like I have stated they have no self awareness and can not see an issue.

If the tree is listed even scaling down their plans could be a problem for them because of the spread of the root system.