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.

Another one saying I have no idea why you're waiting OP. The longer you leave it, the less likely it is you'll get the window removed.

And Planning aren't going to turn up the day you ring them. It could be several days. You really need to stand up for yourself and get things moving now.

I'm on team 'call the council'.

She's a VVCF and you need to nip this in the bud now.

Blimey that's cheeky of your Neighbour.

Get on the phone to the council right now she is taking the absolute piss and she knows it and at this point I wouldn’t care if they where told to pull it all down it’s their own fault for being cheeky fuckers.

OP, do you have legal expenses insurance as part of your household insurance? If so, it would probably cover the cost of instructing a solicitor to deal with this, in addition to whatever assistance planning dept can offer

I'd suggest email communication only with neighbour and builder, not verbal, so you can't be misquoted. Keep your communication clear, concise and factual

Definitely call the council today.

Has the builder turned up to redo/brick up the window? (unlikely, I know, but possible).
OP, have you spoken to him? What's going on?

Comprehension not one of your key skills @SummerFade but calling randoms on the internet petty and ridiculous is up there 😬

But it in writing and put it in her letterbox. Tell her this was not on the planning application, it will adversely affect the value of your house and they must brick up the window and make a formal complaint to the planning office. If she does not confirm in writing immediately, then hand deliver your complaint to the planning team. And then buy a large dense fence to negate her window.

We were the ones who went to the Council enforcement team.

In our previous house our neighbour built a large balcony the full width of his house. He had built a large platform but not enclosed it. He assured us he wasn’t going to enclose it to make a balcony. Six months later that’s exactly what he did. As well as the overlooking aspect, knowing this neighbour it would have caused noise issues as well.

He hadn’t applied for planning permission and tried to tell us it wasn’t needed. We knew otherwise.

We phoned enforcement straightaway, they made him apply for retrospective planning permission. Some of the other neighbours objected. It was refused and he had to take it down.

Ruined our relationship with him, but it was his actions and thinking he knew best that led to the consequences. Not us going to the Council.

Oh, they will care. And they WILL visit if OP makes enough noise.

We had a window put in down the side of our house over looking our side alley. It was not on our planning permission plans for the loft conversion we were having done, but was covered by permitted development and necessary as it was the only window in a new bathroom which needed ventilation.

The neighbour complained to planning even though it was occluded glass and you could not see anything out of it other than their brick wall and our bins below. We had a surprise visit by a planning enforcement officer. Fortunately they agreed with us that it was permitted development but asked us to submit updated plans just to dot the i’s, so to speak.

OP look, my partner does development work. Don't wait. Ring the planning officer now. Today.

They are usually out and about but can turn up within a couple of days.

Do not let the builder into your property in the meantime.

Call them. You have nothing to gain by waiting believe me.

Planning department and do it now.

The house at the back of my old home (NW London) - the owner died, the two sons split the (small) garden in two and built a second house in the part closest to my boundary line. Plans showed a single storey 2 bed house - despite mine and my immediate neighbours objections (drainage, car parking in a congested street) planning permission was given on that basis. This was Summer 2020 - Covid - it was built too close to the boundary line and too high. By the time Planning came out having reviewed my continual letters and photos ( 6 months - actually sent a photo of the first bricks going down against the shared fence) the building was up - the Ombudsman dragged himself out and agreed, too high and too close but "it's up now, so hey-ho, tough". 4 tall slim windows looking straight into my property - Ombudsman said it had to be obscured glass (like bathroom glass) - they put plain glass in. Ombudsman said the roof area was not to be made a usable room but storage - they put in a Velux roof light and it's their main bedroom. The owner had a small fine imposed, I got diddly (they did put in obscured glass after my strong objections, and raised the fence by about 6 inches, could still see the lights on in their house and them moving around (my garden was very small and overshadowed - the next year I had a problem with water building up in my garden, huge puddle that wouldn't drain away).

Tiny house was sold for £495,000 in a neighbourhood where the (normal size) houses go for £600,000. I sold, for £50,000 less than the valuation before the little house was built. The new buyers got in touch last year as the new house owners dropped a note around to say they are building a conservatory and wanted to let them know as a courtesy. The conditions put on the new house explicitly said no extensions or conservatories to be built - I told them the same as I'm telling you -

Get planning involved now, please, for your own peace of mind.

Someone in our road applied for planning permission for a loft conversion, with a couple of skylights at the two sides facing the neighbours plus a couple of dormer windows facing the road. Harmless enough. He then proceeded to take the roof off and build an entire new storey (with big windows on all four sides), effectively blocking people's light.

After endless weeping and wailing from the immediate neighbours, who were "afraid" to report it, I emailed the planning department (with photos) and they were on it like a shot, the same afternoon. The builders were told to secure the site and stop work, and the twat was made to take down the extra storey and restore the roof line. They never did convert the loft, but the new roof looks lovely!

Our planning department won't act on phone calls (perhaps too many time-wasters?) but email is fine and has the benefit that you can send pix.

No no no, absolutely not acceptable. Wtf

Is she expecting you to clean the window for her too? Or provide access every six weeks for her window cleaner?

I'd also be concerned about where that roof will be draining....

I’m your position I’d be less concerned about the window and more concerned that extension not built to plan is short in other areas, fire regs, foundation regs etc…..

The thing is she could bodgily block it up now and then uncover it back again in future. An informal agreement about the window isn't enough. You really must complain to planning now whilst it's relatively easy to completely remove.

Also her going over the planning permission by 1.4m could cause you unforeseen problems, like water build up on the boundary line or even flooding into your garden. Could also affect your resale value in future.

Regulations are there for a reason and her flouting them like this could result in issues you have no idea about it right now. As you know about it now and haven't objected you will struggle to get it rectified should something bad happen in future. You need to complain to planning now and get it formally checked out and resolved.

Don’t know why you are messing around and talking about basketballs. Ring planning asap as this will affect your potential to sell in future and resale value.

Are you the CF neighbour?

Tell planning and let them deal with it. Yanbu

You must just crack on and call planning. These people will just continue to walk all over you.

It’s complete

have reported it online and will follow up with call
have started the process.

Nope
ive checked in with my son
window is wide open (trespass)
he’s working inside

sorry I’m working so cannot update in detail

This! It’s so frustrating to read. Your neighbour is very very wrong but you need to act quickly. Why are you worrying about them possible needing it torn down when it’s the value of your house that will suffer?? Call planning and your local councillors asap