To have given my neighbour short shrift on the phone after I allowed access under false pretences

[TooManywines]

Neighbour is almost at the end of a first storey extension.
i never opposed any of the plans and as she was extending to the end of her garden I figured that it would give my small garden a litttle bit more privacy. I can see having reviewed the plans her builder has built out 1400 more than was on the plans.

she messaged me to ask if her builder could come into my garden as he needed to make a small hole - there are three brick vents n the new bit so I summised he must’ve been adding to it.

my DD text me at mid day to let me know we had a window facing directly into my garden - I check on my CCTV and she was right.

i phoned the neighbour aghast and asked her what the hell she was playing at and that the window was definitely not on the PP application-her response
‘we needed more light’ 😩

I told her under no uncertain terms that her builder was to vacate my property and to stop work

AIBU to ask them to brick up the window and return it back to how it was - I’m tempted to call the planning enforcement officer so they can see all the other gaffs they’ve made but panicking that she might get asked to tear it all down - which although I’m really cross about I’d not want that to happen.

This is very much a building regulations issue too - openings near boundaries are restricted in size and usually need to be fire protected. Speak to your duty Building Control officer!

She's very clearly shown that your concerns are right at the bottom of her list of priorities with her "too busy" and "in due course" remarks. She should (if she had any sense, be jumping through hoops to placate you.

Do not wait, contact planning enforcement straight away. She won't get back to you

she said she was busy and suggested us talking at the weekend and that’s she’d reply to my planning concerns ‘in due course’

Yeah, you know she's not going to do that. Agree with the advice from other people, call the council planning office at 9am and follow up with an email, raise your objections to this window in the strongest terms and ask someone to come out either today or tomorrow to inspect the build.

Ignore all the nonsense about bamboo and trees and fences and the rest of it - you need to have the window removed. The lack of light is not your problem to solve. She has other options like sun tunnels into the roof or just not having natural light.

First reply got it.

Just another voice to the chorus of "DO NOT WAIT - CALL 1ST THING!"

And honestly unless it's recorded somehow I'd be denying I ever gave permission for the bulider to enter

OP you are mad to wait.
Ring this morning, asap.
She has knowingly lied.
She knows well what she is doing.
She thinks you are a mug.

By waiting to call and report this you are being just that.

Call asap.

Sorry OP but I think you're being a bit too nice here. You're giving her today and THEN 24 hours? She's already showed you repeatedly that she does not care about anyone but herself. At this point she should be trying to get you on side and convince you but she's acting as if you're being unreasonable!

Just ring them this morning. She's had enough chances. I also don't know that it's a great idea to turn a blind eye to any of it. Surely the rules are there for a reason and might it negatively effect the value of your home? I am no builder but I think going against PP is dodgy ground and would make me wonder what else they're doing wrong.

This isn't "my neighbours are having a bbq while I've got my washing out." This woman has illegally put in a window facing your bloody garden!! And is making you wait until weekend to even be granted the honour of a conversation about it.

I think you meant “today I’m ringing the council”

Don’t wait-report it today. Don’t engage with your neighbours anymore. Today they will be doing more cheeky fuckery. They clearly don’t care about you and your property. By doing this they have actually devalued your property. This kind of thing knocks thousands off.

This!!! The neighbour has no morals at all.

Adding to the chorus of 'ring planning today.' She clearly doesn't give a shit about you or maintaining neighbourly relations - that's all on your side.

In the meantime, I'd find some way to block the window completely, as well as refusing any access to your garden. Make it very clear that they will not have a functional window that looks onto your garden under any circumstances, so they might as well back down now.

If she kicks off about being made to revert to the original plans, point out that she would have got away with the earlier breaches due to your good nature, but she pushed her luck and these are the direct consequences.

The time for goodwill and discussing it with your neighbour is long past. She's already flouted PP and is ignoring your objections. Go straight to the planning department. She has run out of chances.

It’s super high

we are going to buy a basketball hoop on wheels they have an acrylic back which is transparent my DH is going to add vinyl to it so it’s solid and it’ll back onto the window giving no light

oh and ds is a keen basketball player and he’s always stuck to practice in the court - I feel we will be out there a lot now shooting hoop’s - I’m terrible - it’s going to make such a racket against her wall 🤷‍♀️

Why give her more time? Those breaches of planning, not including the window could make it difficult for you to sell. Just ring the council today and let them deal with it. She hasn’t given any thought to you, so why are you letting her carry on with this?

OP why are you dilly-dallying about this. Your neighbour is a CF. You need to report it to planning today, copying in your local councillor and get a party wall surveyor to help you asap. If you ever want to sell your house it will be a problem if you don't have a party wall award.

Great, but, joking aside, are you getting on to planning, OP?

Although I am usually also this petty, they have disregarded planning and in this case there is actually something you can do. Save the pettiness for slight inconveniences and call planning.

I agree with the others, I would contact planning straight away this morning. The longer you leave it the more the work is going to progress, and as she has said she has no time to talk to you until the weekend I don’t think you have a choice, it might be different if she was willing to talk today.

You have to call now. The window will be gone and the builder long gone otherwise. You won’t ever be able to sell your house and it will be a legal nightmare. The builder is clearly dodgy!

we are going to buy a basketball hoop on wheels they have an acrylic back which is transparent my DH is going to add vinyl to it so it’s solid and it’ll back onto the window giving no light

Just no. Why are you indulging your neighbour? Why are you so scared of him/her? Call planning. That is what everyone is telling you to do as it is the only way of resolving this.

Generally adding windows would be permitted development (unless there's a specific restriction) so it would be unlikely to be a planning issue.
For building regulations, any wall on the boundary than 1m must have fire protection, 1 hour I think, on both sides, subject to a 1m² allowance. So there's a good chance it doesn't comply with building regs.
Then there's any trespass of the window sill and the window itself if it opens.
Anyway as mentioned by others, even if they make the window flush with the wall and it's less than 1m², you still have a right to put an opaque screen on your side as long as you don't attach directly to their wall. So just let them know you'll do that if they don't brick it up.

I think you're being too passive, OP. I would give her until noon today to get back to you, rather than waiting 24 hours. Think of what else they could do in that time. For one thing, are they using the council's building control or a private one? If it's the latter and dodgy to boot, they could feasibly get it signed off by the weekend which will make things trickier.

In this circumstance that is absolutely fair enough, but you have bigger issues here related to the sale of your property in the future that you need to look into asap.

I’d be tempted to egg the window, honestly. Or even graffiti. How are they ever planning on cleaning it?!

Don’t wait, she’ll be trying to get retrospective permission.